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At-Large Advisory Committee Announces Delegates to ICANN's Nominating Committee, Appointments to ALAC Posts

19 February 2003

(Revised 12 March 2003)

Marina del Rey, California, USA (19 February 2003; revised 12 March 2003) – ICANN's Interim At-Large Advisory Committee (ALAC) today announced that it selected five volunteers from five different regions of the world to serve as members of the Nominating Committee, the new committee that will select a majority of ICANN's new Board of Directors as well as individuals to serve in other key positions. The ALAC also announced the appointment of its members to internal and liaison positions, including Vittorio Bertola as ALAC Chair.

The At-Large delegates to the Nominating Committee are:

  • Christian Ahlert (Germany and United Kingdom – citizenship and residence, respectively)
  • Pavan Duggal (India)
  • Bret Fausett (USA)
  • Didier Kasole (Democratic Republic of Congo)
  • Leopoldo Brandt Graterol (Venezuela)*

[* Gabriel Piñeiro (Argentina), Argentina, resigned his appointment to the Nominating Committee on March 11).]

Information on the delegates is included below.

Volunteers were widely solicited by the ALAC, which selected these five delegates from among a total of 66 diverse, accomplished volunteers from 30 countries. The ALAC believes this group of delegates reflects the global interests of the At-Large community and meets the detailed criteria set forth in ICANN's bylaws, and applauds their willingness to serve the Internet community.

The Nominating Committee's members, including 12 voting delegates in addition to the 5 appointed by the ALAC, will serve one-year terms. The Committee, which is chaired by Linda Wilson, ICANN Board member and former president of Radcliffe College, will have the immediate task of selecting select 8 members of the ICANN Board, 5 members of the ALAC, and 3 members of the GNSO Council.

The ALAC also announced that members Clement Dzidonu and Erick Iriarte Ahon will serve as ALAC Vice Chairs, and that the ALAC has requested the following members serve in liaison positions: Thomas Roessler as a liaison to the GNSO Council/WHOIS Task Force; Wendy Seltzer as a liaison to the TLD Evaluation Team (TEAC); and Hong Xue as a liaison to the GNSO Council's Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP) Task Force. The ALAC is awaiting confirmation of the acceptance of these liaisons, which are expected to bring an individual Internet user perspective to the various policy and decision making groups, and keep the ALAC and At-Large community apprised of relevant activities and their potential effect on individual Internet users.

The ALAC is responsible for considering and providing advice on the activities of ICANN as they relate to the interests of individual Internet users (the "At-Large" community). ICANN, as a private sector, non-profit corporation with technical management responsibilities for the Internet's domain name and address system, will rely on the ALAC and its supporting infrastructure to involve and represent in ICANN a broad set of individual user interests.

Please contact <alac-comments@icann.org> with questions relating to this announcement.


Biographies of At-Large delegates to the Nominating Committee:

Christian Ahlert, a Dr. in political science, specializes in comparative media law and policy, internet regulation and the inter-relationship of globalization, technology and politics. He is a longstanding observer of the ICANN process, and was a founding member of the "NGO and Academic ICANN Study" (NAIS). Ahlert is currently working at the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at University of Oxford. Most recently he convened the international conference "Politics of Code" (http://www.codepolitics.info)

Pavan Duggal is a practicing Advocate in the Supreme Court of India at New Delhi, specializing in Cyberlaw & E-Commerce law, and has done pioneering work in the field of Convergence Law. He is the Founder and President of Cyberlaw Asia (www.cyberlawindia.com) and has been associated with UNESCO on Ethical, Legal, and Societal Challenges of Cyberspace in Asia and the Pacific. Duggal was a member of the former ICANN Membership Advisory Committee and a member of the former ICANN Membership Implementation Task Force (MITF).

Bret Fausett is a partner with the law firm of Hancock, Rothert & Bunshoft, LLP (http://www.hrblaw.com), resident in the firm's Los Angeles office, with a practice focused on Internet and technology law. He writes the "Legal Code" column each month for CMP's New Architect magazine (http://www.newarchitectmag.com/press), and he maintains a weblog with running news and commentary on the activities of ICANN (http://www.icann.blog.us).

Didier Kasole is an ICT Consultant and Chief Technology Officer of Roffe Hitech Internet Service Provider (http://www.jobantech.cd) in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Mr. Kasole also chairs the Democratic Republic of Congo Internet Society Chapter, and is a founding member of the Internet Service Provider Association Democratic Republic of Congo. He also is an active member of the African Network Operator Group (http://www.afnog.org), and is an Instructor at Afnog workshops. Previously, Mr. Kasole maintained the Aftld (African Top Level Domains) mailing list, and he has been in the forefront of the development of the Internet in Congo Universities. He has a Master of Science Physics from the University of Kinshasa, and is fluent in French, English, Swahili, and Lingala.

Leopoldo Brandt Graterol is Legal Editor at LEGIS Editores-Venezuela and also teaches e-commerce law at the Universidad Catolica Andres Bello School of Law in Caracas, Venezuela. He is Founder and President of the "Asociación Venezolana de Derecho Informático y Nuevas Tecnologías (Avdint)," Co-founder and Legal Coordinator of the "Cámara Venezolana de Comercio Electrónico (Cavecom-e)" (E-commerce chamber), and is involved in numerous legal and Internet related organizations and activities. Brandt is the author of two books, "Paginas Web: Condiciones, Políticas y Términos Legales" (2001, Legis), and "Evaluating Web Sites for Legal Compliance" (2002, Scarecrow Press). He was a member of the former ICANN Membership Implementation Task Force (MITF).