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New Zealander elected to ICANN Board

InternetNZ (The Internet Society of New Zealand) is delighted that its immediate past-president, Peter Dengate-Thrush, has been elected to the board of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). Dengate-Thrush, a Wellington based barrister, was president of InternetNZ from 1999 to 2001, and chairs its international affairs committee. He is also the president of the Asia-Pacific Top Level Domain Association.

ICANN was created in 1998 to co-ordinate policy relating to domain
names and IP addresses. InternetNZ, the .nz country code manager, is a
member of ICANN's country code supporting organization which elected
Dengate-Thrush in a ballot open to all country code managers who have
joined the supporting organization. Peter Dengate-Thrush has been
involved with ICANN from the beginning, having been a key participant
in meetings which established ICANN, and since its establishment as a
voice for ICANN to operate transparently and democratically.
He also fought for many years for the principle that country code
managers, such as InternetNZ, are responsible to their local Internet
community in terms of policies, and that ICANN should only have a
co-ordinating role. This principle has now been accepted. The election
result has to be ratified by the country code supporting organization
council, as a formality, and then Dengate-Thrush will take up his
position on the Board of 15.
"I am grateful for the vote of confidence that country code managers
have shown in me, by electing me to the ICANN Board. I am looking
forward to the challenge of being a member of the Board and helping
ensure that ICANN provides excellent service to country code managers
and other stakeholders." said Peter Dengate-Thrush. "At a time when the
United Nations is debating whether governments should be more involved
in the 'governance' of the Internet, I am pleased to be able to have
the opportunity to serve as a director of ICANN, which brings the
private sector and governments together in a forum which is not
controlled by Governments alone."
"InternetNZ is delighted that Peter has been elected as a director
of ICANN. He has been an incredibly successful advocate for country
code managers like InternetNZ, to ensure that local Internet users
retain control over their local domain name registry. With ICANN having
also decided to hold its March 2006 meeting in Wellington, this means
that once again New Zealanders are punching above their weight in terms
of influencing important international organizations." said InternetNZ
president Keith Davidson.
ENDS
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© 2004 The Internet Society of New Zealand

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