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ICANN51 DAY TWO: At-Large/ALAC at ICANN 51

13 October 2014
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The At-Large community is an integral part of the Internet ecosystem. As part of its ICANN bylaw mandate, the At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) is "the primary organizational home within ICANN for individual Internet users. The role of the ALAC shall be to consider and provide advice on the activities of ICANN, insofar as they relate to the interests of individual Internet users". In support of fulfilling their mandate, they are continuously working on expanding this key community in terms of their numbers, the capacity of members to engage effectively within the ICANN policy development process and their global voice.

ICANN 51, as with all ICANN meetings, provides the At-Large community with the perfect venue to hold integral face-to-face discussions with our community and those of the other supporting organizations and advisory committees, as well as with the ICANN Board. ICANN public meetings are also an opportunity for the Regional At-Large Organizations and individual At-Large Structures to showcase their activities and network. At ICANN 51, the ALAC (At-Large Advisory Committee), At-Large Regional Organizational Leaders and members of the At-Large community are holding 27 sessions during the meeting, which we encourage you to join physically or remotely.

Two of the high-interest topics for At-Large at ICANN 51 are ICANN Accountability and Governance, and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) IANA Functions' Stewardship Transition. One of the reasons for this focus is to better promote understanding and trust among Internet end-users. This is both a validation and facilitation for the strengthening of ICANN's bottom-up, multistakeholder model within the Internet government eco-system. To ensure this process continues to be strengthened and voices are given opportunities to be heard, the ALAC works with 177 grassroots, At-Large Structures throughout the world. Another priority issue for the ALAC, as well as many of the Working Groups, is the implementation of post-ATLAS II recommendations. An ATLAS II Implementation Taskforce has expanded the 43 recommendations made in the ATLAS II Declaration [PDF, 201 KB] during the second At-Large Summit at ICANN 50 in London, earlier this year.

As ICANN 51 is the ICANN Annual General Meeting, which brings leadership changes, please join me in thanking Olivier Crépin-Leblond for his tenure and hard work since December 2010 as the ALAC Chair, and in welcoming Alan Greenberg in his place at the end of the meeting. Alan's primary focus has been the empowerment of people through the use of technology, and what better time than the present to join the At-Large community as the Internet continues to grow.

One world. One Internet.

Authors

Heidi Ullrich

Heidi Ullrich

VP, Policy Development & At-Large Relations