[NCUC-DISCUSS] NCUC Election 2013, Next Steps: Nominations List and Candidate Statements

[Walid AL-SAQAF]

Dear friends,

Sorry for the delay. Below is my statements with the set of answers. I
thank all in advance for reading it despite its length :) And I look
forward to your feedback and support.


*Statement of Candidacy of Walid Al-Saqaf*

I wish to express my gratitude to Brenden Kuerbis for nominating me and for
all the supporting voices and I gladly accept the nomination for the
Executive Committee, Asia-Pacific region.



*1. Why do you want to serve on the EC?*

I have mainly three points I wish to achieve by serving on EC:



Firstly, I want to work with other members in NCUC to push for the
protection of registrants’ personal data from being revealed to law
enforcement agencies without the domain owner’s permission. We have seen
how much of users’ privacy has been violated in recent months and years. If
we as the NCUC don’t act strongly and raise this issue, who else within
ICANN will? That in specific is one thing I wish to pursue. And I want to
do that because I know from personal experience how ruthless authorities
can sometimes be in trying to pursue the owner of a domain if they are not
happy with what the website publishes. Arab Gulf countries, Syria, Iran,
China and other authoritarian governments in Asia find that tracking and
finding the owner of a dissident domain as an easy way to silence him/her.
While domain owners can use anonymity software to help protect them from
surveillance by state-run ISPs, they are not in control of their WHOIS
information if a request by their government is filed. So I wish to push
for sensible changes that make it possible for users to hide their
information if they wish to do so (even without ordering extra protection)
and protect that information from being revealed to governments to the
extent that international law allows.



Secondly, I also want to push the envelope further in making our mandate
more aggressive when it comes to protecting online free speech,
particularly in relation to Internet filtering by ISPs. I understand we may
be confronted with the usual rhetoric saying that human rights are not
ICANN’s business and that states are sovereign with whatever they want to
do with their national networks. But I believe we at least need to try and
do something about this because we represent users and should therefore
give their interest priority. I believe that we need to keep on pushing and
insisting that we take bolder, more courageous steps to make that happen.
Asia is the region with the highest number of violations when it comes to
filtering of domain names, Internet censorship and other forms of what I
call ‘online oppression’. Why can’t we do something about this? We can
suggest to ICANN that it covers more human rights areas that concern the
general public’s interest for the sake of their security. I am personally
not satisfied with the reaction of ICANN to all those violations against
freedom of expression in recent years and months and some of you remember
the exchange I had with ICANN board members about this topic at ICANN46 in
Beijing. Humans need more than just code and protocols, they need humane
reaction and a forceful stance when the time is right. the Internet was
built on open access to all people of the world. If we keep turning a blind
eye to such grave violations –such as what happened in Jordan lately- with
the justification that those practices are subject to national sovereignty,
I fear that the Internet is already being balkanized before our eyes. I
want to keep on raising the bar and gathering the courage to confront those
challenges more openly. That’s one thing I feel strongly about.



Finally, I wish to refocus and concentrate our efforts to advocate for
positions that help promote access to knowledge and development. We can do
so while being open and outward looking so as to get others from civil
society outside ICANN interested in and supportive of NCUC’s work. I teach
a master class in new media and global journalism and I keep on telling my
students that ICANN is a corporation meant to serve the world and welcomes
input and ideas from outside ICANN. I want to prove that by highlighting
some of positions that we were able to enforce with the help of external
actors.



*2. Provide a brief biography of recent experience, associations, and
affiliations relevant to serving on the Executive Committee. Describe the
relevance of your personal and professional experience to serve on the NCUC
Executive Committee, and identify any conflicts of interests you might
have.*



Having graduated with a B.Sc. degree in computer engineering in 1998, I
started my career as a software developer before switching to journalism a
couple of years later when I became the editor-in-chief of Yemen Times,
Yemen’s most widely read English language newspaper and also managed
Yemen’s first newspaper website YemenTimes.com <http://yementimes.com/> .
In 2005, I moved to the US to write for the Wall Street Journal as an AFPF
Fellow before returning to Yemen and thereafter pursuing my higher studies
in global journalism. In 2007, I started
YemenPortal.net<http://yemenportal.net/>,
Arabic-language news aggregating and search website to highlight the many
news and opinion stories that get sidelined due to the domination of some
major governmental news websites. The website provided a platform for
dissident voices calling for change and an end to corruption, nepotism, and
oppression in Yemen, an Arab country that was ruled by a dictatorship for
over 33 years.



