Markle to Fund Programs for Net Users

Markle Foundation President Zoe Baird said that the New York-based philanthropy will commit more than $1 million to ensure that the interests of Internet users are considered by groups whose decisions affect the global computer network. As expected, Baird announced a $200,000 grant to help the Internet Corp. for Assigned Names and Numbers fund a general election to give individual Internet users a say in how the network evolves. Los Angeles-based ICANN is set to take over administration of critical Internet functions, but its current board is dominated by representatives of the corporate world. Markle said it will also fund several nonprofit groups--including the Carter Center, Common Cause, the American Library Assn., the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard, and the Center for Democracy and Technology--to assist ICANN with its election, set to take place by next spring once 5,000 voters around the world are registered. The voters will elect 18 members of an at-large council, who will in turn select nine new members to serve on the 19-member ICANN board.