CANDIDATE SUPPLIED INFORMATION FOR 2008 MAG NOMINATIONS

AFRICA

Sheraan Amod

Short Bio relevant to IG

Sheraan Amod is a young entrepreneur currently based in Cape Town, South Africa. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Cape Town, where he specialized in wireless telecoms. His student interests now continue at Stellenbosch University (South Africa) where he is doing research towards his Master of Science degree in Engineering Management, this time focusing on collaborative Internet trends and technologies that can be applied to enterprise level organizations. His entrepreneurial interests began at the age of 18, when he started the innovative student marketing company Trafik Student Networks. He has recently founded a new company which is in the early stages of developing proprietary social media technologies and products.

Amod’s involvement in Internet Governance began in 2007, where he joined the pre-IGF youth eroundtable discussions hosted by DiploFoundation and Mindset Networks. His contributions there resulted in the award of an ITU fellowship to attend the IGF in Rio de Janeiro as a DiploFoundation youth representative. At the IGF, he made various interventions during certain discussions, and cemented his constructive interest in IG. Amod’s key focus areas were emerging issues, youth involvement in IG, and economic trends in the information society. Being an entrepreneur, he feels that greater private sector involvement in IG is crucial if more rapid progress is to be made. His strong relationship with DiploFoundation continues, as he is a student in their Internet Governance Capacity Building Programme, and also acts as their expert advisor on all issues related to online social networking, developing best practices and helping to Diplo to achieve maximum virtual community interaction and visibility. Aside from his activity with Diplo, Amod’s civil society activities extend into areas including leadership, engineering, human rights and international law. He has worked as a facilitator at the International Youth Leadership Conference in Prague, been Vice-Chairman of the IEEE student branch at his university, and coorganized various conferences in South Africa. He believes in pursuing a pragmatic, high visibility approach to IG, where inter-disciplinary thinking is combined with effective actions, in order to create tangible outcomes in the real world. In his free time, he enjoys sipping a good coffee on his balcony in Cape Town, and thinking about far future technology trends in the 21st century.



What specific skills or experiences do you have that make you a good candidate for the MAG

I believe that I would be able to add value to the MAG for the following important reasons:

across several areas including business, technology, politics and global society. I have developed an integrative, widely applicable skill set by working in NGOs, start-ups, and large corporations, both in South Africa and abroad.

organisational environment. I particularly excel at systems thinking and dealing with complexity, whilst at the same time understanding problem requirements and the need to output tangible solutions that can meet the challenges we face.

Communication Technology, and am able to use this knowledge to add clarity to discussions in certain areas of IG. I am also highly familiar with the “softer” aspects of the Internet and information society.

at the IGF in 2007, as well as with DiploFoundation on various IG-related projects and discussions. This fact, combined with my entrepreneurial experience and technical education in fields strongly linked to the information society have enabled me to create my own, different (but constructive) take on what international IG strategy should look like. I believe that new types of thinking are required as an additional element to the global IG process, so that the perception of the importance of IG by the general public (and private institutions) is increased. Moreover, current IG strategy should be tailored to ensure that important forums like the IGF are taken more seriously by the global community, and the outputs of such events made to create a greater impact on global issues.

MAG, viz. strategic thinking, communicating and interpersonal skills, good technical and analytical ability, and am also able to generate and implement high-value, original ideas. I have a passion for the field of Internet Governance, and agree strongly with the positions of the IGC charter. I know that joining the MAG will allow me to deploy myself to worthwhile projects with enthusiasm and vigour, and in doing so make a solid contribution to the IG community.



Other Information and References

My professional online profile, detailing past work, experience and recommendations can be found at this URL: http://www.linkedin.com/in/sheraanamod

The following referees can be contacted in support of my application:



Ezendu Ariwa

Short Bio relevant to IG

Ezendu Ariwa is a Senior Lecturer in Strategic Information Systems at London Metropolitan University, United Kingdom. He also holds the position of Visiting Professor in Management Sciences and Computer Science at the Karakurum International University, Pakistan and also held the position of Visiting Professor of Management Information Systems and Global Communications at the European School of Economics, London.

He is an Assistant Editor and member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the International Applied Management, Journal and International Applied Human Resources Management Journal; the Computing Review Journal and Executive Peer Reviewer for Educational Technology & Society responsible for the review of Journal of International Forum of Educational Technology & Society and IEEE Learning Technology Task Force.

Ezendu is a Chartered member of the British Computer Society (CITP, MBCS) and a Fellow of the Institute of Information Technology Training (FIITT). He is also a Member of the Elite Group of The British Computer Society (BCS). Ezendu is also a member of British Institute of Facilities Management (MBIFM). He has published various articles in the areas of Information Systems, Knowledge Management, E-Commerce, E-Learning and Technology Enhanced Learning, Informatics Efficacy & Enterprise and Facilities Management. He is Member of Board of Governors at the Homerton University Teaching Hospital, UK. He is a Member of Policy Co-ordination Committee of the International Research Foundation for Development (A Corporation of NGO in SPECIAL Consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations)

7. What specific skills or experiences do you have that make you a good candidate for the MAG

My experience from University collaborative partnership, community involvement, widening participation and network development programmes; and University research potentials using information systems and financial services expertise will complement my practical orientation and act as valuable asset towards effective service delivery and customer relationship management in the applied discipline.

I have served in academic, business and community forum groups for University Diversity Directorate; and I hold Visiting Professorship and Editorial positions as shown in my bios.

These skills will bring valuable experience and expertise dissemination in the entrepreneurship Education and applied business disciplines.











Dawit Bekele

Application subsequently withdrawn


Ken Lohento

Biography

Ken Lohento, has been engaged in ICT4D policy activities in Africa for 10 years in various capacities in national and international civil society or inter-governmental institutions.

He is presently Coordinator of the ICT Programme of the Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA, based in Senegal), where he manages ICT policies and oversees initiatives on various issues including media and ICTs, multi-stakeholder engagement in ICT policy processes, research and development in the ICT field, African participation in the WSIS process, universal access, internet governance, etc. PIWA collaborates with several key African media and ICT policy focussed organisations, including the two NGOs he founded (Oridev in Benin and Iafric), ISOC-Benin, APC, ACSIS, UNDP-Benin, UNESCO-Paris, and Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie.

Mr Lohento actively contributed to the various phases of the WSIS process, and is member of the African Civil Society for the Information Society (ACSIS) network and the Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus. Mr Lohento was born in Benin and holds a Master of Research degree in Information Sciences (Universite Paris X - France).



Statement on past involvement in the MAG

Mr Lohento was appointed as a member of the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group of IGF in 2006 and wishes to continue serving as a MAG member. The following statement was submitted by Mr. Lohento.

“I participated in the majority of the MAG meetings (some 5 out of 7 meetings, with the financial support of La Francophonie (OIF). I sent about 30 contributions/messages to the MAG list since the beginning, notably on important debates and for example when a decision is being taken.

I helped during IGF summits in Rio and Athens, notably by moderating a best practice forum, helping coordinate the selection of speakers, being responsible for the transmission of francophone remote contributions, etc. I did my best to promote CS and developing countries involvement in panels/sessions organized during IGF.

I have regularly informed stakeholders about MAG activities: I interacted when needed with the IGC list and more frequently with the African stakeholders (notably through key e-lists) where I felt there was a greater need to disseminate information and interact. I interacted regularly with CS MAG members to refine CS position within the framework of MAG meetings. Through my work at PIWA, I undertook various activities aiming at fostering African (CS and beyond) understanding of, and participation in IG (workshop, production of documents on IG, etc.), a really challenging issue in the current context.