In 2008, the Yemeni regime led by former president Ali Abdullah Saleh,
blocked access to Yemen Portal in 2008 so it cannot be accessed inside
Yemen. In response, I started a project to combat Internet censorship not
only in Yemen, but across the world through a software that I created named
Alkasir <https://alkasir.com/> (see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkasir),
which is the Arabic word for 'the circumventor'. The software has been
installed over 80,000 in over a hundred countries, allowing activists and
citizens to access news and social media website blocked by authoritarian
regimes such as that of Syria, China, and Iran. My advocacy resulted in
getting a senior TED fellowship in 2012 and becoming part of the Cyber
Stewards Network of The Citizen Lab in Toronto, where I attend the annual
Cyber Dialogue Conference. I regularly take part in Internet conferences
and events such as the Stockholm Internet Forum, Arab IGF, and attended the
2013 IGF in Bali. I am also a member of the IGF’s Dynamic Coalition of
Freedom of Expression, and the IGF Caucus and I am currently doing
extensive research about Internet censorship in the Arab world.

I became quite involved in Internet governance on a regional level by being
part of the Multistakeholder Advisory Group of the Arab
IGF<http://igfarab.org/>and a Fellow of
ICANN <https://icann.org/>. More recently, I co-founded the ISOC-Yemen
Chapter<http://www.internetsociety.org/what-we-do/where-we-work/chapters/yemen-chapter>,
which I currently lead as president.

In 2011, I was appointed as the director of the Master of Global Journalism
at Orebro University in Sweden, where I taught post-graduate journalism
students, some from developing countries, how to utilize the Internet in
investigative journalistic tasks while providing them with skills necessary
to protect themselves from cybersecurity threats. I also founded the Sana'a
Hub <http://www.globalshapers.org/hubs/sanaa> in Yemen as part of the
Global Shapers Community, which is an initiative by the World Economic
Forum<http://weforum.org/>.
I am also the curator of Yemen's first TEDx conference
TEDxSanaa<http://tedxsanaa.com/> and
organized the event for two successive years in 2012, 2013.

I don’t believe I have any conflict of interest. Here’s more:
https://alkasir.com/doc/CV-Walid.pdf


*3. The EC performs several functional responsibilities for the
Constituency.  What level of time commitment can you bring to your EC role
on a weekly and overall basis?  Describe any concerns or limitations on
your ability to attend online meetings of the Executive Committee and ICANN
Meetings in person.*



I will strive to perform my tasks to the best of my ability, and dedicate
as much as I can for EC issues. I can’t guarantee minimum hours per week
particularly in the first quarter of 2014 due to a commitment to finish my
doctoral dissertation, but I can always find ways to finish what I start
even if I have to work harder and compensate at a later date. I am always
for transparency and openness that’s why I’ll be clear and let all know if
I have issues or difficulties. I’m heading to the next Singapore ICANN
Meeting # as an ICANN Fellow and will strive to be at the other meetings
when conditions permit. I will try to bring new perspectives and speak my
mind openly and discuss and share ideas and thoughts with others.



As this is my first ever nomination for an obligation within an ICANN
constituency, I will have a learning curve for sure and if selected, I
shall strive to learn from others and do the best I can, particularly in
the work of NCUC, which I’m passionate about.



*4. Communication with the membership is critical. How would you keep
members apprised of your EC-related activities?*



Email will be the method of choice and regular updates about my EC-related
activities will be sent to members in due course.


