Hi Milton et al: 

I would be excited to take on the responsibilities to review, advise on, and assist in the implementation of a WHOIS policy that is mutually acceptable to all stakeholders of ICANN.  I am certainly aware that the views diverge widely, but I am confident that the review team, as a cohesive group, can reach a consensus that will appease all groups to a large extent.  Of course, no solution will be able to cater to everyone's needs and that, I would submit, is not the goal, but to find an equitable balance among the various views, needs, and desires.  I am certainly aware that the WHOIS has been under review and in discussions at ICANN for quite a few years now due to many reasons including the strong lobbying groups from the commercial interest and law enforcement side. 

I believe that the subject matter and purpose of the review team will combine my passion and desire for creating a better domain name system for all stakeholders with my professional experiences and skills that I have acquired throughout my career. 

My most relevant experience for this particular issue at hand is my time as the General Counsel, Director of Policy Development, and Corporate Secretary at the Canadian Internet Registration Authority.  During my time at CIRA, I had the great fortune of having seen the introduction of a privacy framework for the private sector in Canada (which was largely based on the EU privacy directive).  I was responsible for ensuring CIRA's full compliance with the privacy regime which included a complete revamping of the WHOIS policy.  The entire process took well over 2 years and involved 3 public consultations and numerous discussions with many competing stakeholders such as IP rights holders, law enforcement, regulatory bodies, consumer groups, and privacy advocates/bodies.  The views were all over the spectrum and it was a precarious balancing act to find a mutually agreeable position which protected CIRA's individual registrants effectively, but at the same time, provided acceptable avenues to the other groups to meet their enforcement needs.  The most active and strongest submissions and views were from the IP rights holders, law enforcement, and regulatory bodies and as such it was important to temper those views to adequately address the needs of the consumer and privacy groups.  

CIRA's and my position with respect to WHOIS information was, generally speaking, that for individual registrants, there should be the option for the registrant to have his/her information remain private.  I believe that there are sufficient legal avenues for law enforcement, regulatory bodies, and IP groups to have access to that information.  Having said that, however, there may be a need to expedite that "access process", but it should be a privilege and NOT a right to do so and that privilege must have proper checks and balances in place to avoid abuse of the process.  

I presented CIRA's WHOIS policy and the privacy policy in general at a number of venues including at CENTR and an NCSG-NCUC organized privacy talk which was organized by Kathryn Kleiman.

Let me know if you have any further questions or comments about my suitability for the WHOIS policy review team.    


Best wishes, 

Kim 



On 8 Jul 2010, at 11:35, Milton L Mueller wrote:

> Kim
> Can you tell us more about how you approach the Whois issue and why you want to be on the review team? If I don't have to apply, I won't. 
> --MM
> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: NCSG-NCUC [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of
>> Kim G. von Arx
>> Sent: Thursday, July 08, 2010 11:07 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: Re: [NCSG-NCUC-DISCUSS] candidates for review teams.
>> 
>> I just submitted my application.
>> 
>> 
>> Kim
>> 
>> 
>> On 8 Jul 2010, at 09:38, Avri Doria wrote:
>> 
>>> Hi,
>>> 
>>> I have seen a few people announce their interest in the NCSG candidate
>> slot, but have not seen any full applications come through the defined
>> process yet.
>>> 
>>> http://www.icann.org/en/reviews/affirmation/call-for-applicants-2-and-
>> 4-en.htm
>>> 
>>> We need full applicants in order to recommend a candidate.
>>> 
>>> So if you really want your name to be put forward, please fill out the
>> applications.
>>> 
>>> thanks
>>> 
>>> a.
>>> 
>>> PS.  If I am wrong and you have submitted a full application, please
>> let the list know and point to it.  I would note that none are showing
>> on the GNSO page dedicated to the subject:
>>> 
>>> http://gnso.icann.org/aoc-reviews/