[NCUC-DISCUSS] NCUC EC LAC Candidate Statement - Pedro Lana

[Pedro de Perdigão Lana]

Hi everyone, here is my statement for the NCUC EC LAC position.

I'll ask for your forgiveness if any of the answers have a substantial gap,
we are finishing the week-long Brazilian Internet Governance Forum, so most
of my time and energy is focused on that for now (:


   - * Why do you want to serve on the EC? *

I believe that the NCUC played a fundamental role in building the Domain
Name System (and the Internet in general) as we know it today, which seems
to have happened a lot due to the Herculean effort of these few people
resisting the attempts groups and individuals with much more resources and
power. I find the strength that the non-commercial has within ICANN
impressive compared to other IG spaces, which is a tradition that must be
preserved and, whenever possible, advanced. I would like to continue being
a part of it and, - most of all, I believe that maintaining what has been
built until now requires a lot of dedication, and I would love not only to
continue being a part of this process but also to encourage a more
internally harmonized and impactful non-commercial group.

   - * 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.*

I'm coming from an "interim mandate" at the NCUC EC, at a time when the LAC
community is finding it difficult to mobilize among the non-commercial
community. I believe that this period, although it was mainly marked by
being a learning period in this new role, was very fruitful regarding
results to the NCUC, especially in reaching new people from the Youth
programs and involving them in the NCUC and the NCSG, even from regions
other than LAC. Before joining the NCUC EC, I was (and still am) on the
board of the Brazilian chapter of the Internet Society, Creative Commons
Brasil and the Instituto Observatório do Direito Autoral ("Copyright
Observatory Institute", an NGO).
Before that, I was on ISOC Youth SIG (now Youth SG) board from 2020-2022. I
am the current coordinator (although this is a formal position, we share
the real coordination among a small group of 7 people) of the YouthLACIGF
and, until recently, the local coordinator/focal point of the 2024
Brazilian NRI ("Fórum da Internet no Brasil").
Regarding possible conflicts of interest, I don't believe there are any to
declare. However, for transparency reasons (the info is in my SOI as well),
I currently work as legal counsel at NIC.br, the ".br" ccTLD registry - but
I do not represent the organization within ICANN, and my efforts here are
focused on non-commercial objectives, considering my civil society and
academic background.

   - * 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 have 3 hours of my week reserved for ICANN work while being able to
allocate a few more hours depending on the need and having enough time to
plan in advance. Like many others in this constituency and Stakeholder
Group, I have a tight schedule, but the experience with these few months at
the EC has shown that adequate planning and really using the reserved time
for focused ICANN work is sufficient. When there is a supervening conflict
of agenda, I let my EC colleagues know in advance, then watch the recording
and contribute asynchronously.

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

I believe that we, as an EC, have not been communicating enough with the
community, and this should change. As elected representatives, it is
important to enhance transparency and proper reporting on the activities
carried out, so that we can be held accountable by the group we represent.
A few weeks ago, I suggested and we approved in the NCUC EC that we
implement a mechanism of continuous reporting of our activities, detailing
who is doing what, so the community can follow the level of engagement of
their representatives and what are the results they are delivering.

   - * 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?
   Incumbent candidates should answer in a manner that is both backward and
   forward-looking, i.e. taking note of their contributions and work in the
   previous year. *

I do not think NCUC's essential objectives or roles will be changing
profoundly in the next few years. A few large tasks, especially in the
policy field and developed together with the NCSG, are still ongoing and
need to be continued. However, I believe three important things need to be
changed or improved: (i) compared to our history, there is a visible
necessity of recovering an image of experts in certain important subjects,
so capacity building and documentation of previous positions are essential;
(ii) more cooperation and joint activities between different parts and
members of the NCSG as a whole; (iii) more activities in between ICANN
Meetings, so we don't lose the engagement momentum that exists right after
the face-to-face encounters.

Cordially,

*Pedro de Perdigão Lana*
Lawyer <https://www.nic.br/>, GEDAI/UFPR <https://www.gedai.com.br/>
Researcher
PhD Candidate (UFPR), LLM in Business Law (UCoimbra)
Board Member @ CC Brasil <https://br.creativecommons.net/>, ISOC BR
<https://isoc.org.br/> and IODA <https://ioda.org.br/>
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