[npoc-voice] nomination to Chair

[mlemineur@xxxxxxxxxxxx]

Dear NPOC colleagues,

I wish to take this opportunity to thank Klaus for nominating me as a
candidate to the position of Chair of NPOC as well as the colleagues who
have seconded this nomination.

This is with great pleasure that I accept to be candidate to the position
of Chair. The founders of NPOC and Alain in its role as Chair, have worked
hard to consolidate this new constituency within ICANN. I am very grateful
to them while I recognize and respect their legacy.  It is clear now that
as a community, we have to keep on building on these foundations as we
enter a new phase. They are strong and clear signs from the ICANN
management team and its leadership that they wish to share views with us
as representatives of civil society, on issues of concern to us related to
DNS policies. While this has not always been the case, as those who are
familiar with the history of ICANN know, we should be aware that this
constitutes an historical opportunity for NPOC - and for our other
colleagues from NCSG- that should not be missed.

Earlier this year, NPOC´s Executive Committee has already defined and
approved an outreach strategy which includes fundraising goals and a
clearly prioritized regional emphasis on Africa.  My views are that after
the elections, we should conduct an immediate mid-term review to
reevaluate where we stand so far with the goals and deliverables that had
been set up. And we readjust them if pertinent.   As a result of this
strategy being implemented, we should bear in mind that they are ongoing
processes and projects such is the case of the I-Inform Alliance and the
commitment with the Public Interest Registry dotORG, one of our sponsors,
to co-participate/co-organize  a pre-ICANN working session on the role of
civil society in the DNS business model in Latin America during the
upcoming ICANN meeting in Buenos Aires.

Taking into account our outreach plan, based on what I have observed so
far as Chair of the Program Committee and from the work performed at the
side of Alain,  below I detail a summary of specific aspects that in my
views need to addressed if we want to enhance NPOC ´s mission.  If I have
the honor to be elected, I would like to propose it as a kind of a
roadmap.

Administrative matters and NPOC ExCom-related issues:

It has become obvious to many of us that our Charter needs to be revisited
and several amendments adopted so that it is better adapted to our current
workload and work dynamic. Additionally, I also sense that we need to
reflect as a group on what truly differentiates us from our sister
constituency, the NCUC, in terms of mandate, mission, and vision.  We have
also commented on several occasions, that there is an urgent need to
recruit additional members to join our ExCom and thus fill in the vacant
positions.

To continue doing fundraising so that we achieve better visibility and
have the means to implement a wider range of outreach activities is
important. Being able to perform outreach work to the non-Icann world to
promote our community´s mission and broader Internet issues is also part
of our responsibility. We already have had representatives participating
to the IGF 2012, a regional ICANN meeting in Africa, and we need to
continue doing so.

Outreach is also a way of recruiting new NPOC members. And having new
member joining in has been a long-standing priority under the leadership
of Alain and we should keep it this way. Some issues related to the NCSG
administrative process that all aspiring members have to go through, have
already been resolved while others are still problematic and need to be
overcome.  This should be addressed as a matter of urgency since
strengthening our community will not be possible without having new
members hopefully with a more balanced geographical representation.  We
still have regions that are under-represented such is the case of North
Africa, Latin America and Asia.

ICANN processes:

As a community, one of our tasks is to keep on monitoring decision-making
processes within ICANN and make sure that the bottom-up multi-stakeholder
model,  is not being challenged. The statement of Chuck Gomes on behalf of
Verisign during the negotiation process of the new gTLD Registry Agreement
between ICANN and the registries representatives as well as the GAC
Beijing communiqué and its safeguards advices applicable to broad
categories of new gTLDs strings, perceived by some as being too broad,
illustrate how this can happen easily.

Generally speaking, we also should have a more active role in the policy
development processes.  This should be done through contributing to
initiatives led by our colleagues from NCUC and NCSG through expressing
our support or adding our inputs to their statements as we have done so
far.  Nevertheless,  I have come to the conclusion, it is time that we 
demonstrate  we have the capacity as a community to take much more
proactive stands on issues of our concern and not only react to other
constituencies´ initiatives.

Fulfilling better our mission is also linked to having a more active
participation and representation within ICANN working groups and other
existing structures. For example, even if it is a slow process, with the
support of our colleagues from NCSG, we need to continue lobbying in order
to eventually obtain an NPOC seat on the NomCom.

The Accountability and Transparency Review Team 2 is currently collecting
information from all constituencies as a result of a contractual
obligation set up in the Affirmation of Commitments signed between ICANN
and the United States Department of Commerce.  As representatives of civil
society, having the opportunity to contribute to an initiative that
monitors how transparent and accountable are ICANN operations should be
perceived as important. We should be able to provide valuable inputs when
we meet with their representatives in Durban as scheduled.

Not to forget cross-constituency collaboration which is vital. While we
were in Beijing, we had the opportunity to share a few moments with the
GAC representative of the European Commission. At the time, he expressed
his interest in getting closer to ICANN constituencies representing the
views of civil society like ours.

DNS policies-related issues:

Within the GNSO and ICANN as a whole, there are many relevant issues that
have been subjects to lengthy debates some for years now. Such is the case
of the Whois database  and how it is operated. Currently, there are many
on-going processes that will eventually reshape the contractual
obligations of the registries and registrars regarding this database as
well as how it will be operated technically. Some of the new reforms imply
data transfer of massive amount of personally identifiable information of
the registrants from one jurisdiction to another where data protection and
privacy laws are not so strong.  With regards to the new gTLDs program,
application for new generic domain names such as  dotAMAZON (and IDNs),
dotPATAGONIA  have triggered passionate debates since having these
approved by ICANN, could  have an impact on some communities as well as
legal and commercial ramifications not so fortunate according to some.  I
believe that these are good examples, together with many others, the
special protection for the IGOs being another one, where our views, 
experience,  sensitivity and the value-system we defend as civil society
representatives could add a true value to the debates and the decisions to
be taken within ICANN.

Once again, I wish to assure you all of my sincere commitment to NPOC´s
mission.

Very best regards,

Marie-laure Lemineur