Indeed, NCSG is blessed with experienced candidates. You have my full
support the great Edward !

Best !

Peter.
On Aug 17, 2016 12:55 AM, "Edward Morris" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> *STATEMENT OF EDWARD MORRIS*
>
> *CANDIDATE FOR RE-ELECTION AS A GNSO COUNCILLOR REPRESENTING THE
> NONCOMMERCIAL USERS STAKEHOLDER GROUP (NCSG)*
>
> • *Name, declared region of residence, gender and employment:*
>
>
> - Edward Morris
> - Europe
> - Male
> - Employment: independent contractor specializing in event management,
> specifically concert management. Clients within the past six months
> include: Doctor Music, Barley Arts, Live Nation, SMG Europe, JLM Group, abc
> Production AG.
> - Academic: Colorado State University: MA in Organizational Leadership
> program.
>
> • *Any conflicts of interest:*
>
> None
>
> • *Reasons for willingness to take on the tasks of the particular
> position:*
>
> 1. I don’t like being told what I can say, 2. I have a passion for many of
> our issues with a skill set we need that is not otherwise represented in
> our Council contingent and 3. Jon Postel was a good guy.
>
> My answers are quite simplistic but they really cut to the base of why I’m
> involved in the NCSG, and why I’m willing to commit to two more years to
> what I’ve found to be an incredible time and energy consuming position.
>
> I’m a free speech guy. Big time. I’m told that as a young boy I used to
> throw toys out of the crib whenever my parents asked me to be quiet. I
> haven’t changed much. I can couch it in sophisticated terms, I can quote
> Milton as in “give me the liberty to know, to utter, and to argue freely
> according to conscience, above all liberties”, and others, but my passion
> for free speech comes from my heart rather than from my head. I believe
> that gives it added impact and is a guarantee to you, our Members, that I
> will be vigilant and will battle any attempt to use ICANN to censor the
> internet in any way, shape or form. It’s not just an intellectual
> obligation for me, it’s at the core of who I am.
>
> Intellectual monopoly interests (an older and, in my view, far more
> accurate depiction of the bundle of rights referred to in recent years as
> “intellectual property”) not only are overrepresented everywhere I look at
> ICANN but are attempting to achieve in ICANN what they could not achieve
> through legislation in the wider world. That not only is wrong, it is
> dangerous, threatens free speech and thought, and the NCSG needs to
> continue in our traditional role of opposing the IPC maximalists in ICANN.
> I want to help.
>
> I am the only candidate or returning Councilor with extensive intellectual
> monopoly experience. I have an LLM in IP Law, with distinction, from London
> (Queen Mary), a number of lesser postgraduate diplomas in the field, and
> was a card carrying academic member of the International Trademark
> Association (NTA) for four plus years. Intellectual monopoly rights are at
> the heart of policy discussions at ICANN and I believe it is important that
> at least one NCSG Councilor has some depth of knowledge in the field. In
> fact, when I was hesitating about volunteering to continue on Council I was
> asked to consider serving again for this specific reason by some of our
> Members most involved in intellectual monopoly issues. We need someone with
> IP expertise on Council to ensure fair and balanced GNSO output in this
> field. With your consent, I would like to serve that role for the NCSG
> during the next two years.
>
> My legal experience and experience in statutory drafting (principally for
> the Great and General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts) is also
> something that differentiates me from the other talented Members who have
> volunteered to serve you on the GNSO Council. This particular aspect of my
> background allows me to perhaps review proposed Charters and Issue Reports
> in a slightly different way than those without legal expertise. We may not
> want an entire contingent of Councilors who think like lawyers, in fact we
> don’t, but one or two are absolutely essential to get the job done properly.