APC supports the nomination of Mr Lohento to continue serving on the MAG, at the pleasure of the UN Secretary General, as he brings an African CS perspective to the IGF process, and importantly, a francophone African perspective – and experience of working on the ground in capacity building and policy work in relation to ICTD and IG issues. He has contributed to building awareness about the IGF in national and regional processes and is committed to building on that work in the coming years, including a regional IGF prior to the Cairo IGF in 2009.

Edgard Mandrault


BIOGRAPHIE

Je m’appelle Edgard MANDRAULT et je suis né le 14 novembre 1965 à Port-Gentil (Gabon). Dans mon pays le Gabon, je suis un acteur de la société civile dans la promotion des Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (TIC) depuis plusieurs années. Mes études supérieures ont été sanctionnées par une maîtrise en sciences et techniques de la communication.

J’ai été impliqué dès 1996 dans la mise en place de l’Internet au Gabon à travers le Projet PNUD SDNP (Sustenable Development Network Program) en qualité d’assistant du Coordonnateur de ce programme pendant 4 ans. Puis je suis cofondateur du chapitre gabonais de Internet Society (ISOC). Association dans laquelle, j’ai milité pour l’accès des économiquement faibles aux TIC.

Par la suite, nous avons créé avec le soutien de la Francophonie, l’Association Gabonaise des utilisateurs des Logiciels Libres et Linux (AG3L) en 2000, avec laquelle nous avons travaillé aux côtés du Gouvernement Gabonais pour la participation de mon pays dans le processus du SMSI.

Dans le cadre du SMSI, j’ai pris part à l’ensemble du processus par le canal de mon organisation et d’autres associations africaines. Dans ce cadre, j’ai pris part dans de nombreux caucus notamment ceux de la diversité culturelle, du multilinguisme, de l’accès aux TIC, de la gouvernance de l’Internet. Avec d’autres collègues africains et autres, nous avons contribué à faire des propositions.

Puis actuellement, je suis membre et expert de ACSIS ainsi que du Conseil d’Orientation du CIPACO. Au cours de toutes ces expériences mais également de mes participations à de nombreux forums internationaux dans le cadre de la société de l’information, nous avons intervenu et pris position dans les aspects concernant le fossé numérique, l’accès des TIC aux pays du sud, les problèmes de contenus, la gouvernance de l’Internet…

Pour ce qui concerne la gouvernance de l’Internet et notamment le dernier forum du FGI, nous avons apporté des contributions et notamment dans la diversité linguistique et culturelle dans le cadre d’ACSIS. Je suis expert TIC auprès de l’Institut de la Francophonie Numérique, Adjoint au Responsable de la communication de l’Association Africaine des utilisateurs des Logiciels Libres.

Natasha Primo

Biography

Natasha Primo is a feminist ICT for development and social justice practioner and advocate based in Johannesburg. Currently, she is responsible for coordinating and building capacity for national ICT policy advocacy among member organisations of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC). She is also responsible for spearheading the APC's engagement with Access to Knowledge (A2K) issues and advocacy spaces, and developing partnerships for implementing A2K-related activities.

Formerly, she was the Executive Director of Women'sNet, an NGO that seeks to build capacity among women's rights and development structures to use ICT strategically both in South(ern) Africa and beyond. WomensNet is a member of the APC. In addition to her executive management experience, her earlier experiences include coordinating one of the earliest South African women's and gender studies postgraduate academic programmes at a South African university as well as coordinating research capacity building initiatives and facilitating access to research grants supplied by the National Research Foundation. Her organisational oversight and governance experience spans both ICT organisations and well as feminist NGOs, including time spent on the board for APC and the African Women's Development and Communication Network (FEMNET).



Current tasks/roles within the information society arena:

Her contributions to the information society arena have been mainly been through work in the Africa-region and in the gender caucuses which operated during WSIS phases I and II. Currently, her role as APC National ICT Policy Advocacy Coordination is to help implement processes and strategies to support national level ICT policy work of APC members in Africa, Asia-Pacific, North America and Latin America as well as Europe and the CEE countries. As the person leading APC's work around A2K, she is responsible for exploring and implementing APC's emerging engagement working around A2K, as well as coordinating strategic alliances with international agencies working on these issues. Where she is based in South Africa, her ICT policy advocacy work with APC members and partners has evolved around two areas - advocacy for affordable access to broadband, as well as critically assessing IP enforcement practices and countervailing efforts by 'pirates' to create new forms and channels for content sharing.



Rationale for nomination to the MAG

The representation of women and people from developing country contexts on the MAG was felt to be less than balanced. If elected, her participation will help mitigate these challenges within/of the MAG. She is committed to advancing civil society perspectives in multi-stakeholder spaces, and has demonstrated capacity to be inclusive and consultative in developing and presenting CS perspectives and positions. Her approach will - as a matter of course - include information sharing and consultation with the IGC.

Michel Towa Koh

TOWA KOH Michel

Additional Information

The C.F.T.I. (Centre de Formation aux Techniques Informatiques) that I created 13 years ago and which to date has trained more than 1,000 young people to ICT, is accredited to the WSIS since September 2005. Since that date I have participated in several events related to the WSIS and initiated a number of actions:



ACTIVITIES

- Elected to the post of coordinator of the National Network of Civil Society for Information Technology - Jan 2006 - Creation of the newsletter: « La lettre camerounaise des TIC » February 2007 ;( http://gtounsi.free.fr/acsisletter/index.php) - Member of the organizing committee of internet festival



ACTIVITIES OF THE ACEFIC



WHY I WILL BE A GOOD REPRESENTATIVE OF CIVIL SOCIETY IN THE MAG?

Name and details of one African candidate withheld at candidates request

ASIA-PACIFIC

Qusai Al-Shatti


Details withheld at applicant’s request.


Izumi Aizu

Short Bio relevant to IG

In summary, I have rich experience in promoting the users and civil society's interests into the policy debate process around Internet and Information Society since early 1990s. Followings are my specific involvement in these areas.

I have been involved with the research and active promotion of the use of Computer Networking since mid 1980's, mostly focusing on community and citizen empowerment. I have "evangelized" the Internet in Japan and in Asia Pacific region in the 1990s through Center for Global Communications (GLOCOM) at the International University of Japan since 1992 and with the Institute for HyperNetwork Society since 1993 to date, where I serve as Deputy Director.

I have also involved with the formation process of ICANN since 1997, became a member of its AtLarge Advisory Committee (ALAC) since 2003 after its so-called Reform to promote voices of Individual users into ICANN process.

I have participated in the G8 Digital Opportunity Task Force from 2000 to 2002, representing Japanese NPO with specific focus on supporting developing country participation into new policy field of Internet and ICT. We brought the "Internet Governance" issues into the formal policy debate of the international community.

Since 2002, I have participated in the WSIS process from its first PrepCom, supported civil society participation in WSIS Tokyo regional meeting in 2003 and 2005. In 2004 I initiated the Internet Governance Task Force of Japan (IGTF-J) with Japan's Internet community, together with some non-profit institutions and my organization, Institute for HyperNetwork Society became the secretariat for this Task Force.

In 2006, I continued to participate in the ongoing Internet Governance Forum (IGF) at Athens and in Rio de Janeiro in 2007. I have organized a workshop on IPv4 and v6 at the Rio IGF together with Japanese Internet community organizations as well as international bodies such as NRO and ISOC.



