>>> Vittorio Bertola <[log in to unmask]> 8/23/2004 4:54:25 PM >>> [C]urrently the ALAC has no plans to engage in selecting a list of civil society candidates for the UN WGIG. We may be happy to examine any list you might come up with, but I can't tell you at this stage whether we will decide to endorse lists or not. However, in the statement on WSIS we released months ago, we expressed the desire to be included in the working group, so that we can contribute our experience with Internet Governance processes. That's why I'm proposing to the NCUC to consider my name for the "European, Technical" slot of your list. Months after that statement, it seems to me that civil society members should be considered more for their skills and experience on a personal basis, that for the entities they are affiliated with, so here is my presentation. I am 29, an engineer from Turin, Italy, and have 8 years of experience as programmer (mainly Perl, PHP, Java), system architect and Linux system administrator on Internet servers, and as technical manager. In 1999, as head of the technical department, I was one of the starters of Vitaminic, one of the most successful dot-coms in Italy, and the leader in digital music distribution in Europe - aiming to create a legal MP3 distribution service that could break the monopoly of the majors. In 2002 I started my own company in the field of third-party cellular phone applications, and I believe in the value of small enterprises to break corporate monopolies and bring innovation, competition and freedom of choice in the market - and in providing a human work environment for geeks :-) I was first involved in ICANN in 2000, when I was the most voted candidate from southern Europe at the At Large elections. I was then involved in many At Large efforts, co-founding icannatlarge.com and serving twice as its Chairman. I was then selected as member of the interim ALAC and then elected Chairman. I have been participating to WSIS since the beginning of 2003, and there I have been a co-founder of the Internet Governance caucus. I am also presently serving as member of the .it Policy Board, and of the Council of ISOC Italy. As shown above, my background spans from technology to business and to policy. While certainly my experience in high level diplomatic negotiations is negligible, I think that the UN working group desperately needs to have some members from the actual "net generation" - people who have been living online for years. People who found and lost friends and lovers on IRC, who update their blog on a wi-fi connected laptop from their bathroom, and who could actually install a Web server in minutes. People who know how the Internet works almost to the last bit, but who haven't stopped feeling that warm, fuzzy feeling when they use an Internet connection inside a hotel in Kuala Lumpur to download e-mail from a server located at home, behind their bed - and it actually works! People that think that information must be shared, and technology must be used to let everyone watch those in power, and not to let those in power watch everyone. People who like to understand how things work - no matter whether it's a computer or an international organization - so that they can then be used in new ways to make the world better. This is the kind of mentality I'd like to bring to the working group. Thanks, -- vb. [Vittorio Bertola - v.bertola [a] bertola.eu.org]<------ http://bertola.eu.org/ <- Vecchio sito, nuovo tobḷg...