The ALOC has now issued a statement asking the Board "to plan to institutionalize a new At-Large (at the appropriate time and with the appropriate mechanisms), with dedicated At-Large seats on the Board and in the Nominating Committee," and asking it to "consider allowing the At-Large Supporting Organization to select their . . . Board members under Board-approved guidelines/criteria."

CPSR, for its part, has issued a statement that it "does not support any activities or positions of the ALOC that are contrary to the terms of" ICANN's creation, and reiterating its support for elections. Here's the CPSR press release:

"We hasten to point out that the ALOC possesses no special status to represent the user in ICANN processes. The ALOC is one voice in the on-going effort to implement user representation in ICANN. Its claim to represent 500,000 users is, in our opinion, not convincing (the numbers derive from one organization's claims of user representation: www.cecua.org.) Furthermore, the fact that many of the ALOC's participants have little history of participation in ICANN activities lessens its credibility. Nonetheless, every effort, regardless of its limitations, in support of user representation in ICANN is important and useful.

"CPSR/CivSoc does not support any activities or positions of the ALOC that are contrary to the terms of Internet privatization. CPSR/CivSoc does not support relegating users to an "advisory" role, doing away with direct elections, or abandoning the principle of balanced representation between users and industry experts. We note that many - and, by our tally, most - members of ALOC support direct elections of user representatives to the ICANN board.

"ICANN can best gain legitimacy by implementing the terms of the 1998 privatization agreement. User representation on the board and direct elections are essential aspects of that. CPSR/CivSoc's participation in ALOC and other user-related activities are done in order to achieve implementation of those agreements."