ICANN would like to thank everyone for the useful dialogue concerning the ALSC forum. While the ALSC forum list per se needs to be discontinued because the ALSC has finished its work, ICANN wants to ensure that the list's closure is done in a manner that encourages informed participation by the full range of Internet users.
ICANN's Board has indicated its desire to stimulate self-organizing, bottom-up groups of varying kinds of individuals and organizations to participate in the ICANN process. The Board's Accra resolution also points to a desire to see a multiplicity of self-forming groups.
To help support these efforts, any list manager who believes his or her list has bearing on At-Large matters is invited to add the list name (and other relevant information) to a compilation of "At-Large" lists. This can be done by posting the information on the ALSC forum (at http://www.atlargestudy.org/forum.shtml) or by sending an e-mail to dmichel@atlargestudy.org by 20 May 2002. The submissions will be compiled and posted on the ALSC forum, which will remain open until 31 May to encourage broad distribution and use of the lists. This is an extension of the ALSC forum closure date posted by former ALSC Executive Director, Denise Michel, in her 16 April post on the forum. We hope the additional time and notices will encourage participants to "opt in" to any of the compilation's At-Large related lists in which they are interested.
For privacy reasons, it is not possible to transfer the current ALSC list to be used for purposes different than that for which it was developed, namely the work of the ALSC. Neither does an "opt out" option satisfy these concerns. By pointing people to the various lists that exist, we can support the self-organization of user groups, without violating expectations of user privacy.
ICANN urges Internet users to participate in the forum(s) of their choosing.