*5. How do you foresee NCUC’s function, scale, or role changing in the
future? What areas of ICANN policy, if any, need more attention and why? Be
concise (200 words maximum).*



I can only re-iterate what I mentioned above by emphasizing the need to
raise the privacy issue (WHOIS data protection), freedom of expression and
human rights issues (filtering and censorship) in a more dedicated and
strategic way. I also see the need to expand beyond local meetings and
interact more openly with outsiders and perhaps engage in activities with
the public at various forums that need not be organized by ICANN or the
IGF. I strongly believe that the balance between law enforcement and free
speech and privacy is importance policy issue for ICANN and it needs to be
developed and extensively re-assessed particularly in the wake of the
surveillance schemes happening within nations and across borders. Why? It’s
because people’s trust in the Internet as a means to communicate freely and
privately may erode over time. I think we should not be afraid or hesitant
to keep pressurizing ICANN to do something about it. We may not eventually
succeed but by continuously trying, we are meeting our obligation and
staying true to our principals. We owe that to the users.

Sincerely,

Walid

-----------------

Walid Al-Saqaf


On Sun, Dec 1, 2013 at 6:40 PM, Imran Ahmed Shah <ias_pk at yahoo.com> wrote:

> Dear All Fellows,
>
> With reference to NCUC Election 2013, please find herewith my Candidate
> Statement/ NCUC Nomination for the Election of EC – Asia and the Pacific. I
> hope you will support me. Your review comments are important for me.
>
> Name Imran Ahmed SHAH
> City of Residence:  Lahore
> Country of Residence:  Pakistan
> Nationality(ies)       Pakistan
> Stakeholder Group.  Civil Society Pakistan
> Region:  Asia-Pacific Group
>
> Job Title(s)/ Organization(s):
> Member  : Internet Governance Caucus (since 2009)
> Member : Best Bits
> Member : Diplo Internet Governance Community
> Member : ICANN’s NCUC (since 2009)
> Member : ICANN’s Fellowship Alumni (since 2009)
> Member : Internet Society
> Member (on behalf of Civil Society) & Executive Coordinator (Punjab): ICT
> Experts Panel
> National Technology Foresight Committee
> Founding President: Internet Governance Forum of Pakistan
> Founding President: Urdu Internet Society/ Linguistic Internet Council
> Founding / Contributor: Think Tank: Brains for Innovative Research
> Development & Strategic Studies
>
> My profile is also available on Diplo Internet Governance Community Blog
> url
> http://www.diplointernetgovernance.org/profiles/blogs/nomination-for-igf-mag-2014
>
>
> Candidate Statement for NCUC Nomination for EC Asia and Pacific:
>
> 1. Why do you want to serve on the EC?
>
> I would like to serve for the Internet Users Constituency, supporting
> developing economies in formation of new Internet layers for non-English
> linguistic communities. I am very much concerned with the Localized
> Internet, IDN TLDs and new gTLDs that may increase digitally divided
> segments significantly. I has been advocating for the Excellence in IDN
> base Internet Layers to avoid the intensification of digitally divided
> communities. I am forming a Global Consortium for Civilized Internet for
> Next Generation/ Innocent Minds and have successfully conducted a workshop
> on Governance for the Internet of Kids, Teenagers and Youngsters at APrIGF
> 2013 Seoul Conference http://igfpak.org/?p=410. I believe that I would be
> a quite relevant representative of Asia and the Pacific non-commercial
> Communities and Civil Societies representative at ICANN’s NCUC.
>
> 2. Provide a brief biography of recent experience, associations, and
> affiliations relevant to serving on the Executive Committee. Describe the
> relevance of your personal and professional experience to serve on the NCUC
> Executive Committee, and identify any conflicts of interests you might have.
>
> IAS Statement: MY BIOGRAPHY and Recent Experience and Association
> information is as follows:
>
> I belongs to a small city of Pakistan and have MBA (MIS) degrees.
> Professionally I am a technologist and serving ICT Industry since last 22
> years. I have creative mind and have interest in innovative Research &
> Development and also offering consultancy services in related fields.
>
> I am also serving in community as a Civil Society representative. When I
> applied my dynamic visionary skill to analyze National & Global Polices in
> Public Interest and tried to resolve the issues by preparing
> recommendations I found my abilities very successful in critical analysis,
> in forecasting about problems and developing the solutions to resolve
