Click here to open the August 2016 newsletter.

Please apologize the delay in publishing this info.

Click here to open the July 2016 newsletter.

The EURALO Individuals’ Association General Assembly opened Tuesday 28 June in Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, at 11:00 local time (08:00 UTC).

The Secretary took notice that the following members were present: Jean-Jacques Subrenat (Chair), Wale Shakiru Bakare (vice-chair, connected remotely), Roberto Gaetano (Secretary).

Apologies were received from the following members: Stuart Clark, Stéphane van Gelder, Susannah Gray, Michele Neylon, Helen Palm, Carole Sunderland.

The following individuals attended as observers: Narine Khachatryan, Andrea Rusu, Olivier Crepin-Leblond (EURALO Chair), Satya (from Hyderabad, whose full name was unfortunately not captured).

The agenda was adopted.

The Chair welcomed all participants. In a brief introduction, he noted that our association is young but active: 17 Members and a couple of pending applications (see here)

The Secretary described the recent progress about membership and bylaws. By an online vote, our Members had approved the changes to the Bylaws related to the name of the association, the titles of the Chair and Vice-chair, the name of the Board (see here). He also explained the proposal from the Board to introduce another type of membership, tentatively called “Associate Membership”, to allow individuals who are neither nationals nor resident in the ICANN region of Europe. A discussion on this topic will be initiated on
the Members’ mailing list. In parallel, the opinion of EURALO on the subject will be requested. The process will end with a vote by Members, as required by our Bylaws when structural changes are made.

The Secretary also pointed out that we need to define procedures for termination of membership, in case the specified requirements are no longer met. This also will require a vote and a change in the Bylaws.

Olivier Crepin-Leblond reported on the work of the EURALO Task Force on possile changes to the EURALO Bylaws.

Andrea Rusu stated that the association needs to make itself known, notably via social media. On our website and in our meetings, common language should be used, for the benefit of those who are not yet familiar with ICANN processes. She asks how ordinary citizens and Internet users can become involved, and for what purpose? Videos should be used to enhance our communication.

Olivier Crepin-Leblond pointed out that ALAC has a social media working group. The Chair asked that an additional page, describing the association’s activities, be inserted in the EURALO flyer. The Chair of EURALO agreed.

The Vice-Chair stressed the need to get the proposal for Associate Membership off the ground. He suggested presenting to EURALO a proposal for Associate Members, without voting rights.

The meeting closed at 12:00 local time (09:00 UTC).

Dear Members,

this is to confirm that our annual General Assembly will be held in Helsinki, during the ICANN-56 international meeting.

Date & time: Tuesday 28th of June 2016, starting at 10:45 sharp (just after the EURALO General Assembly) till noon. Reminder: Finnish time = UTC+3.

Venue: Finlandia Hall (same venue as ICANN-56), 2nd floor Aurora meeting room

Remote participation: details are communicated to Members by email

Draft agenda:
1) Roll call of members (present, represented, remote participation), apologies received in advance; adoption of Draft Agenda
2) Welcome; brief presentation
3) Membership: categories; criteria; procedures (acceptance, termination)
4) Association structure & Bylaws
5) Financial aspects: current expenses (domain name, website maintenance, logo); need for a Treasurer?
6) Activity of our Association: views of our Members
7) Outreach, partnerships
8) AOB; Concluding remarks (Note: conclusions and action items from our AGM will be sent by email to all Members).

Members are encouraged to attend our General Assembly.Those not attending in person may designate a proxy (a Member present) in case of any vote.

Within a few days, Members will receive by email a report on the main conclusions and action items of the meeting.

Click here to open the June 2016 newsletter.

Please note in particular two items that have special importance for our Association:

• theTask Force on review and revision of the EURALO By-Laws;
• the start of the At-Large Review.

