Media Release

Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc.
                                                           4 Sep 2000

                  EFA urges vote in ICANN elections

Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) today urged Australian and other
eligible ICANN-at-large voters to support Japanese candidate Yukika
Matsumoto in the forthcoming election for the Asia-Pacific director on the
ICANN Board.

ICANN <www.icann.org> is an international non-profit organisation that is
developing processes to manage the technical co-ordination of the
Internet, with particular current focus on Domain Names. The Board has
been opened up to voter election for five Directors, one from each of five
world regions.

Australians are voting in the Asia-Pacific region, and represent a small
fraction of the voters registered for the ICANN election in the
Asia-Pacific region. Japan, China and Korea are strongly represented in
the forthcoming election, and it is EFA's view that Civil Society
Candidate Yukika Matsumoto is the outstanding candidate in this region.

Yukika Matsumoto is a board member of Japanese non-profit Internet Service
Provider JCA-NET <http://www.jca.apc.org/index-en.html> and a well-respected
activist and feminist. Her policy statement is online at
<http://members.icann.org/nom/cp/155.html>

She is the preferred candidate of global Internet activist group the Civil
Society Internet Forum <www.civilsocietyinternetforum.org>, recently
formed to promote democratic values in ICANN management. CSIF has released
a policy platform for the ICANN elections, online at
<http://www.cpsr.org/internetdemocracy/csif/statement.html>, and is
interviewing and recommending candidates in all regions.

Registered ICANN voters should have received their PIN details to register
their preferred candidate for the ballot in their region. This choosing of
candidates closes on September 8th. Once voting has closed, the three most
successful candidates will be placed on the ballot for the elections in
October. For more details, see
<http://members.icann.org/about_at_large.htm>

There is an up-to-date table of registered voters online at
<http://members.icann.org/pubstats.html>, and a breakdown of the relative
fortunes of the candidates for the ballot at
<http://www.icannnot.org/>

EFA Chair Kimberley Heitman, a member of the CSIF Steering Committee, said
"This is a unique chance to promote democratic values in an international
Internet governance body by electing a candidate experienced in using the
Internet to advance human rights and dedicated to making the Net available
to disadvantaged groups and nations."



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      Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc  --  http://www.efa.org.au/
      representing Internet users concerned with on-line freedoms
      Email: mail@efa.org.au  Phone: 02 9255 7969  Fax: 02 9255 7736
      URL of this release: http://www.efa.org.au/Publish/PR000904.html

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       Media Contacts:

        Mr Kimberley Heitman, EFA Chair
        Phone:   0408 881 421
        E-Mail:  kheitman@it.net.au

        Ms Irene Graham , EFA Executive Director
        Phone:   0412 997 163
        E-mail:  exec@efa.org.au

Background:

About EFA:      <http://www.efa.org.au/AboutEFA/Welcome.html>
About ICANN:    <http://www.icann.org/general/abouticann.htm>
About CSIF:     <http://www.cpsr.org/internetdemocracy/csif/about.html>
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