Forwarded nomination of Vittorio Bertola

[Milton Mueller]

>>> Vittorio Bertola <vb at bertola.eu.org> 8/23/2004 4:54:25 PM >>>

[C]urrently the ALAC has no plans to engage in selecting
a list of civil society candidates for the UN WGIG. We may be happy to
examine any list you might come up with, but I can't tell you at this stage
whether we will decide to endorse lists or not.

However, in the statement on WSIS we released months ago, we expressed the
desire to be included in the working group, so that we can contribute our
experience with Internet Governance processes. That's why I'm proposing to
the NCUC to consider my name for the "European, Technical" slot of your
list. 

Months after that statement, it seems to me that civil society members
should be considered more for their skills and experience on a personal
basis, that for the entities they are affiliated with, so here is my
presentation.

I am 29, an engineer from Turin, Italy, and have 8 years of experience as
programmer (mainly Perl, PHP, Java), system architect and Linux system
administrator on Internet servers, and as technical manager. In 1999, as
head of the technical department, I was one of the starters of Vitaminic,
one of the most successful dot-coms in Italy, and the leader in digital
music distribution in Europe - aiming to create a legal MP3 distribution
service that could break the monopoly of the majors. In 2002 I started my
own company in the field of third-party cellular phone applications, and I
believe in the value of small enterprises to break corporate monopolies and
bring innovation, competition and freedom of choice in the market - and in
providing a human work environment for geeks :-)

I was first involved in ICANN in 2000, when I was the most voted candidate
from southern Europe at the At Large elections. I was then involved in many
At Large efforts, co-founding icannatlarge.com and serving twice as its
Chairman. I was then selected as member of the interim ALAC and then elected
Chairman. I have been participating to WSIS since the beginning of 2003, and
there I have been a co-founder of the Internet Governance caucus. I am also
presently serving as member of the .it Policy Board, and of the Council of
ISOC Italy.

As shown above, my background spans from technology to business and to
policy. While certainly my experience in high level diplomatic negotiations
is negligible, I think that the UN working group desperately needs to have
some members from the actual "net generation" - people who have been living
online for years. People who found and lost friends and lovers on IRC, who
update their blog on a wi-fi connected laptop from their bathroom, and who
could actually install a Web server in minutes. People who know how the
Internet works almost to the last bit, but who haven't stopped feeling that
warm, fuzzy feeling when they use an Internet connection inside a hotel in
Kuala Lumpur to download e-mail from a server located at home, behind their
bed - and it actually works! People that think that information must be
shared, and technology must be used to let everyone watch those in power,
and not to let those in power watch everyone. People who like to understand
how things work - no matter whether it's a computer or an international
organization - so that they can then be used in new ways to make the world
better.

This is the kind of mentality I'd like to bring to the working group.

Thanks,
-- 
vb.               [Vittorio Bertola - v.bertola [a] bertola.eu.org]<------
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