>
> Finally, Jon. For those who don’t know, in the formative days of the
> internet Jon Postel *was* ICANN. Along with Joyce Reynolds, Jon ran the
> names and addressing functions largely by himself out of offices at the
> University of Southern California (USC). I first met Jon when I was a
> freshman at USC and was given a menial work-study job in his office. Jon
> was larger than life, hated shoes, and was really nice to a scared young
> kid 3,000 miles from home. He was the man who taught me by example that it
> was OK just to be myself.
>
> I don’t think Jon would like the modern ICANN very much. Suits, fancy
> watches and bling weren’t his thing. I do think he’d like us, though: Jon
> was about freedom in his personal life, and freedom for everyone in his
> professional life. Bringing ICANN back to the principles Jon lived by and
> believed in is a big part of the reason why I’m in the NCSG. To pay back a
> man, if only a little, who pointed me in the right direction when my own
> life could have gone either way.
>
>
> • *Qualifications for the position:*
>
> When I ran for Council two years ago, many of you did not know me, nor me
> you. So we could get to know each other, I detailed my background quite
> extensively in my 2014 Candidate Statement, which can still be found here:
> https://community.icann.org/display/gnsononcomstake/Edward+Morris .
>
> To summarize, I’ve had a career that has taken me through a range of
> positions in government, politics, entertainment and the human rights
> field, working for people as diverse as Edward Kennedy, Gabby Giffords,
> Mary Robinson and Bruce Springsteen. I earned my undergraduate degree from
> the University of Southern California, my principle law degrees are from
> the University of Lapland and the University of London (Queen Mary), and I
> have since acquired a variety of postgraduate degrees and short term
> diplomas from a dozen institutions in nine countries in a variety of fields
> including business, trade law, human rights and cybersecurity. I have a
> tendency to do what I want in life and although the path I’ve chosen has
> not blessed me with a ton of money or security it sure has been an
> interesting journey.
>
> At this point, though, I’d suggest my principle qualification for this
> position is that I am your current councilor. I have a record for you to
> judge and, although I’m never completely satisfied with anything I do, I
> submit I’ve done a fairly decent job for you. I’ve certainly tried.
>
> Effort without success is failure. I don’t like failure. Fortunately I do
> believe I’ve had some areas I can point to where I’ve had some success
> working on your behalf as your GNSO Councilor the past two years. Let me
> highlight a few of them:
>
>
>    - Since ICANN was created there has been an effort by the community to
>    gain access to documents and financial records used in the functioning of
>    the corporation. Karl Auerbach, the last directly elected ICANN Board
>    member from North America (fun fact: he beat Larry Lessig for the board
>    seat) had to sue ICANN to get Inspection of these records for board
>    members, despite having that right under California law.
>
>
> When the CCWG Accountability began on December 9, 2014 I proposed that we
> adopt a membership structure for the corporation. Inspection rights came
> with membership under California law. Membership became our operating model
> for much of the existence of the CCWG. When Board pressure caused the
> community to dump membership, I successfully led the effort to retain
> Inspection rights in the new model, actually holding post midnight
> discussions with the CCWG tri-chairs in Dublin to ensure it was retained.
> When the Board rejected Inspection in their initial evaluation of the CCWG
> proposal I continued to educate, converse with and otherwise lobby Board
> members on the matter. I sent each one of them a Christmas card. In the
> end, the Board not only relented but together we developed an Inspection
> plus model that also included an Investigation right, providing for an
> audit of ICANN by community request under certain circumstances. I know of
> no corporation in California with macro transparency mechanisms this strong.
>
> Lots of people contribute to the making of any policy at ICANN. No
> difference here. That said, I do believe I did make a major contribution to
> this community being able to get these transparency rights placed in the
> Bylaws, rights that had eluded it for a decade and a half. I’m quite sure
> that when I finish my work here this will be my greatest accomplishment in
> this space.
>
>
>
>    1. In February 2015 Westlake Consulting released a report as part of
>    the GNSO Review that was devastating to the noncommercial community. Using
>    substandard methodology, heresay, and other methodologically improper
>    methods the report was a clear hatchet job that imperiled this stakeholder
>    group and both constituencies.
