The Business Constituency Newsletter

	WELCOME

	This edition of Bizconst News raises some serious issues regarding Internet stability and governance. The Verisign wild card issue continues to test the viability of a reliable and predictable DNS, whilst the continuing role of the private sector in managing the Internet comes under increasing threat. The BC remains actively involved in addressing these issues and encourages members to continue to support its lobbying activities at the highest level. A more internal matter is the upcoming election of BC reps to the GNSO. We appeal to all members to ensure they use their votes to return a strong elected body at this time of major change. Gary

	ELECTION OF BC REPS

	Two years have passed and it is again time to elect the BC Representatives to the GNSO. The discussions regarding the 3 reps/2 reps issue continues. Bruce Tomkin, chair of the GNSO, has now advised that constituencies can go ahead and elect 2+1 reps. This would allow for future change should the 2 rep policy be affirmed by the ICANN board. The BC continues to lobby against this. The timetable for the elections is as follows: Monday 6 October Nominations open Sunday 12 October Nominations close Wednesday 15 October Election opens Tuesday 21 October Election closes Members will be notified by e-mail about the nomination and election procedures.

	ICANN MEETINGS, CARTHAGE TUNISIA

	ICANN meetings will take place in Carthage 27-31 October. Key dates at the meetings are: Monday 27 October ALAC workshop Tuesday 28 October GNSO constituency meetings: morning: cross-constituency afternoon: BC Wednesday 29 October Council meeting Whois workshop Thursday 30 October ICANN Public Forum

	.COM AND .NET WILDCARDS

	On 15 September 2003, Verisign - Registry for the .com and .net zones - introduced ‘wild cards' into these two zones of the global Internet. This unannounced action transfers all false inquires to a web site of their operation. This is widely seen as a threat to Internet stability and, despite mounting pressure from ICANN's Security and Stability Advisory Committee (SECSAC), and others, Verisign has refused to voluntarily withdraw the operation. On 25 September, the GNSO Council passed a resolution supporting SECSAC's resolution to withdraw the service whilst its implications were examined. On 7 October 2003, SECSAC will host a public meeting in Washington DC to hear detailed input related to the impact of the wild card issue.

	ICANN NEWS

	The ICANN website is undergoing a redesign. One of the new categories to make finding things easier will be a section called 'Resources' Each constituency has been asked to draw up a list of useful documents to be included in this new section. Your views and ideas are most welcome to help make these new pages relevant to BC needs; please send them to the secretariat by 7 October. ICANN staff John Jeffrey has been appointed as ICANN General Counsel Kurt Pritz has been appointed as Vice President of Business Operations

	WSIS

	The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) continues the debate about private sector leadership of the Internet in its preliminary meetings. Whilst these are still preliminary agenda meetings, their tone and direction have serious implications for the role of ICANN and the continuing role of the private sector in internet governance. The WSIS web site can be found here: http://www.itu.int/wsis

	INTELLECT MEETING

	BC member Intellect, held an open forum meeting in London in September to discuss the growing threat to private sector Internet governance (see WSIS above). Speakers were Martin Boyle and Paul Alexander from the Department of Trade and Industry; Mark Corkerry, AT&T; and Paul M. Kane, CENTR. The meeting brought to light the fact that there is a lack of awareness in industry regarding internet governance and the forthcoming World Summit on the Information Society. Feedback so far has been critical of the proposals for change and reflects the UK government view that the private sector must continue to take the lead in the management of the internet, drawing on advice from governments on issues of public policy.

	BC MEMBER CALL

	There will be a pre-Carthage BC members' call on Tuesday 14 October at UTC 19.00. Dial-in details and local timings will be sent to the list by e-mail. Mark the call in your diaries now and participate in this important opportunity to discuss Carthage agenda items with your elected reps.

	CONTACTS LIST

	The updated member contact list will shortly be distributed. Many thanks to all those who notified changes

DATES FOR YOUR DIARIES

SECSAC public meeting	7 October 2003

BC Member call	14 October 2003

ICANN meetings, Carthage	27 - 31 October 2003