> barriers & obstacles. I have devoted nature which encouraged me to dedicate
> my spare time voluntarily to contribute in National & Global Policies
> Development processes, since many years. I established Linguistic Internet
> Council to unite Linguistic Internet User Communities and to form
> Linguistic Internet Layers with excellence. I also founded Urdu Internet
> Society (UISoc.org). On my nomination, UISoc representative also have
> served ICANN’s Independent Expert for Security, Stability and Resiliency of
> the DNS Review Team.
>
> I had been trying to convince ISOC Global to form state less global
> chapters for Linguistic Internet User Communities. In 2008-9 this proposal
> was rejected after a thorough review by ISOC, but recently, I have raised
> the same concern at APrIGF 2013 Seoul meeting requesting ISOC board to
> allow ISOC Global Chapters for Linguistic Internet Communities (non-English
> users) when ISOC is completed 20+ years with chapters for English users.
>
> I am actively participating in the discussions about the Global Internet
> Governance issues on various platform including WSIS/IGF, IGC, APrIGF,
> MDG/UN-GAID/ Diplo Internet Governance. Following the WSIS Tunis agenda, I
>  founded “Pakistan IGF (IGFPAK.org)”in 2010. I have conducted IGFPAK-2011
> Conference and engaged about 6 experts panels from different stakeholder
> sectors. I also organized IGF Remote Hubs 2011 & 2012 at International
> Islamic University, Islamabad. On behalf of UISOC & IGFPAK I have
> facilitating rejuvenation exercise of ISOC Pakistan Chapters and providing
> a common Hub isoc.org.pk. I am also member of ICT Experts Panel and
> Executive coordinator for National Technology Foresight Committee
> (representing Civil Society).
>
> Since 2006 I am also involved in ICANN Policy Development Process as
> public participation. I successfully convinced ICANN to remove 2-letters
> limitations of IDN ccTLD name script in Fast Track Program. I also read my
> papers for gTLDs conflict resolution at public forum of ICANN 36th Seoul
> Meeting. I am also promoting Information Security Professional and
> highlighting their support for workforce improvements and the nominees
> successfully recognized by the ISC2 Board and has won Asia-Pacific
> Information Security Leadership Awards (ISLA) since last three years.
>
> I am very much concerned with the Localized Internet, IDN TLDs and new
> gTLDs that may increase digitally divided segments significantly. I has
> been advocating for the Excellence in IDN base Internet Layers to avoid the
> intensification of digitally divided communities. I am forming a Global
> Consortium for Civilized Internet for Next Generation/ Innocent Minds and
> have successfully conducted a workshop on Governance for the Internet of
> Kids, Teenagers and Youngsters at APrIGF 2013 Seoul Conference
> http://igfpak.org/?p=410.
> Summary is available at url: Governance for the Internet of Kids,
> Teenagers and Youngsters
> I discussed about the awareness and mechanism of Online Security & Safety,
> Privacy & Human Rights for protection of users and definition about the
> safe and clean contents identification and delivery to the age base
> Internet users groups and constituencies. I also highlighted the
> obligations for Source Provides for abuse Internet Contents (such as
> pornography, hacking and phishing) and need for the global legislation
> against them. I requested to unite all global organizations who are working
> on the same theme for the safety & protection of kids from Online Threats,
> on a single platform to share their experience and deliver it to the
> Internet Communities jointly and globally. I support for the innovative
> ideas like dotKID(S), or dotBaby, Internet Address for each newborn baby,
> Separate Internet Devices, Browsers, search engine databases, Web/Mobile
> Apps for the age-base users like Kids, Teenagers and Youngsters. I
> inviteted Enhanced Cooperation among Internet Users Constituencies and all
> stakeholders to ensure that the standardization of code of ethics ‘بنیادی
> ضابطہ اخلاق’ is properly implemented according to the fundamental needs of
> the Internet Communities.
>
> I submit my nomination for “NCUC EC – Asia and the Pacific” election.
>
> 3. The EC performs several functional responsibilities for the
> Constituency.  What  level of time commitment can you bring to your EC role
> on a weekly and overall basis?  Describe any concerns or limitations on
> your ability to attend online meetings of the Executive Committee and ICANN
> Meetings in person.
>
> IAS Statement: To serve NCUC as EC – Asia and the Pacific I can spare 8-10