Why the (self)nominee is a good choice for the MAG

Izumi Aizu has good understanding of the complex nature of Internet Governance issues, experience in participating in Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus since its beginning, understands the Asian views and values which are sometimes different than those of other regions, have good network with people – knows most of the key players both within Civil Society as well as with government and business people.

My capacity to communicate across geographic and cultural boundaries and promote civil society interest in a constructive manner with other sectors will contribute to the overall IGF process as well as to the interest of the Civil Society.

Since the next IGF will be held in India, Izumi's experience and networking with Asian people and organizations related to Internet and Civil Society activities will be a great advantage to the IGF. He has lived in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia since 1997 to 2000 and traveled to many Asia-Pacific destinations.

My work arrangement is flexible, have no day-to-day operation duty, thus I am able to handle the workload required for the MAG work. Though I am not a native English speaker and have less ability in reading and writing English documents, I still am confident in my capacity to handle the email traffic.



His profile can be found at:

http://www.ni.tama.ac.jp/izumi/e/cat_profile.html

Iffat Rose Gill



3. Nationality: Pakistan

4. Country of Residence: Pakistan

5. Gender: Female

6. Short Bio relevant to IG:

 

I am a social activist based in Pakistan with educational background in Pharmacy. My major interests include youth rights and their involvement in decision making. Trainings include Internet Governance Capacity Building Program 2007 & Electronic Voting Course, Diplo Foundation-Malta, NGO Management and Technical Training Programs-Awaz, Pakistan and Peace Building trainings.  

I am currently working as Chief Executive with Peoples Development Organization, Pakistan. Previously worked as technical advisor with Justice and Peace Commission, Pakistan, Tehsil Youth Coordinator with Awaz Pakistan and Master Trainer/Facilitator-Punjab Education Foundation, Pakistan. 

 

I am focal point of Diplo Foundation for youth and IG issues. I am also  member of Expert Forum-Pakistan Telecommunication Authority, Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Youth Caucus Working Group: Sustainable Development-Land; World summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), International Young Professionals Foundation, Australia. I was ITU Fellow 2007 for Internet Governance Forum 2007, Rio and Diplo fellow for Global Knowledge partnership event GK3.

 

I have been involved with compiling and co-authored the following papers;Youth and Internet Governance Strategy (Diplo Foundation), Civic Participation and Youth Involvement(Diplo Fondation), Position paper on Sustainable Development: Land-Working Group of Youth Caucus-WSSD,Impact of ICTs on Human Rights Situation of Pakistan- (Peoples Development Organization/Human Rights Commission of Pakistan) 



AlaaAlDin Jawad Kadhem AlRadhi

Short Bio relevant to IG


7. What specific skills or experiences do you have that make you a good candidate for the MAG

Jeremy Malcolm

Short Biography relevant to IG

Jeremy Malcolm has recently completed his PhD thesis in law on 'Multi- Stakeholder Public Policy Governance and its Application to the Internet Governance Forum', and is about to publish a book on the same topic with a somewhat expanded and updated treatment. He has been involved in Internet governance at a local level since 1996, as a member of the Australian Public Access Network Association (becoming its national Secretary in 1998), an Executive Committee member of the Western Australian Internet Association, and a Director of ISOC-AU since 2001. He also chairs a Taskforce of Australia's Internet Industry Association responsible for the development of Australia's co- regulatory Internet Industry Spam Code of Practice. Prior to commencing his doctoral studies Jeremy was the principal of an IT law firm and the manager of an Internet consultancy. In his spare time Jeremy enjoys developing Web sites (such as http://igfwatch.org/) and participating as a volunteer developer for Debian GNU/Linux.



What specific skills or experiences do you have that make you a good candidate for the MAG?

In his own words, "I would have two priorities within the MAG, informed by my research and my practical experience within other Internet governance organisations. Rather than attempting the wholesale structural reform of the IGF as I have advocated in my thesis, my priorities in practice will begin more modestly. The first of these would be to create spaces for discussion that have a more deliberative character than those we have seen to date at the IGF's annual meetings, with a greater capacity to create understanding and closer consensus between stakeholders by requiring them to engage with each others' views in a small group setting. Such spaces should be made available not only at the annual meetings but also on intersessionally through online means. My second priority will be to secure funding to support the work of a team dedicated to the development of such online spaces and their two-way integration with the IGF's annual meeting. I have begun this work as a founder of the IGF's Online Collaboration Dynamic Coalition and the principal developer of http://igf-online.net, but without the Secretariat's support (financial or otherwise) it has been difficult to make progress."

Shahid Mallick

Short Bio relevant to IG

Mr. Mallick (b. 10 nov. 1968) known as civil society activist researcher. Graduated with (Hons) in Anthropology and Masters in Anthropology in the year 1990 and 1991, he also did post graduate diploma in development planning from Bangladesh. He was involved with number of community mobilization and awareness program i.e rights and justices, health, environment and climate change. He is involved with Netzkrfat internet movement (www.netzkraft.net), free press.net, anti slavery international, ammdo.net (www.ammado.com) ISF information society forum, www.SALTO-YOUTH.net/mySALTO/ and CIPAST. His ongoing research projects are 1.ICT4D and women empowerment in Bangladesh, 2 Communication and Child Rights Development (a project with under prvelised children) He was a team member research on Including the Excluded: Information: Communication and capacity building for women empowerment. He is experienced in participatory training management and organization.



What specific skills or experiences do you have that make you a good candidate for the MAG

The specific skill Mr. Mallick can be identify as, he has more than 15 years practical experience to work with grass roots people and community in Bangladesh including indigenous people in Bangladesh. Have strong relation with civil society groups, academicians, grass roots NGOs in Bangladesh. I do believe that if I got chance to involved with the civil society internet governance course. I can serve better in this filed.

Adam Peake

Biography

I am currently a member of the MAG, recommended by APC and the IGC in 2006.

I work at the Center for Global Communications (GLOCOM), a research institute in Tokyo. We are part of the International University of Japan (IUJ), a post graduate MA/MBA school. My work at GLOCOM focuses on public policy and the Internet, promoting information and communication technologies in society, telecommunications and broadband policy, and Internet governance. I teach a course at IUJ "Electronic Media Governance and Policy Issues" for MBA students one term each year.

I was co-coordinator of the WSIS Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus from the end of the Geneva Summit to shortly after the Tunis Summit (approx. December 2003 to February 2006.)

I have been involved in Internet policy since the early 1990s. There have been two constants in my work, first supporting and advocating for the fundamental principle of openness that distinguishes the Internet from other communications media. Second, encouraging participation in the Internet, both through activities to get people, organizations, companies, government, etc. online (in the early and mid 1990s), and later the adoption of broadband, and since the mid-1990s encouraging broad and meaningful participation in the processes and activities that help shape the Internet and ICTs, i.e. Internet governance.



What specific skills or experiences do you have that make you a good candidate for the MAG

As an "incumbent" MAG member I should talk from that perspective. I have tried to make the IGF work in line with what I understand to be the goals of civil society. As one of the coordinators of the IGC during the Tunis phase when CS proposed and championed the concept of a Forum, I believe I have a good understanding of CS' fundamental concerns. To that end I have tried to ensure issues such as critical Internet resources, rights and Internet governance (e.g. openness and free speech, privacy), affordable and equitable access have been on the agenda, and we continue to try and address the mandate of the IGF. I have tried to ensure CS and all stakeholders are equals within the IGF with the same right to speak and to be heard.