>
>
> Working at the Constituency level, with the help of Stefania Milan, I
> constructed a strategic response to Westlake and was principle author of a
> 10 page response that, after having been greatly improved by many NCSG
> members and brilliantly edited by Bill Drake, caused the consulting firm to
> delete most of the offending material. We beat them by producing a more
> professional and scientifically strenuous report than these paid
> consultants could produce. It was a tribute to all of us in the NCSG.
>
> Councilors need to be active defending their Stakeholder Group and
> Constituencies in Council and throughout ICANN.
>
>
>
>    - During the past two years I’ve written and have submitted to ICANN
>    either as sole author, co-author or principle pen holder 17 public
>    comments. The one comment I most prize was one which received a headline in *Domain
>    Incite* that read “Odd-couple coalition wants URS deleted from legacy
>    gTLD contracts”.
>
>
> This issue was an important one: ICANN’s bypassing of the PDP process by
> contractually imposing new gTLD RPM’s on legacy gTLD’s. What was unique
> about this comment, though, was it’’s authorship: it was a joint comment of
> the NCSG and the Commercial Stakeholders Group (CSG).  As Kevin Murphy
> wrote, “Commercial and non-commercial interests within ICANN have formed a
> rare alliance in order to oppose the Uniform Rapid Suspension policy in
> three new legacy gTLD contracts”.
>
> The comment was jointly written by myself and Phil Corwin, a fellow GNSO
> Councilor from the Business Constituency. Council offers the opportunity
> for bridge building across Stakeholder Groups. I work well with Phil, as I
> do with many of the other Councilors from the other groups. A further
> example of this was my recent appointment to the GNSO drafting team (DT)
>  that will port transition accountability measures into the GNSO. The NCSG
> will have one more representative than any other group because I was
> appointed not by the NCSG policy committee but by a Councilor appointed by
> the Nominating Committee that had appreciated the work I had done in the
> CCWG.
>
> When mutual interests dictate, Councilors need to be proactive working
> with other groups in a cooperative and friendly fashion so all parties can
> achieve the maximum result for those whom they represent.
>
>
>    - In March of this year I had the honour of representing the ICANN
>    community as a lecturer at USC’s Institute of Internet Policy. Presenting
>    alongside Steve Crocker, Fadi Chehade, Vint Cerf, Fiona Alexander and our
>    own Wolfgang Kleinwachter, I spoke both of the noncommercial communities
>    role in ICANN and of the actual (as opposed to theoretical) way policy is
>    made in the organization.
>
>
> As Councilor there are times you are called upon to represent the NCSG
> externally. When asked to do so I do my best to project a professional,
> competent and truthful image. I’ve been invited back to speak at next years
> Institute.
>
>
> These are just a few examples of the things I’ve been working on for you,
> in a wide variety of areas, as one of your GNSO Councilors.
>
> I also made some promises to you when I ran for the Council seat I
> currently hold about my values and how I would conduct myself representing
> you. I hope I’ve kept my word to you:
>
> Attendance: I promised you that if elected I would show up and do my job.
> I have. I have a Council meeting attendance rate of 96.2%. Of the 167
> participants of the CCWG-Accountability group only 9 attended more meetings
> than I (62 plenary sessions). I achieved perfect attendance on the CCWG
> legal sub-team and achieved attendance rates in excess of 67% in all other
> other CCWG working groups, parties and sub-teams I have been a part of.
>
> -Corporate largess: I promised you that if elected I would not accept any
> gift, drink or food from any corporate entity and that I would not attend
> the Grand Gala’s that for some highlight an ICANN meeting. I have kept my
> word to you in this regard. I don’t judge others but for me to accept
> anything from a corporate party that may have a position on an issue before
> Council would constitute a potential conflict of interest, one that I
> believe prudent to best avoid.