> hours weekly and have ability to attend Online Meetings of the Executive
> Committee and ICANN Meetings in person.
>
> 4. Communication with the membership is critical. How would you keep
> members apprised of your EC-related activities?
>
> IAS Statement: I will keep the members informed on weekly/monthly and
> periodically about the NCUC activates and/or whenever receive any query
> from the members. I will reduce the communication gap between community
> members and will keep them involved / participating with their point of
> view as well as policy development process.
>
> 5. How do you foresee NCUC’s function, scale, or role changing in the
> future? What areas of ICANN policy, if any, need more attention and why?
>  Be concise (200 words maximum).
>
> I foresee that NCUC can perform a pivot role as balancing factor in the
> Global Policies Development processes being the representation as a Civil
> Society with the membership of Non Commercial Constituencies/ Community
> Members. NCUC has been involved in Multi Stakeholders global discussions
> and exploring relationship between Internet governance policies, public
> interest and engagement of noncommercial stakeholders. Internet Governance
> issues and their implications for human rights, development and the
> democratic process is a key objective. It already has important role to
> elect GNSO Council representatives and ICANN’s Board.
>
> Thanking you and Best Regards
>
> Imran Ahmed Shah
>
>   ------------------------------
>  *From:* William Drake <wjdrake at gmail.com>
> *To:* "ncuc-discuss at lists.ncuc.org" <ncuc-discuss at lists.ncuc.org>
> *Cc:* Imran Ahmed Shah <ias_pk at yahoo.com>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, 20 November 2013, 20:14
> *Subject:* [NCUC-DISCUSS] NCUC Election 2013, Next Steps: Nominations
> List and Candidate Statements
>
> Hi
>
> The nomination period is now closed.  Here then are the current
> nominations:
>
> Position Nominees Nominator
>
> 1.  Chair   Bill Drake David Cake (12.11.13)
>
> 2.  EC – Europe Stefania Milan Self (12.11.13)
>
> 3.  EC - Africa Hago Dafalla Self (08.11.13)
>
> Grace Githaiga  Rafik Dammak (18.11.13)
>
> 4.  EC – Asia and the Pacific Peter Green (aka Zuan Zhang 张 钻) Self
> (10.11.13)
>
> Imran Ahmed Shah Self (09.11.13)
>
> Walid Al-Saqaf Brenden Kuerbis (18.11.13)
>
> Pranesh Prakash Self (19.11.13)
>
> 5.  EC – North America Roy Balleste   Brenden Kuerbis (13.11.13)
>
> 6.  EC – Latin America Carlos Affonso Pereira de Souza  Carlos Afonso
> (11.11.13)
>
>
> Many thanks to all who have participated in this process to date,
> including of course the colleagues who’ve decided not to continue.  We now
> move to the second stage of the process, which runs from today November 20
> to December 3.   During this time, candidates should indicate whether they
> accept their nominations, and if so, submit statements here on the listserv
> responding to the standard set of questions we’ve used in recent years.
>  These are as follows:
>
> *1. Why do you want to serve on the EC?*
>
> *2. Provide a brief biography of recent experience, associations, and
> affiliations relevant to serving on the Executive Committee. Describe the
> relevance of your personal and professional experience to serve on the NCUC
> Executive Committee, and identify any conflicts of interests you might
> have.*
>
> *3. The EC performs several functional responsibilities for the
> Constituency.  What  level of time commitment can you bring to your EC role
> on a weekly and overall basis?  Describe any concerns or limitations on
> your ability to attend online meetings of the Executive Committee and ICANN
> Meetings in person. *
>
> *4. Communication with the membership is critical. How would you keep
> members apprised of your EC-related activities?*
>
> *5. How do you foresee NCUC’s function, scale, or role changing in the
> future? What areas of ICANN policy, if any, need more attention and why?
>  Be concise (200 words maximum).*
>
> I suppose that for incumbent candidates these should be answered in a
> manner that is both backward and forward looking.
>
> Ok, back to ICANN BA…
>
> Best,
>
> Bill
>
> **********************************************************
> William J. Drake
> International Fellow & Lecturer
>   Media Change & Innovation Division, IPMZ
>   University of Zurich, Switzerland
> Chair, Noncommercial Users Constituency,
>   ICANN, www.ncuc.org
> william.drake at uzh.ch (w), wjdrake at gmail.com (h),
>   www.williamdrake.org
> ***********************************************************
>
>
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