How to join the At-Large Community?
What is individual membership?
Typically, an individual Internet user joins the At-Large community by joining one of its local ALSes. However, an individual may also participate independently without joining an ALS, and the terms and conditions can differ from RALO to RALO.
Where are individual members accepted?
All five Regional At-Large Organizations (RALOs) accept individual members. The African Regional At-Large Organization (AFRALO), Asian, Australasian, and Pacific Islands Regional At-Large Organization (APRALO), European Regional At-Large Organization (EURALO), and North American Regional At-Large Organization (NARALO) have official procedures accepting individual members unaffiliated with accredited ALSes. The Latin American and Caribbean Islands Regional At-Large Organization (LACRALO) is currently developing their individual member acceptance procedure. To check the individual members in the regions, search HERE.
What are the benefits of becoming an individual member?
As an individual member, you enjoy similar benefits as a member of an ALS.
Nevertheless, there are some participation differences. For instance, all individual members within a RALO need to select one representative, who will get one ballot, to vote during RALO-wide election, selection, and ratification processes. As an ALS, you will get one vote just for your ALS in polls within your RALO.
How do I become an individual member?
AFRALO
To become an individual member (also called 'unaffiliated member'), you must meet the following criteria:
- Being a permanent resident and citizen of one of the African countries;
- Not be a member of an accredited ALS;
- Accepting the AFRALO Operating Principles and the ALAC Rules of Procedure (RoP);
- Being subscribed to the afri-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org list;
- Being active in the local Internet end users community.
To apply, download and fill out THIS FORM and send it to staff@atlarge.icann.org. Your candidature will be evaluated by the AFRALO leadership team and the At-Large Staff will inform you about your membership application status.
To learn more about individual membership in AFRALO, read here.
APRALO
If there is no accredited APRALO ALS in your locality/region/country, if you are not associated with an existing APRALO ALS where you reside, or if you are in process forming a new APRALO ALS, you can become an individual member (also called 'unaffiliated individual member') in APRALO.
You must meet the following criteria:
- Be subscribed to the APRALO mailing list: apac-discuss@atlarge-lists.icann.org;
- Be a permanent resident of one of the countries/territories in the APRALO region as defined by ICANN;
- Not be a member of an accredited ALS;
- By way of 'certification' of having met this criteria and therefore be able to contribute fully to APRALO as an individual member, must submit an affirmation of these criteria indicating how you meet the required criteria and also note that:
- Upon ceasing to meet any of the criteria, individual membership is terminated.
- All APRALO individual members (treated as a group) will be responsible for selecting their representative (when required to from time to time and or to contribute to the Regional General Assembly);
- This representative must not be employed or contracted by, or have substantive financial interest in, an ICANN contracted registry or accredited registrar.
To apply, download and fill out THIS FORM and send it to staff@atlarge.icann.org. Your candidature will be evaluated by the APRALO leadership team and the At-Large Staff will inform you about your membership application status.
EURALO
To become an individual member in EURALO, you need to join the European Individual User Association, which functions like an ALS.
The membership criteria are simple:
- Be either a resident or holder of a passport from a country that is in Europe, according to ICANN definition of geographic regions;
- Not be a member of an accredited ALS.
To apply, fill out the form directly online at individualusers.org/become-a-member. Your candidature will be evaluated by the Board of the Association, and if you fulfill these requirements you will become a member of the European Individual Users Association.
NARALO
To become an individual member (also called 'unaffiliated member'), you must complete the application FORM and must meet the following criteria:
- Must reside in North America (American Samoa, Canada, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, United States, United States Minor Outlying Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands) and be registered with NA-Discuss mailing list.
- An understanding of and interest in, supporting the needs of non-technical and non- industry individual Internet users related to ICANN’s mandate.
- An Individual Member (as defined in the NARALO Rules of Procedure) must agree to follow all the NARALO rules
- An Individual Member must subscribe to their respective public NARALO mailing list
- An individual Member must submit a Statement of Interest (SoI) see: https://community.icann.org/display/atlarge/At-Large+New+SOIs+Workspace for reference
- An Individual Member must affirm their interest in learning about and /or participating in ICANN’s policy processes
- An Individual Member must not be a Representative or a leader of an ALS within any RALO.