While I have a strong personal interest in issues such as CIR and access, I don't belive a MAG member should champion their own causes. I have tried to listen to the IGC and other CS organizations and make sure their issues (their workshops, their themes) are on the agenda and properly represented.

I have a good understanding of a broad range of Internet and communications policy issues. If I don't know enough about an issue I am pretty sure to know someone who does. I am able to bring this knowledge to the MAG where an enormous range of topics are discussed. I have a good understanding of these issues and the people (and organizational backgrounds) of the people discussing them. This knowledge helps me effectively represent CS issues and concerns.

I work well in a committee/working group environment. I work hard, which I believe earns respect of colleagues in the MAG. I respect other MAG members' views and help when I can. I take the initiative when things need to be done (which is often in the IGF: under funded, under resourced and always lacking time.) I can argue persuasively for positions I know to be important, but I am not dogmatic. I want the multi-stakeholder IGF to be successful, I particularly want the multi-stakeholder model to progress.

Being a middle-aged, white, native-English speaking male living in an OECD country is not a very diverse CS profile. But I have good international experience and a strong global human network that I can call on for support.

I understand the time commitment required of being a MAG member, have the resources to participate in the MAG consultations and annual IGF meeting.

Y. J. Park

Short Bio relevant to IG


7. What specific skills or experiences that makes nominee a good candidate for the MAG:

YJ Park was actively engaged with a various levels of Internet governance discussions and debates both nationally and globally since 1999 as one of Asian Civil Society participants until she decided to pursue her Ph.D on Internet Governance at School of Information Studies, Syracuse University in 2003.

She created the WG Review process to conduct review on DNSO of ICANN when she served on Names Council and submitted the WG Review report to the ICANN board asking for changes. She has raised awareness on Multilingual Domain Names internationally at a time when the Internet community was not ready to embrace the concept of multilingual DNS since 2000 until she stepped down from CEO of MINC in 2002.

As founder of WSIS Civil Society Internet Governance Cuacus (February 2003) during the first PrepCom of the WSIS, she continuously contribued to presenting the visions for IGC when IGC was drawn to other international issues.

Her doctoral dissertation, The Political Economy of Country Code Top Level Domains, investigated the correlations between ccTLD actors' participation in the ICANN regime and global market orientation and GAC actors' participation in the ICANN framework and state control of 35 ccTLDs - OECD member states including European Union and Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC) countries.

This study found there is positive correlation between ccTLD actors' participation in the ICANN framework and their global market orientation while there is negative correlation between GAC actors' participation in the ICANN framework and state control over their ccTLDs.

As a result of these revealing findings, questions were raised as to why countries such USA, those in EU and Australia whose representation in the ICANN leadership predominates, tended exercise more state control over their ccTLDs based on contractual relationship with the ccTLD operators when at the very same time, they promote the "norm" of less state control to other ICANN members.

With her extensive field work of Internet governance from 1999 to 2005 with numerous Internet governance organizations as one of Asian Civil Society members and her academic training of Internet governance will make her a strong candidates for the 2008 MAG.

Most of all, she has the guts and gumption to think and act independently, and to follow through on her convictions without fear or favour.

Lutfor Rahman

Short Bio relevant to IG

Professor Lutfor Rahman is currently employed as Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the Stamford University Bangladesh. Before joining this university, he served the Pundra University of Science and Technology at Bogra, Bangladesh as Vice-Chancellor. He was appointed in January 2003 on approval of the President of the country for a term of 4 years. He also served the University of Science and Technology at Chittagong as pro-vice-chancellor for two years. He served the institute of science and technology at Dhaka as deputy director for 4 years. He started his career as lecturer in Physics on approval of the public service first commission of East Pakistan in 1970.

Professor Rahman has academic, industrial as well as research experience with U.S. Geological Survey (U.S.Govt) and Sanyo Electronics co. (Japan) for ten years. He has been organizing research and training programs on ICT, eGovernance, digital divide, Telemedicine under sponsorship of Commonwealth Science Council (CSC) based in London and ministry of Science and technology, govt. of Bangladesh. He is the executive director of the Association for Advancement of Information Technology (AAIT), a non-government organization registered with the Prime Minister's NGO affairs bureau govt. of the peoples' republic of Bangladesh and established in 1996. He is the founder of an ICT based university in a remote village in Bangladesh


7. What specific skills or experiences do you have that make you a good candidate for the MAG. He is directly involved with ICT related development global activities since 1996. He has participated more than three dozen ICT related events in 5 continents.

Suresh Ramasubramanian

Short Bio relevant to IG

I have been active in IG from a mix of policy, technical and civil society perspectives, originally arising from my interest in fighting spam I founded the Indian and Asiapac chapters of CAUCE, the largest civil society antispam group in the world and a member of the stopspamalliance.org dynamic coalition that brings together international organizations, industry and civil society groups against spam. In my role as vice chair of the management committee and fellowships chair for the APRICOT conference, I help provide fellowships to the next generation of the network operator's community in the asiapac region, as well as interacting with network operators, registrars, ISPs, asiapac CERTs as well as APNIC, that organize meetings during the APRICOT conference.

I was also active in initial community efforts to set up an Internet Exchange Point in India and educate local ISPs (though to be frank, the end result - http://www.nixi.in - is the result of political turmoil and not something that's very effective or that I am proud of)

For the last few years, I am one of the moderators of India-GII (http://lists.cpsr.org/lists/info/india-gii) - a list that discusses telecom, ICT and GII issues related to India.



What specific skills or experiences do you have that make you a good candidate for the MAG

I have over a decade of experience that cuts across the policy, technical and civil society sectors and involves helping coordinate different organizations across these groupings, and cooperating to help build capacity among government, industry and civil society on various aspects of botnet mitigation, in my current project, a botnet mitigation initiative for ITU-D, http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/cyb/cybersecurity/projects/botnet.html

Note: Addressing the issue of botnets also addresses the issue of online safety, secure access to ICTs, building confidence in the online economy etc - though a part of WSIS action line C5, there are several related activities, especially several civil society initiatives, under action lines C2/C4/C6, that are especially relevant.


Full Bio at http://www.hserus.net/wiki/index.php/Resume

LATIN AMERICA

Patrick Atti

Info

Patrick Attié holds an Engineering Degree in Electronics from the "Ecole Supérieure d'Electronique de l'Ouest" (ESEO), Angers, France, as well as a Master in Computer Science from Georges Washington University (GWU), Washington DC, USA. Patrick Attié has been involved, for the last 12 years in Haïti, with Higher Education. He has co founded a Computer Science institution that has now more than 900 students and is the only institution in Haiti dedicated to teaching Computer Science at the University level. He has been teaching "networking technologies" and "principles of operating systems" for years. Patrick was also involved in creating the "Sustainable Development Networking Program", today called "Réseau de Développement Durable Haïtien". Patrick is currently developing new programs in collaboration with French Universities as well as with the University of Virginia Tech in the USA.

He has also been deeply involved with many private sector associations as the Vice-President of the French Haitian chamber of Commerce and Industry (CFHCI), the President of the Foundation of Industries of Haiti (FONDIH), a member of the Board of the Haitian Association for the development of the ICTs (AHTIC), the Vice-President of the Board of HAITITEC, the only Professional Institute in Haiti funded by the Private Sector. Patrick is also a member of the Presidential Commission on Education and Professional Training (GTEF="Groupe de Travail sur l'Education et la Formation Professionnelle").