Right now there’s a flurry of news items, blog posts and comments on an event the global Internet community was expecting sometime this year: the NTIA (National Communications and Information Administration, under the US Department of Commerce) has just published its “IANA Stewardship Transition Proposal Assessment Report“. As a member of the ICG (IANA Stewardship Transition Coordination Group), but writing here in a personal capacity, I am pleased to bring the following points to the attention of our Members:

• The Transition Proposal sent on 10th of March 2016 by the ICG to the NTIA “satisfies the four criteria” set out by the US Administration: 1) Support and enhance the multistakeholder model; 2) Maintain the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet DNS; 3) Meet the needs and expectations of the global customers and partners of the IANA services; 4) Maintain the openness of the Internet.
• The Assessment Report, just published by the NTIA, is the result of an extensive inter-agency examination and appraisal throughout the Obama Administration. Viewed from outside the USA, this fact adds another layer of authority to the Assessment Report.
• After a cursory look at the 26-page document, it seems that the Assessment Report accepts the ICG Proposal without reservations (but this requires careful analysis).
• In addition to accepting the ICG proposal, the Assessment Report vindicates the principles and processes we set up in the ICG.

For Internet users outside North America, placing the Assessment Report in context may be of some interest: the outgoing Administration seems keen to leave a legacy in Internet matters, at a time when the Presidential Primaries are in full swing; the Multistakeholder Model (MSM) enjoys wide support, but has its opponents (some sovereign states, some intergovernmental bodies…), and seems to need a boost; the alternative to MSM, e.g. several parallel Internets, must be avoided.

The next step? The worldwide Internet community now awaits decisions in Washington regarding the implementation of the ICG Proposal.

12 out of 15 Members have voted on all the the Steering Committee decisions, one member has voted only on the change of name of the Steering Committee, and one member has voted on the change of the organization’s name and the title of the President and Vice-President.

This is the result of the vote:

1. Change the name of the organization

All members who voted agreed to ratify the change of the name of our organization to  “EURALO Individuals’ Association”.

2. Change the name of the Steering Committee

All members who voted agreed to ratify the change of the name of the Steering Committee to  “Board”.

3. Change the title of the President and Vice-President

All members who voted agreed to ratify the change of the title of the President and Vice-President respectively to  “Chair” and “Vice-Chair”.

The changes are therefore effective immediately.

The Statutes of the Association will be updated accordingly.

The following email has been sent to all members of the organization:

Hi all.

Earlier this year, the Steering Committee had announced a membership vote on several decisions taken, that required membership approval to become executive.

We were planning to take this vote during a face-to-face meeting in Marrakesh, but unfortunately we were forced to cancel the meeting.

We definitively plan to hold our Annual General Assembly in Helsinki, during the ICANN meeting that will be held there at the end of June.

However, some of the decisions are rather urgent and do not require, in our opinion, a face-to-face meeting and can be ratified via an online voting.

You will receive a ballot via email asking you to approve the following decisions (one ballot per item):

1. Change the name of the organization

The association has been created as “Euro Individuals Association”, and this name is the one appearing on the Bylaws.

However, during the application process as ALS, an objection has been raised in EURALO about the possible confusion, EURO being a currency.

Our association has been certified as ALS with the name of “EURALO Individuals Association”.

However, in order to change the name on the Bylaws we need formal vote of approval by the membership.

2. Change the name of the Steering Committee

The Steering Committee observes that in most similar associations the leadership body is called “Board”.

While the tasks and duties of the Steering Committee and of its members will be unchanged, we propose to change the name of the Committee itself to “Board”.

In order to do this, we need approval by 2/3 of the membership.

3. Change the title of the President and Vice-President

The Steering Committee observes that in most similar associations the representative is called “Chair”.

This is even more so considering the change of name of the leadership team to “Board”

While the tasks and duties of the President and Vice-President will be unchanged, we propose to change their titles respectively to “Chair” and “Vice-Chair”

In order to do this, we need approval by 2/3 of the membership.

The election opens at the moment you receive the ballots, and closes at 23:59 UTC of Monday 6 June.

Best regards

Roberto Gaetano

(on behalf of the Steering Committee)

Click here to open the May 2016 newsletter

We are in the process of changing some articles of our Bylaws.

This process, that has become more complex than anticipated, must be also synchronized with the changes of the EURALO Bylaws.

The Steering Committee has decided to temporarily freeze the current membership until the changes have been approved by the General Assembly with an online voting.

This is expected to happen by the end of May.