Icann steps up European membership drive

NEWS Icann - the organisation in charge of top level internet domain names - is trying to rekindle its flagging European recruitment drive just two months before the election of new board members. The September elections are Icann's (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) chance to prove it has tackled past criticisms of elitism and US-bias, but so far its calls for more Europeans to join have fallen on deaf ears. Last March, the organisation announced its 'At Large' membership scheme, designed to encourage more 'ordinary' internet users to register as voting members of the organisation. However, members of its European working group have been disappointed by the response. Richard Francis, internet lawyer at UK firm Manches, and member of Icann's European membership working group, told silicon.com: "There is a disproportionate number loading in the figures in some European countries and very little in third world countries." Icann's latest figures show 25,000 registered users worldwide, with only 8,000 members from the EU - 1,300 coming from the UK, 443 from France and just 157 from Italy. The most active country is Germany with over 5,000 registered At Large members. Francis said he still isn't satisfied with the results. "What we really need to do is increase numbers by a targeted effort in the next four weeks," he said. The September elections will see five worldwide members voted onto the board of Icann, one of whom will be from Europe. Nominations for that post close later this month, and Francis believes it is important to get more web users involved in the process. "The influence will first be seen in the election of one European candidate to the board. But in addition, during the electoral hustings over the next few weeks some of the key decisions that have been postponed are going to be in full focus - including the discussion about new generic top level domains for Europe," he said. A group of internet rights organisations are also calling on users to register with Icann to help make the organisation more representative. A spokesman for the UK Department of Trade and Industry backed the initiative. He said: "We want Icann to become more internationalised, and we welcome ways of achieving this." Anyone with an email address can register to vote at http://members.Icann.org/join_now.htm