For the last 4 years, he has been deeply involved in establishing, in Haiti, some Hi Tech capabilities as he strongly believes in the opportunities offered by High Added Value technologies for developing countries like Haiti as a shortcut for economic growth. As an example, he established an operation entirely incubated by ESIH, that develops applications using the technologies of Virtual Reality. This operation has two vocations: a spin off that aims at developing commercial Virtual Reality applications, and the launching, in October2008, of a Master in Technological Innovation and Virtual Reality. An investment of 200,000 US$ was entirely financed by ESIH and a team of 5 ESIH alumni, holding a Master degree in Virtual reality from the French partner university (called ISTIA) are currently working in the lab. Patrick has made many conferences on technological innovation.

Valeria Betancourt

Biography

Valeria Betancourt is an activist in the field of ICTs for development and social justice. Her work in the last seven years has focused on ICT policies and internet rights in the context of development countries. Since 2003 she has coordinated the Communication and Information Policy Programme in Latin America of the Association for Progressive Communications, APC. As part of APC's staff, she participated intensively in both phases of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process and has followed actively the regional eLAC process since its beginning. She is a member of the eLAC2007 Creative Industries and Content Working Group. Ms Betancourt has extensive experience in facilitating engagement of civil society organizations in ICT policy processes in national, regional and global levels. During the WSIS process she co-facilitated the Latin America and the Caribbean Civil Society Caucus. She also worked closely with the official administrations of Ecuador to orientate national participation in the Summit and contributed to formulate national positions for the eLAC process. She was invited to be part of the national delegation of Ecuador for the WSIS in Tunis 2005. She has worked as a consultant of UN bodies and national ICD networks around communication and information policies as well as ICT policy advocacy. Ms Betancourt supported APC's work in both editions of the Internet Governance Forum, in Athens and Rio de Janeiro. She has been actively coordinating content production and dissemination strategies in Spanish to keep the Latin American civil society groups informed about the IGF process through APC's specialized websites, newsletters and blogs.

Ms Betancourt speaks in diverse forums and events in Latin America and participates in non-governmental and intergovernmental events related to Information Society and information and communication for development matters. She is part of the APC Women's Networking Support Programme and is collaborating to adapt gender tools (as the Gender Evaluation Methodology, GEM) to national ICT policy process. She has published articles in national, regional and global magazines and books around information society issues.

Ms Betancourt's background is in Sociology and Political Science.

Ms Betancourt's work on ICT policies has addressed information society issues both from theory and practice through supporting research, content production, ICT policy advocacy strategies, building capacities, and networking in order to facilitate the involvement of civil society organizations in process like WSIS, IGF, eLAC. She has been also working to connect ICT policy global and regional process with national ones.

Ms Betancourt has promoted consensus building among diverse stakeholders in Latin America to reach common agendas and positions in relation to ICT policy interventions at different levels.

She is familiar with IGF issues and process. Ms Betancourt is interested in contributing to IGF progress and the fulfilment of its mandate. She would like to work towards cementing the idea of a regional IGF in Latin America that can be the platform of multiple stakeholders for policy dialogue,learning, collective action, building partnership and problem solving around national and regional priorities on internet governance.

Raul Echeberría


He has worked as a private consultant both at national as well as at international level and he has taught courses at different universities and events held within the region.

Mr. Echeberría is frequently a presenter at numerous forums around the world. Between 1998 and 2002 he was member of the Board of Directors of the Latin American Network Forum (ENRED), and he was also member of ICANN's Name Council on behalf of the non-commercial constituency when it was first created in 1999. Mr. Echeberría was one of the founders of LACNIC. He was Chairman of the Board of LACNIC between 2000 and 2002, when he was appointed as CEO of LACNIC.

Mr. Echeberría was hired by Oxford University in 2000 as researcher, to be part of a group (NAIS project) that prepared and in-depth analysis of ICANN’s experience with its At-Large Election in the year 2000. During 2001 -2002 Mr. Echeberría worked as the Coordinator of the APC program "ICT Policy Monitor in Latin America and the Caribbean".. Mr. Echeberría has authored numerous published articles and investigations relating to different aspects of the Information Society, covering various technical and policy topics.

During the past few years, Mr. Echeberría has been actively involved in the entire process of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Between 2004 and 2005, he participated in the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) created by the United Nations Secretary General and played a relevant role in the negotiations that took place in relation to this issue at the Summit in Tunis as a member of the Uruguayan delegation present at the Summit..

He has been member of the Internet Governance Forum's Multistakeholder Advisory Group since May 2006.

In November of 2007 Mr. Echeberría was one of the panelists at the main session on Critical Internet Resources at the IGF meeting in Rio de Janeiro.

Raúl Echeberría is very active within the Latin American community in all matters relating to the Information Society. He regularly participates in regional intergovernmental and non-intergovernmental forums.

Carlos Affonso Pereira de Souza


He is an attorney and a member of the Copyright Law commission of the National Bar Association (Rio de Janeiro section). Member of the Commission for the Protection of consumers in e-commerce, established by the Brazilian Ministry of Justice.

Member of the GNSO (Generic Name Supporting Organization), being one of the NCUC´s (Non-Commercial Users constituency) representatives. He participates in several projects related to intellectual property such as the Creative Commons, A2K Brasil and Communia. During the last IGF he has engaged in the organization of the Internet Bill of Rights coalition.

Graciela Selaimen


Working in Rits for the last eight years, Graciela has participated actively in the WSIS process, especially helping to inform Brazilian civil society organizations about the issues, challenges and outcomes of the discussions around the World Summitt on the Information Society. Also, was one of the creators of the Brazilian chapter of the CRIS Campaign and, as the executive coordinator of Nupef - Rits' Center for Research, Studies and Capacity Building -, is helping foster the participation of NGOs and social movements on the IGF process, having organized, in 2007, a preparatory process to the IGF meeting in Brazil.

Damian Profeta

Damian Profeta is from Argentina. He is journalist. Currently he is the TakingITGlobal's Spanish Community Engagement Coordinator (former Latin America & Caribbean Regional Coordinator).

As a result of his social involvement Damian Profeta was awarded with the "Top Outstanding Young Persons of Argentina Award 2005" -TOYP Argentina -.

Since 1995, Damián has had key roles in the most important instances and processes of youth participation both at local and global level; leading national chapters of world-wide campaigns, offering his expertise in inclusion and incidence strategies of young people in decision making; executing projects on youth empowerment, promoting new young leaders and partnering with organizations such as UNESCO, Inter-American Development Bank Youth Program, International Youth Parliament, TakingITGlobal, Global Youth Action Network, and others.

At the age of 19, Damian founded the Vientos del Sur Association and from 2002 to 2005 he was its Executive Director.

He holds an International Diploma in Political Theory and Public Administration, and also studied television production.


He has been an active member of the Mesa de Concertacion Juvenil Argentina (comparable to a national youth council) and co-founded the Mesa de Concertacion Juvenil of Buenos Aires.

Also he founded the YouthNetwork Argentina La Red Joven, an informal e-community that promote the collaboration among youth, that join together more than 400 young people and organizations of Argentina and others Latin American Countries.


Damian participated in many international conferences as delegate and/or key speaker such as:

*International Youth Parliament 2000.

*Youth Employment Summit 2002.

*1st. Jam Local 2004.

*COP10 UN Convention on Climate Change 2004.

*Latin America and Caribbean Regional Conference on Information Society WSIS-LAC 2005.

*World Summit on the Information Society WSIS 2005.

*75th Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences 2006.