>
> -Contributions: Serving on the GNSO Council is public service to me. It’s
> important to me that I do not financially benefit from this service in any
> way. I pledged that any money I received from ICANN as a stipend for
> meeting attendance that exceeded my expenses I would donate to children’s
> charities at meeting sites. I did so. Small contributions were made to the
> following charities in the name of the NCSG:
>
>
>    - Children’s Fund of the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles  $110
>    - Catholic Childrens Centre, Singapore  200 Singapore $
>    - I made a donation in Argentina but lost the receipt. I don’t have
>    the name or amount. My apology.
>    - UNICEF-Morocco $150
>    - Jack and Jill Foundation 90 euro
>    - Mannerheim League for Child Welfare 85 euro
>
>
>
> *• Statement of availability for the time the position requires:*
>
> To do this job properly you just can’t sit on Council: you need to be
> active in working groups, read the industry press, attend to the activities
> of the Stakeholder Group and *both *constituencies. I’m currently,
> somehow, active in nine working groups / subgroups, am the rapporteur for
> one, and all of this is in addition to my Council, Stakeholder Group and
> Constituency activities.
>
> I do not have enough time to do all of this. No one does. I do have
> flexibility, money is not the most important thing in my life, and I’m
> willing to give it a go for another two years if you want me to. All I can
> promise is I will do everything I can to do the best I can to keep this
> level of activity going for the next 24 months. I’ll never be a Councilor
> who just shows up for the Meetings: that you can count on. I don’t do
> things half way as the principle of moderation never really appealed to me
> in any area of my life! If you return me to represent you on the GNSO
> Council I will work for you and our mutual interests as hard as I can and
> for as many hours as needed and possible.  I take my commitments seriously,
> I show up and I do the work. That’s who I am.
>
> *• The nominee’s statement may also include any other information the
> candidate believes in relevant:*
>
> I’ve had the good fortune of receiving the endorsement of some of this
> communities leading figures. These are people I’ve worked closely with in
> this field for the past two years. If you’re still trying to figure out
> what I’m about and whether you should vote for me I’d ask you to consider
> the comments of those who know best the work I’ve done on your behalf:
>
> NCUC co-founder Kathy Kleiman:
>   https://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind1608&L=
> NCSG-DISCUSS&F=&S=&P=5988
>
> NPOC Chair Klaus Stoll:
> https://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind1608&L=
> NCSG-DISCUSS&F=&S=&P=9483
>
> NCSG PC Chair Marilia Maciel:
> https://listserv.syr.edu/scripts/wa.exe?A2=ind1608&L=
> NCSG-DISCUSS&F=&S=&P=96631
>
> I don’t deserve half of what they have written about me but I’m deeply
> appreciative that they took the time to write what they did.
>
> Going forward, here are a few of the things I’d like to focus on if you
> return me to Council:
>
> 1. Budget – I was the principle author on Council of this years GNSO
> budget comment. The ICANN budget is complicated but with our increased
> community powers post transition now including budgetary approval authority
> we need to have someone with expertise in the matter. I hope to be that
> person and have discussed both with Council leadership and staff the way I
> can continue to increase my knowledge and competence in the area so that I
> can contribute further in this regard;
>
> 2. Council procedure: appointments:  Council is not set up to appoint
> people to anything. Yet increasingly that has become one of our primary
> responsibilities. I’ve had discussions with the Council Chair on this
> matter and believe we’ll be setting up a committee to try to create a more
> permament solution in this area. I hope to be able to contribute to that
> effort;
>
> 3. Travel: There has been a bit of a reorganization of the reporting
> structure of the ICANN Travel Department. I’ve been told to expect changes
> in support types, amounts and frequency. Most of our members, including
> myself, are not wealthy and rely upon ICANN support to attend Meetings. I
> intend to monitor this situation and if changes are proposed or imposed I
> will fight to ensure the NCSG is no worse off, and perhaps better off,
> going forward than we are today;
>
> 4. Pro bono commitment to access the IRP: During early stages of the
> CCWG-Accountability we obtained assurances that nonprofits and other less
> than wealthy organisations would be able to obtain some sort of pro bono
> assistance to access the new Independent Review Panels. Somewhere that
> promise has been lost. I intend to do my best to see that it is restored;
>
> 5. Rights Protection Mechanisms: As the CCWG work stream 2 winds down I
> intend to increase my participation in the RPM WG. Eventually I would like
> to make this my principle policy focus in ICANN;
>
> 6. Continued leadership in the CCWG: As rapporteur for the CEP subgroup I
> will lead the efforts in this area and will continue my work on the
> Transparency, Ombudsman and Jurisdiction subgroups. In addition, as an
> appointed member of the Legal Executive I will help manage our independent
> counsel.
