We are approaching a critical moment that will impact both Icann's legitimacy and the role of the public in the management of the internet

Alan Davidson, Center for Democracy and Technology

"To date, Icann's 'at-large' membership has been poorly organised, and there are efforts to diminish its role even further," said Alan Davidson, associate director of the Center for Democracy and Technology, an organisation which promotes greater openness in the debate over domain names.

Public interest groups say all internet users should have a greater say over Icann decisions that affect the landscape of the net.

Icann is a private, non-profit organisation based in California. Among its responsibilities are the creation of new top-level domains, establishing trademark rules for domain names and potentially influencing the cost and availability of names.

"Users who are impacted by these policies should have an opportunity to be part of the policy process," said Mr Davidson.

"We are approaching a critical moment that will impact both Icann's legitimacy and the role of the public in the management of the internet."

About 41m domain name holders

An Icann committee looking at the whole membership issue has effectively dismissed the idea of allowing everyone who uses the internet to have a say in decisions.

We found no consensus support for the position that every individual 16 years of age or older who uses the internet has an automatic right to determine Icann's leadership

Icann committee

"We found no consensus support for the position that every individual 16 years of age or older who uses the internet has an automatic right to determine Icann's leadership," said the Icann committee.

It found there were already about 41 million domain name holders. More are expected with the emergence of the new domains like .biz and .info.

Icann's current proposal would allow companies and individuals who own websites to elect six board members, with each coming from a different geographical region.

Currently, there are nine "at-large" members, five of whom were elected by the internet community last year and four of whom were appointed as members shortly after Icann was formed in late 1998.

The organisation is proposing new "at-large" member elections in 2002.

A final draft of the report is expected to be submitted during the Icann meeting in November in California.

"While the Icann board is not expected to act at this meeting, we are setting the terms of the debate this fall about the future of democratic participation in Icann's internet management function," said Mr Davidson.