WGIG nominations

[Robin Gross]

Just a few comments on nominations:

I agree that Karl Auerbach would be an excellent choice.  He understands
these issues intimately and has been working for the public good regarding
Internet infrastructure for many years.  The fact that he takes principled
positions and does not easily compromise from them seems to me to be a
reason to be favor of him, not against him.  We need someone who can set a
demarcation of the principled position within the group, and let the
"compromisers" negotiate from Karl's position.

I also strongly support former EU MEP Marco Cappato.  Whether we like it
or not, this group will be highly politicized, even more than ICANN, and
we need someone with hard-edged political experience at the highest level
to counter the govt and business people within this group.  Marco did this
in EU Parliament very well.  He understands both the policy issues and the
technology issues (very rare for someone with govt experience).  I think
his outstanding record on privacy, intellectual property, e-democracy, and
computer security speaks for itself.  He has dedicated his career to
defending the public interest and civil liberties, often taking difficult
and unpopular positions because they are the right choice.  He would be a
tremendous asset for the public interest on this Working Group.

I also endorse Vittorio Bertola.  He's a "tech person" who deeply
understands the policy issues and has a long track record of involvement
with Internet governance.  We have some great nominations here.

Robin






> Hello everyone -
>
> Well, I've been out of town at a conference and am now trying to
> catch up on all of this mail.  It was a conference on community
> wireless networks and ironically, the wireless security at the
> university was so tight I had trouble accessing the network. :)
> That's just the way it works, I guess.  It's happened at every
> internet/tech conference I've been to, including ICANN meetings, of
> course.  Harold Feld was also there, which is why you haven't heard
> from him yet.
>
> Here's what I believe is the current list of suggested names
> according to regions (I've moved Meryem to Europe) -
>
> Region: Africa
>    Technical: Adiel Akplogan
>    Policy: and Mr. Olivier Nana Nzepa
>
> Asia-Pacific
>    Technical: Paul Wilson and Pindar Wong
>    Policy: Eung Hwi Chun
>
> Europe
>    Technical: Vittorio Bertola
>    Policy: Marco Cappato, Karen Banks and Meryem Merzouki
>
> Latin America
>    Technical: Raul Echeberria and Florencio Utreras
>    Policy: Oscar Robles (LACTLD), Carlos Afonso (RITS) and Erick Iriarte
>
> North America
>    Technical: Karl Auerbach
>    Policy: Pamela Samuelson, Susan Crawford, William Drake
>
> Arab :
>    Technical:___
>    Policy:___
>
>
> First let me say that I agree with both Karen and Milton regarding
> regional representation... that we are obviously reaching at times to
> find names in certain regions. We are also omitting some of the
> competent names from the "usual" regions in the process.  And at the
> same time, it's at least a good exercise to push ourselves and our
> list members from those regions to do so, to try and come up with
> nominees from areas most of us are less familiar with, etc.  If we
> don't end up with any names from the Arab region simply because we
> haven't been introduced to them or their work before, then we'll have
> to deal with that.  We obviously shouldn't nominate someone we know
> little about just because of their region, but for some regions it
> might be helpful to think in this manner.
>
> I also agree with Robin about not being too rigid in our final
> submissions according to policy and technical expertise, but again it
> is a good exercise to try and put ourselves out of the policy world
> and think about those wise techies.
>
> Next, I absolutely, wholeheartedly support the inclusion of Karl
> Auerbach on this list.  I don't want to raise from the depths (if
> it's managed to sink at all yet) the past week's conversation, but I
> really think he would be ideal.  He did a wonderful job, from my
> perspective, at the UN ICT Task Force... he's got the experience and
> expertise, he's not beholden to anyone, he's very honest and he was
> indeed diplomatic in his statements at the UN.  I always appreciate
> his input and I very much hope he will be a member of the WGIG.
>
> I very much support Olivier Nana Nzepa - I was also going to suggest
> him, but Thierry has beaten me to it.  I think Anriette Esterhuysen
> from South Africa should be on the list as well.  I realize that this
> will make it two APC people on the list, but I think both Karen and
> Anriette would do a fantastic job at representing positions we'd like
> expressed there, they bring a great deal of diverse experience and
> they're quite key to their regions.  I know we aren't deciding on
> region specifically, but this should say something about their work.
>
> I will also 'officially' put Vittorio Bertola on the list since he
> sort of placed himself there. We've worked together on WHOIS Task
> Force 3 and at the UN ICT TF forum in NY - I thought he was great -
> he made excellent points at just the right times.  Actually, the more
> I think about it, the more I would say I strongly support him. :)
>
> I very much support Carlos on this list :) and might also suggest the
> possibilities of Francisco Lopez-Bermudez for the Latin American
> region and Peter Neumann from the North America region.  I'd like
> Michael Froomkin as well, but with a teaching position, I don't think
> he'll have the time.  I can send more info about them tomorrow.
>
> I think Marco Cappato is an excellent choice - he's great on privacy
> and Intellectual Property policy. I think he'd be a good
> representative of our positions, and it's super that he's a good guy
> from the government world. Susan Crawford would also be great and I
> agree Meryem would as well, but as was previously discussed, she
> should be placed in the European region if we're characterizing this
> way.
>
> Anyway, I'm really pleased to see effort the NCUC is making to
> contribute to this important process.  I was on the Executive
> committee meeting chat (stole the gavel from Iliya and everything!!)
> and am pleased that we have this process for suggesting nominations
> to the WG.  Even if none of our suggestions are accepted, it's
> productive and a very good use of this group.  I'm personally really
> pleased by civil society IG work in the past few weeks... both in
> this NCUC process and the statements being worked on in the IG Caucus
> (I'm also on that list).  Using both mechanisms, civil society is
> making a meaningful contribution to the Internet Governance debate
> and policy process and I hope that the productivity continues.
>
> Best to all, Frannie
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
>
>
> ~~~
>
> Frannie Wellings
> Policy Fellow, Electronic Privacy Information Center   ~
> http://www.epic.org
> Director, The Public Voice    ~   http://www.thepublicvoice.org
>
> 1718 Connecticut Ave. N.W., Suite 200
> Washington, D.C.  20009
> USA
>
> wellings at epic.org
>
> +1 202 483 1140 x 107 (telephone)
> +1 202 483 1248 (fax)
>
> ~~~
>