>
> I’m sorry to be so expansive but I wanted you to get a full picture of
> what I’ve been doing on your behalf the past two years. I sincerely thank
> you for placing your trust in me, I hope I haven’t let you down, I’ve tried
> my best, and I would be honoured if you would consider returning me to the
> GNSO Council as your representative for a final two year term.
>
> Now for the song.
>
> Two years ago I concluded my statement with a campaign song. It’s a way to
> show everyone where I spend a lot of my time, concerts, but also it’s a way
> for me to send a larger message to everyone, one better conveyed by music
> than by words. Last time I sent everyone a link to “Land of Hope and
> Dreams” with the message that the internet is for everyone.
>
> The NCSG is a great group with a great bunch of people. Yet, sometimes
> things aren’t all that positive here. Disagreement over policy morphs into
> the politics of personal attack. Heck, I’ve been the recipient of a few
> attacks like that and it sucks. Sometimes other groups and people are
> demonized as being evil, to contrast them with the “good” us. I’m not a big
> fan of such bipolar thought.  So many good people here yet sometimes we’re
> dragged down into such negativity. It’s bad karma and I personally am not
> comfortable with it.
>
> So my campaign song this year is a hope for a better day, a day when
> mutual respect and caring creates a vibe so positive that people look over
> to us and want to join us because we are just so positive and supportive of
> everyone we come in contact with, friend and perceived enemy
> alike. Wouldn’t that be great? So here’s a message from a guy I just spent
> ten weeks running around Europe with, in a video of mine from Glasgow that
> went a bit viral: Here’s Bruce Springsteen with Waiting On A Sunny Day:
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCrzJSUY_4w. May such days be in all our
> futures!
>
> Peace everyone,
>
> Ed
>
>
>
>
>
> *WORKING GROUP / SUBGROUP PARTICIPATION DURING MY FIRST TERM AS YOUR
> COUNCILOR*
>
> *Current:*
>
> - Rapporteur, CCWG, Reviewing the CEP sub-team
> - NCA appointee, Drafting Team on new GNSO rights and obligations under
> the revised ICANN Bylaws
> - Appointed, CCWG, Legal Executive
> - Participant, CCWG - Accountability
> - CCWG, Jurisdiction sub-team
> -CCWG , Ombudsmn sub-team
> -CCWG, Transparency sub-team
> -Review of Rights Protection Mechanisms WG
> -Review of Rights Protection Mechanisms, Trademark Clearinghouse Subgroup
>
> *Past:*
>
> -Participant, CCWG: Accountability
> -Rapporteur, CCWG, Ombudsman sub-team, WS1
> -CCWG Work party 1
> -CCWG Work Party 2
> -CCWG Work Party 2
> -CCWG Work Party 2 Ombudsmn sub-team
> -CCWG Work Party 2, Independent Review sub-team
> -CCWG Stress Test Work Party
> -CCWG Legal sub-team
> -CCWG Legal sub-team Executive, WS1
> -CCWG Work Area 1
> -CCWG Work Area 4
> -Council, budget working group
> -Council, sexual harassment working group
>
>