EUROPE

Vittorio Bertola

Short biography relevant to IG

Mr. Bertola s a founding partner in Dynamic Fun, a company leading innovation in Italy in logistical and commercial processes through the use of wireless and Internet technologies, and in Glomera, an Internet television platform. He has also been dealing for many years with Internet policies at the national and international level; he was a member of the United Nations' Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG), appointed by the UN Secretary General Mr. Kofi Annan, and is a member of the Internet Governance Consulting Committee of the Italian government, appointed by Minister Luigi Nicolais. He co-founded and co-coordinates the Civil Society Internet Governance Caucus in the United Nations' Internet Governance Forum (IGF), where he is also leading the Dynamic Coalition on the Internet Bill of Rights. He represented the global Internet users in the Board of ICANN, the global policy making entity for Internet domain names. He is a Councillor of Società Internet, the Italian chapter of the Internet Society, and is or was a member in the policy boards of top level domain names such as .it and .mobi.



What specific skills or experiences do you have that make you a good candidate for the MAG?

In his own words, he writes that he is

One of the inventors and promoters of the IGF, as a WGIG member, with proven commitment to the success of the IGF The leader of one of the most prominent Dynamic Coalitions (Bill of Rights); Has multi-faceted experience in civil society, in business and in interactions with governments; The ability to judge freely, with intellectual honesty and considering all viewpoints; Professes a willingness to blog and post extensive reports to the public (e.g. as already done when ICANN Board member).

William Drake

Biography, including activities and/ or positions taken in the IG and information society arena

William J. Drake is Director of the Project on the Information Revolution and Global Governance in the Program for the Study of International Organization(s) at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland. He has published widely on issues directly related to the IGF mandate (appended at the end of this statement).



Some relevant activities pertaining to Internet governance and global information society issues include:

member of the Board of Directors, Euralo, ICANN (2007-present); member of the Start-Up Group and the Group of High-Level Advisors of the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development (2005-present); member of the Start-Up Group and the inaugural Steering Committee of the Global Internet Governance Academic Network (2006-2007) and elected co-chair (declined, 2008); member of the faculty, European Summer School on Internet Governance (2007-present); member of the Internet Governance Caucus (2003-present); member of the Multistakeholder Modalities Working Group (2006-2007); member of Working Group 1, UN Task Force on Information and Communication Technologies (2003-2005); member of the UN Working Group on Internet Governance (2004-2005); and member of the Research Network on IT Governance and Transnational Civil Society, the Social Science Research Council (2003-2005).



Why the nominated person will be a good Civil Society (CS)/ IGC representative on the MAG

Bill has been an active member of the IGC since early 2003 and of the broader civil society coalition during the WSIS process. He has drafted or co-drafted numerous caucus texts, including position statements and contributions to the civil society declarations released at the Geneva and Tunis WSIS summits; made numerous oral interventions on behalf of the IGC in the WSIS and in the IGF consultations; organized five civil society side events during the WSIS summits and preparatory process; co-organized and moderated the IGC’s workshop on Fulfilling the Mandate of the IGF and a related workshop on Toward a Development Agenda for Internet Governance at the Rio IGF meeting; was a panelist in a number of civil society workshops at the Rio and Athens IGF meetings; and has made over two dozen presentations on civil society or public interest aspects of Internet/ICT global governance at events organized by other intergovernmental organizations/processes, e.g. the UN, ITU, OECD, WIPO, UNCTAD, IDEA, and UNICT Task Force. In these and other contexts he often has worked closely with representatives of governments, international organizations, industry, etc. He was an early advocate for the creation of a multistakeholder Internet governance forum, and in the WGIG was particularly involved in pushing for this and for the broad definition of Internet governance.

The IGC nominated Bill for the first MAG in 2006. He lives in Geneva, has and can serve as a civil society connector to the secretariat when needed, and could attend all IGF and MAG meetings. He has long advocated that civil society participants in the MAG should keep the IGC well informed about its activities, and would be committed to doing what he has advocated.



Publications and other relevant expeience:

Jeanette Hofmann

Bio:

I am a researcher at the London School of Ecomics in the Centre for Analysis of Risk and Regulation. Internet Governance has been my research field for almost 15 years. Right now, I am starting a research project on the management of the remaining IPv4 address space. Beside ongoing research on Internet infrastructure resources, I have participated in various ways in civil society activities in this field. In 2000, I was a European candidate in ICANN's first and only online election. In the following year, I participated in the NGO and Academic Study Group (NAIS), which evaluated the election and developed proposals for reforming ICANN's At Large Membership. In 2004 and 2005 I served on ICANN's nomination committee.

In 2002 and 2003 I served as an editor for an IETF working group charged with describing problems related to the IETF's structure and procedures and with proposing processes to address the identified problems. In autumn 2003 I joined the Internet Governance Caucus. Throughout 2004 and 2005 I served, together with Adam Peake, as co-coordinator of the IG caucus. During the same period, I was a member of the German delegation to the World Summit representing German WSIS civil society coordination group.

In 2006, following a nomination by the IG caucus, I became appointed as a member of the Internet Governance Forum's Multi Stakeholder Advisory Group. In 2007 the UN General Secretary extended the appointment of the MAG for another year.



Specific Skills and Role in the MAG:

While Critical Internet Resources is my field of expertise, I also have a good understanding of issues surrounding Intellectual Property Rights on the Internet. Reflecting my participation in ICANN and in WSIS, I have done research on problems of accountability and legitimacy in transnational policy making. Many of my contributions to the MAG's recommendations to the UNSG touch on aspects of legitimacy. The way I have advocated civil society positions in the MAG depends on the issues at hand. In the first year, we fought for the recognition of Critical Internet Resources as a necessary topic on the IGF's agenda – without overwhelming success. Another crucial topic concerned the number of workshops at the IGF. I opposed any restriction of workshops except for the number of available rooms and slots. In the second year, the structure and composition of the MAG itself became a very controversial issue. Within the MAG, the civil society representatives defended the informal multi-stakeholder constitution against attempts to replace it with a traditional bureau. Another issue I care about concerns the IGF's understanding and implementation of the multi-stakeholder approach. After two annual IGF meetings, there are already signs of ritualization of the multi-stakeholder concept. In my view, the main role of the IGF right now is to organize discussions or controversies in the field of Internet Governance and thereby helping to form a public sphere that cuts across stakeholders, regions and political camps. This is why the multi-stakeholder approach should ensure that all relevant opinions on a given subject are represented in the various events (and not only representatives of the officially acknowledged stakeholder groups).

In its first meeting this year, the MAG discussed the issue of rotation. The civil society members emphasized the importance of a rotation mechanism for civil society. I am very much in favor of rotation rules as long as they are equally applied to all stakeholder groups. Continuity is also an issue, however. Continuity is needed to ensure that the MAG can learn from its own decisions and that the dialogue between the stakeholders keeps improving.

On the whole, I would like the IGF to define itself as a learning exercise in transnational policy making. It is important to keep it from ossifying too fast. Rules should therefore be designed as preliminary provisions being open for change. This concerns also the relationship between the IG caucus and the civil society MAG members. While I still think that we reported everything relevant from the discussions in the MAG, it is obvious that the caucus finds the current reporting practices not systematic and transparent enough. It would thus be good if we agreed on a procedure that better meets the expectations of the caucus and makes the reporting more regular.

