[bc-gnso] 2013 Candidate statement: vice chair for policy coordination

[Steve DelBianco <sdelbianco@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

BC members,

After serving 3 years as our first vice chair for policy coordination, I'm 
seeking reelection for 2013.

In the past 3 years, I believe we have raised members' awareness and 
participation in policy matters.  One tool for raising awareness is our regular 
policy calendar.  Another is ad-hoc emails where I attempt to succinctly cover 
a relevant issue with links to external docs and prior BC positions.

Raising participation levels remains a challenge, since members'  time is 
limited because of other obligations.  Still, we published 13 
positions/statements on key policy issues during 2012.  And we made significant 
policy impacts outside of the public comment process as well.

First, we led the CSG in advocating implementation improvements for the gTLD 
expansion.  We published an extensive list in January, leading to the "CSG list 
of 8" in Toronto.  Several improvements from that list are still alive in the 
Strawman, while others have been incorporated in the RAA negotiations and 
latest registry agreement for new gTLDs.

Second, BC members have been critical to review teams required by the 
Affirmation of Commitments, including Whois and Security & Stability.   The BC 
also led the drafting of metrics and targets for 60 measurements to evaluate 
the new gTLD program in terms of Consumer Trust, Consumer Choice, and 
Competition.  This work will feed into another Affirmation-mandated review 
during 2014.

In this role I also support our BC representatives on GNSO Council.  As they 
are directly engaged in policy debates and voting, our Councilors deserve 
timely and specific guidance from the BC membership on relevant issues.

In the year ahead, the BC must press general business interests at ICANN.  In 
just a few months, ICANN will begin delegations of  new gTLDs, including 
single-registrant TLDs for BC member companies.  As new gTLDs are launched 
we'll quickly assess the effectiveness of rights protection mechanisms.  Beyond 
new gTLDs, ICANN will be implementing recommendations and conducting additional 
reviews mandated by the Affirmation of Commitments.

If the membership returns me to this post, I would continue working on the 
quantity and quality of our statements and positions.   I am sure that BC 
members have additional ideas on how the vice chair for policy coordination 
could be more effective.   If re-elected, I look forward to hearing those ideas.


Statement of Interest:

For 12 years I have been executive director of NetChoice, a coalition of 
e-commerce companies and online services, including AoL, eBay, Expedia, 
Facebook, NewsCorp, Overstock, Reed-Elsevier, TrueCar.com, VeriSign, Yahoo, and 
several thousand small online sellers, primarily in the US.  (see 
http://www.netchoice.org<http://www.netchoice.org/>  )

I set the policy agenda for NetChoice and frequently testify at international 
fora, before the US Congress, and in state legislatures, on issues relating to 
Internet governance, e-commerce taxation, privacy, and consumer protection.   I 
represent NetChoice at ICANN meetings and at the Internet Governance Forum 
(IGF).  I also publish research and policy documents and maintain a blog at 
http://blog.netchoice.org<http://blog.netchoice.org/>

I have no financial ownership or management role in any registries, registrars 
or other firms that are, or aspire to be, contract parties with ICANN.  Please 
note that one of my member companies is a large registry operator, and some of 
my member companies have applied for new gTLDs.

The nature of my interest in ICANN is to maintain the integrity and 
availability of e-commerce and internet services.

--
Steve DelBianco
Executive Director
NetChoice
http://www.NetChoice.org<http://www.NetChoice.org/> and 
http://blog.netchoice.org<http://blog.netchoice.org/>
+1.202.420.7482