Hi All,
I would like to urge you to join me at a special meeting on Monday from 11am - 12:15pm. It is Next Generation - gTLD Directory Services, and it is the presentation of the work conducted by the Expert Working Group on gTLD Directory Services (EWG) -- better known by its nickname The Whois Expert Working Group.  This meeting immediately follows the Welcome Ceremony in Grand Hall A.

Stephanie Perrin, an amazing former member of the Canadian Data Protection Commission and a longtime leader of privacy and data protection, is a member of this Expert Working Group.  Robin has invited Stephanie to join us on Tuesday, so why bother to attend this meeting on Monday?

The reason why is that Whois Expert WG needs you -- all of us -- to speak up for privacy, data protection and free speech.  It is clear from the way the Expert WG is constructed that Stephanie is alone. She is the only privacy/data protection person on this Expert Working Group, amidst a number of commercial representatives. The latter want accuracy and accessibility. Privacy is not their priority.

But it is our priority!  And we need be there to share with the whole Whois WG that we are solidly behind Stephanie, and her deep concern for privacy protections and legal compliance by ICANN's future Whois plans with privacy and data protection rules and frameworks worldwide!

Please join me in person or remotely.  Remote access info available at http://beijing46.icann.org/node/37051
In person: please find me and we'll sit as a privacy block :-).

Best,
Kathy