I am applying again for a nomination to the MAG because the development of the IGF matters a lot to me. I am willing to spend as much time as possible on supporting this process, strengthen civil society positions in it and to contribute to the discussion of the IG caucus on these issue

Ianina Gabriela Lipara

Short Bio relevant to IG

I have graduated as a Bachelor of Laws and recently as Attorney-at-Law specialised in International Public law at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA). Additionally, I have obtained a Masters degree at Utrecht University (UU) with the specialisation in European and Public International law.

I have done substantial research in the area of International Public and Human Rights Law at the University of Buenos Aires, Utrecht University as well as independently under the sponsorship of several scholarships provided for example by the UNESCO fellowship programme and the Prince Bernhard Foundation.

Besides in 1997, owing to my specialised secondary education in commerce, I have started working as Auxiliary Accountant and later promoted to Assistant Accountant. My duties included overseeing the company legal standards, draft and control of contracts and maintaining commercial relations with different businesses and financial entities.

Furthermore, I have worked as Junior Researcher at the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights (SIM), where under the supervision of Cees Flinterman and Ineke Boerefijn, I have drafted the Implementation manual for the Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). What is more, I have concluded a year pro-bono legal internship at the NGO Centro de Investigaciones Sociales y Asistencias Legales Populares (CISALP) in Buenos Aires. The completion of the tasks involved acting as the clients’ solicitors or redirecting them to other specialised organizations.

Last but not least, since the end of 2007 I integrate the Association for Studies and Academic Research in Law, Economic and Business in Dutch's Information Society. (AGEIA DENSI Netherlands) where I am in charge of the direction and the communication with the Brazilian, Bolivian and Argentine branches. My actual research is focused on the protection of human rights and Internet. There are many aspects which have been not explored by other scholars and that require immediate attention.



What specific skills or experiences do you have that make you a good candidate for the MAG

During the completion of my studies and research projects, I have obtained solid knowledge of institutional and substantive law regarding the international and regional organisations. In consequence, I have gained a firm understanding of the area of institutional and state responsibility together with the passion for legal analysis. In conclusion this experience will contribute in the searching for improvements in the current international Internet governance system.

Having worked for the completion of the CEDAW manual has been a key experience that will serve me to locate best practices and facilitate the exchange of information with other interest groups.

Furthermore, I am a flexible and perceptive person that with the addition of a multicultural background, I will be able to transmit the issues of the different stakeholders to accurately help improving their current situation.

Finally, I will be able to provide input in Human Rights concerns, which are rising in proportion with the Internet growth and will continue to do so, if not properly addressed.

I truly thank you for your consideration,

Ianina G. Lipara, LL.M

Rudi Vansnick

My short biography

Rudi started his professional career at the Ministry of Agriculture and quickly became involved in the digitisation process of government administration. In 1988 he developed the "pharmacy computer" solution, bringing communication facilities to pharmacy distribution centres and pharmacists (in collaboration with Labo Flandria, Gent). The elaborated solution was later implemented in France, Luxemburg and Germany, with national regulations and laws incorporated for each country.

A few years later he designed and implemented a huge IT-architecture for logistics and communication purposes in Hungary for a food/non-food distribution corporation (TiszaCoop). More recently he was involved in the IT-outsourcing contract of the Flemish government for about 2 years. An impressive experience was gathered while implementing corporate decisions on regional and local level such as the Flemish portal website.

Since 2000 he has been president of the Belgian chapter of the Internet Society, an organisation focusing on the promotion of the internet for everyone. He participates in national debates with federal and regional governments on topics such as cyber criminality and security issues related to Belgian citizens. In November 2004 he became more and more involved in Internet issues and debates all around the world - in Bangladesh, Tunis, Hannover. In 2005 he became the national expert for the World Summit Awards and one of the 38 Grand Jury members from all over the world in electing the 40 best e-Content projects worldwide.

2006 saw him focusing on breaching the Digital Divide through projects in regional and European organisations. His goal: to capture the voices of the Internet user, individual as well as in an organisational environment, understanding the needs and burdens of each. He considers the most difficult hurdle to be the fact that while culture and technology are far away from each other, they should be mutually supportive.

Currently Rudi is involved in a project focusing on the ICT needs of the Social Profit and will write the ICT Whitebook for the Social Profit, with publication expected around mid December 2007.December 6th Rudi will participate in the International Conference in Washington focusing on the Rights and Protection of Children in the Web 2.0 World. An issue he was already involved in during the Round table in June 2006 in Brussels, in presence of Ms. Viviane Reding and several important authorities.

_My involvement in CS:_

For about 2 years I'm working on projects focussing on the digital divide, more specific for the so called Social Profit (Civil Society). I've finalized a report after a study in 200 institutions bringing in the picture the lack of available ICT (hardware, software and knowledge) in this sector even in a developed country such as Belgium. The model of the survey can easily been used for other countries. I'm trying to get the attention of government as well as the profit sector in order to deploy the required governance and support to encourage the use of ICT in the social profit (CS) sector. I'm willing to bring to the world my experiences gathered during the past 2 years in developed country and spread the knowledge in the developing countries. And this is also related to the use of Internet, in a safe and acceptable way!

_AFFILIATIONS_

Internet Society (ISOC Belgium): chairman Belgian Chapter. www.isoc.be ISOC European Chapters Coordinating Council - Barcelona (Spain) : board member www.isoc-ecc.org Board member European Regional At Large Organisation (EURALO) : www.euralo.org TIK vzw : secretary www.tik.be <http://www.tik.be> World Summit Award : national expert, organiser of the Belgium World Summit Award 2005 Member Grand Jury WSA - September 2005 Bahrain (WSIS) www.wsis-award.org W3C : representative for Belgium and Luxemburg. www.w3c.nl ICANN At Large Structure : member www.alac.icann.org Expert evaluator for eTEN and European Commission FP6/FP7 - IST. Member Steering Committee Global Forum 2006 - Paris www.items.fr Member Steering Committee eCademy Belgium www.ecademy.com Regional director Academici - Belgium www.academici.com Peter Peterschapsprogramma Social Profit <http://www.oost-vlaanderen.be/public/economie_landbouw/bedrijven/vorming/social_profit/index.cfm> EROV Gent Board member OpenDocSociety.org.

More information on http://www.comaser.be/portal.php?p=index.htm&afdeling=rvs

Rudi Vansnick Dendermondesteenweg 143 - B-9070 Destelbergen Belgium GSM: +32 (0)475 28 16 32 Tel: +32 (0)70 77 39 39/ http://www.isoc.be



NORTH AMERICA

Beau Brendler

Beau Brendler is the director of Consumer Reports WebWatch, the leader in investigative reporting on trust and credibility in the online marketplace. To date, WebWatch's credibility campaign has led more than 170 sites, including The New York Times, CNET, HP, Barnes & Noble, The Mayo Clinic, CNN, Monster, HotJobs, Travelocity and Orbitz to agree to uphold the WebWatch credibility guidelines, making steps toward improving the integrity of the Web.

Brendler joined Consumers Union in February 2001 to launch WebWatch (http://www.consumerwebwatch.org). The organization's research and investigative reports have been written about by many of the world's major news organizations and leading U.S. newspapers. WebWatch's work on Web credibility has been translated into more than 30 languages, from Icelandic to Malay. Prior to joining Consumers Union, Brendler was editorial director and a founder of ABC News.com. He was asked to help launch the TV network's news site and create its newsroom while working in Washington on ABC News' PoliticsNow site, a joint venture with the Washington Post and National Journal. He had been news editor of the PoliticsUSA site, created by National Journal and The Hotline. Brendler was also editor-in-chief of two Washington-based technology magazines, now owned by the Washington Post Co.

