[From Robin Gross @IPJustice]

I am writing with an urgent request that you please send a quick email to ICANN to weigh-in regarding the imposition of the ICANN staff drafted charter for a Noncommercial Stakeholder Group (NCSG).  

Without any explanation or justification, ICANN discarded the NCSG charter that had been drafted by civil society in a consensus process and submitted to ICANN by NCUC in March - and supported by more than 80 noncommercial organizations and individuals. 

Instead, ICANN is attempting to impose precisely the "silo" charter model that we said would stranglehold us and render us ineffective in policy development at ICANN.

It is crucial that noncommercial organizations and individuals weigh-in right now and let ICANN know that the world is watching and expecting it to live up to its promises of bottom-up processes, accountability, and democracy.  

The governance structures contained within the NCSG charter will be extremely important for determining how effective noncommercial users can be in influencing policy decisions at ICANN for years to come.  So if there was ever an issue to weigh-in on, this is the issue - because it will impact every issue noncommercial users face in the future.

The ICANN Public Comment Period on the charters is open until 23 July - Thursday (end-of-business in California).

Comments on the draft charters are submitted via email to gnso-stakeholder-charters@icann.org.

Thank you for considering this urgent request.  If you can find the time to send a quick email to ICANN before Thursday EOB, it could make a significant difference for noncommercial users for years to come and I would greatly appreciate it. 

Please let me know if you'd like to discuss this request further.  Thanks again!!

All best,

Robin

Background on Issue with links to docs, see my article: "Is ICANN Accountable to the Global Public Interest?":
http://ipjustice.org/ICANN/NCSG/NCUC-ICANN-Injustices.html

IP Justice Statement on Stakeholder Group Charter Injustices:
http://forum.icann.org/lists/gnso-stakeholder-charters/msg00012.html

Comment from Dr. Milton Mueller (Internet Governance Project):
http://forum.icann.org/lists/gnso-stakeholder-charters/msg00001.html

Public Comments:
http://forum.icann.org/lists/gnso-stakeholder-charters/

ICANN Info on submitting comments on stakeholder group charters:
http://www.icann.org/en/public-comment/#stakeholder