Individually, Brendler has won several reporting awards, including the 1993 C.B. Blethen Memorial Award for Distinguished Investigative Reporting. He is an oft-cited source on online credibility, consumer awareness, privacy and security, media issues and search engines. As WebWatch's director he has been quoted in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Associated Press, Reuters, Houston Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Kansas City Star, Christian Science Monitor, Business Week, InformationWeek, the Wall Street Journal and dozens of other publications.

He created, organized and oversaw WebWatch's national summit on Web credibility in New York City in April, 2003. He has led or participated in Web credibility research efforts in the U.K., the Netherlands, Slovenia and Portugal, involving representatives from Thailand, Malaysia, Russia, Lithuania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland and many others.


Robin Gross

Bio

http://ipjustice.org/wp/about/people/robin-d-gross/

Robin D. Gross is founder and Executive Director of IP Justice an international civil liberties organization that promotes balanced intellectual property law and protects freedom of expression (www.ipjustice.org). An attorney, Ms. Gross advises policy makers throughout the world on the impact of intellectual property rules before national legislatures and in international treaties and trade agreements. Ms. Gross lectures at international seminars, law schools and universities on cyberspace legal issues including digital copyright, fair use, and Peer-2-Peer (P2P) file-sharing.


Ms. Gross also runs a boutique law practice Imagine Law that handles entertainment, intellectual property, and cyberspace legal matters of a transactional nature.

In May 2006 UN Secretary General appointed Ms. Gross as Member of his Advisory Group to the UN Internet Governance Forum. She represents the Non-Commercial Users (NCUC) Constituency on the GNSO Policy Council at the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). She is a member of the Board of Directors for the Union for the Public Domain, a nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C. that is dedicated to protecting the public domain. Ms. Gross also serves as a member of the Advisory Board for Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility - Peru, and for FreeMuse, an independent international organization based in Copenhagen that advocates freedom of expression for musicians and composers worldwide.

In July 2004 Managing Intellectual Property Magazine named Ms. Gross as one of “2004’s Top 50 Most Influential People in Intellectual Property in the World.” She was called to testify before the US Copyright Office during the 2003 and 2000 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) Rulemaking Hearings .

Before founding IP Justice in 2002, Ms. Gross was the first Staff Attorney for Intellectual Property with the cyber-liberties organization the Electronic Frontier Foundation where she began the group’s campaign in intellectual property litigation in 1999. While at EFF, she defended Morpheus P2P file-sharing software developers in the district court and represented consumers over their right to use digital VCRs. In 1999 Ms. Gross led EFF’s defense of web publishers of DeCSS computer code that unlocks DVDs (including Norwegian teen Jon Johansen). She also represented 2600 Magazine (against the major movie studios) and Princeton scientists (against the recording industry) over publication of technical information banned by the DMCA. In 2001 she developed EFF’s Open Audio License, an early public license for music that permits public sharing in exchange for artist attribution.

California’s legal newspaper The Daily Journal selected Ms. Gross as one of “California’s Top Ten Most Influential Attorneys in 2001”. She has appeared as a guest legal expert on TV and radio news stations including CNN, BBC, NPR, PRI, Tech TV, NHK, DRS, VOA, and CBC. Ms. Gross has been quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Business Week, Wired News, Associated Press, Reuters, Financial Times, Billboard and other media outlets.

A 1998 graduate of Santa Clara University’s High Technology Law Program, Ms. Gross is licensed to practice law in California. A Michigan native, she graduated from Michigan State University’s James Madison College in 1995 with degrees in political philosophy and international relations. Ms. Gross’ personal interests include music, dancing, playing basketball, yoga, ballet and the Jungle.


Michael Gurstein

Brief Biography

Dr. Gurstein is currently Executive Director of the Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training (Vancouver BC), a Director of The Information Society Institute, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, Cape Town South Africa; Research Professor in the School of Management at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (Newark); and Research Professor in the Faculty of Management at the University of Quebec (Ouatouis). His book "Community Informatics: Enabling Communities with Information and Communications Technologies: (Idea Group, 2000) provided a focal point for “Community Informatics” as and the development of strategic and policy thinking concerning the social appropriation of ICT.

Dr. Gurstein has been active in helping to create a Telecentre Movement providing an opportunity for grassroots Information and Communications Technology users, practitioners and ICT4D activists to come together to promote their collective interests and to participate in local, national and global policy processes.



What specific skills or experiences do you have that make you a good candidate for the MAG?

In his own words, I first became aware of the issues concerning Internet Governance through an on-going participation in the discussions concerning Civil Society participation in the Geneva and Tunis rounds of the WSIS. My participation in these discussions was based in a concern that there be opportunities for inclusion of grassroots users, practitioners and ICT4D activists in these processes. This in turn was anchored in my own experience as an ICT4D practitioner in support of economic and social development in a highly marginalized region of Canada. This experience led me to understand the very significant role that policy played in either enabling or restricting the developmental opportunities provided by ICT and that those closest to those processes were only infrequently given the opportunity to contribute to policy making in these areas. I continue to maintain an active role in these processes through Board level participation at the local, national and global levels and also through a more recent and intensive involvement with activities in support of ICT4D use by Indigenous Peoples.

In addition my professional interests as a teacher and as a researcher have for some time focused on issues concerning the role of users and particularly community based users in the development of the Knowledge Economy and Knowledge Societies. In this respect I have been a leader in promoting the study and teaching of a community based approach to ICTs and I would bring to the MAG a background in research, research planning and teaching/training in ICT4D issues including in Developed and Less Developed Countries and for Indigenous Peoples. Also, as a researcher I have been very involved in issues concerning e-Governance including local e-Governance and would bring to the MAG an awareness and sensitivity towards the issues arising from this area of risk and opportunity.

Milton Mueller

Biography

Milton Mueller is Professor at Syracuse University School of Information Studies, USA, and also XS4All Professor at the Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands. Mueller received the Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania in 1989. He was one of the founders of the Internet Governance Project, an alliance of scholars in action around global Internet policy issues. Dr. Mueller’s research focuses on property rights, institutions and global governance in communication and information industries. His book Ruling the Root: Internet Governance and the Taming of Cyberspace (MIT Press, 2002) was the first book-length analysis of the political and economic forces leading to the creation of ICANN. He is currently working on a book about Internet governance in the post-World Summit on the Information Society environment: Networks and States: The Global Politics of Internet Governance. The sponsor of his endowed chair at Delft University of Technology, a Dutch Internet service provider known for its commitment to social responsibility, XS4All, is interested in supporting the security and privacy of Internet users, and in connection with that position he is doing research on the policy implications of Deep Packet Inspection technology and the security governance practices of ISPs.

Mueller has played a leading role in organizing and mobilizing civil society in ICANN. He was a founder of the noncommercial users constituency and has served as its chair for several years. He was elected to ICANN’s GNSO Council and has worked on various task forces related to new TLDs, Whois/privacy, and the .org reassignment. Mueller is on the Advisory Council of Public Interest Registry (.org) and the Policy Advisory Board of .mobi.

APC believes Dr. Mueller brings specific expertise and experience to the MAG that is related to priority aspects of the IGF mandate that are emerging as critical issues including internet governance arrangements, access for all, increasing transparency and accountability in internet governance processes, building civil society networks in public policy processes related to internet governance, and a rights based approach to the IGF. He is an active and committed member of the Internet Governance Caucus and works hard to include broader CS participation from sectors not currently active in the IGF, but who are critical to it's ongoing development.