Hi Olivier, Thanks a lot for providing some questions to help the community ‘to get a better idea of my future focus’. I like the ‘there is no right or wrong answer’ btw: I certainly do not have the ultimate solutions. People can often relatively easily agree on technical specifics (hard facts, scientific evidence and numbers) but even technology is not neutral. It will always be about context, cultures, societies and individual people. I therefore find my open mind and curiosity very helpful ;-) As I mentioned earlier I am relatively new to the ALAC, but that hopefully means I have a fresh perspective on matters and am probably less preconditioned with regard to ICANN internal politics etc then when I’d be a veteran. Which is certainly _not_ how I perceive veterans: I look very much forward to work within ALAC and with the ALS’s and learn from the enormous pool of knowledge and experience available. And the fact that because of our differences we can strengthen each other and the entire community. I have no personal agenda, I shall try to provide some insight and directions I’m thinking of. But these would be entirely open to discussion and I am very flexible to direct my qualities towards where they are most needed to drive the agenda of the ALAC community forward. Q1. what topics are you most interested in ICANN? In general terms I am very interested in the importance of the operational functioning on a daily basis of ICANN because of its (rather limited) technical remit. I then think of the IANA functions and two of the four principles the NTIA [*] expressed when announcing the IANA transition: i.e. the necessary maintaining of ‘the security, stability, and resiliency of the Internet DNS’ as well the ‘openness of the Internet’. The technical and administrative aspects of performing the IANA functions are steered by a balancing out of the different stakeholder communities’ interests within ICANN. This is only going to be more important in the future, considering the phase we’re in when it comes to the transition of the IANA oversight to the multistakeholder community. I feel that a lot of good work has been done and we are definitely on the right path. But we are not there yet, the whole world is watching, and I feel in the years to come we will see , if I may use that word, a continued powerplay where IMO commercial and political pressures are becoming more dominant as I mentioned. In itself that is not particular to ICANN, but I am convinced there is a risk that end-users’ interests will suffer because of it. And I would like to fight for those interests on behalf of ALAC. Working as a volunteer for an ALS, and I guess also because of my technical background, I tend to keep the ‘internet invariants’ [**] in mind when doing so. In terms of specific developments: I am very curious to see how the next generation RDS PDP pans out. A prime example IMO of how everything has to come together: commercial interests of businesses, requirements for proper technical functioning and trouble shooting, requirements of LEA’s, what governments want to control, how local data-protection legislation relates to ICANN requirements for registrars, and of course in our case what the results are for the average end-user in terms of e.g. (non) privacy. That is a topic I would like to work on within ALAC. I further would like to be involved in the ‘public interest’ discussions, and as I work closely with the Dutch .ccTLD registry, GAC representatives and engage with both national and international LEA’s, I can offer a liaison role towards their constituencies within ICANN on behalf of ALAC. Same goes, without saying, for the ISP’s and connectivity providers (ISPCP) and the RIR community (ASO). Obviously I too am keen to see how the IANA transition will be effectuated and what the WS2 results will be. And to reflect on these ongoing processes on behalf of ALAC. Q2. As an ALAC representative, some focus more on capacity building and organisation building. Others focus more on policy. Which focus will you have: Capacity Building or Policy? For me as a newcomer I’m inclined to say that the ‘policy’ option initially would seem more appropriate as that is where my expertise currently resides. (In terms of capacity building I have been involved and put a lot of time in the sharing of experiences and best practices with regard to the setting up and running of IXP’s and engaging and mobilising communities to use them.) To name an example of a challenge when it comes to capacity building: As an ALS my colleagues and me do our best to engage within ALAC, to follow discussions and participate, but we too struggle with lack of (volunteer) resources to proactively influence the very complex discussions within ICANN. This is the case for others too, as became clear during yesterday’s ‘How ALS es can be more engaged in At-Large and ICANN’ webinar. Especially when there are so many practical, urgent, local non-ICANN related challenges that require our continuous focus as an ALS. And that’s just an internal thing: how then to involve our own members and convey the relevance of what is happing in ICANN and how that affects their interests? I definitely would want to focus on the ALS’s and how to keep them on board and involve them within ALAC, and indirectly their local/regional/national constituencies. At the end of the day it is about representation and participation: one has to feel and experience that one legitimately is speaking on behalf of someone else, aka the global end-user. This is even more important when it comes to the lesser developed countries and regions, ones that do not have the ‘luxury’ of state of the art and affordable internet infrastructure nor the resources to engage and voice the concerns of their populations. Q3. If there was one thing that you’d like to achieve when sitting on the ALAC, what would it be? I would hope I can have an impact for the At-Large community in terms of influencing policy making processes. I would want to engage with the other stakeholder groups and work with them together on a better future internet for all, meanwhile demonstrating to them the importance of the ALAC role and input: to be honest I am not convinced that everyone at all times has the same positive perception of what we are trying to achieve and how we work… Thanks again, and with regards Bastiaan —- [*] https://www.ntia.doc.gov/press-release/2014/ntia-announces-intent-transition... [**] https://www.cigionline.org/sites/default/files/gcig_paper_no7.pdf

On 11 May 2016, at 18:33, Olivier MJ Crepin-Leblond <ocl@gih.com> wrote:

Dear Veronica, Dear Bastiaan,

thank you both for agreeing to put your name forward for the ALAC seat selected by EURALO. The next step, we'll have a vote of all ALS representatives, but before this, I know that both of you have been open to questions and I would like to kick off the discussion with a question to both of you:

Q1. what topics are you most interested in ICANN? Q2. As an ALAC representative, some focus more on capacity building and organisation building. Others focus more on policy. Which focus will you have: Capacity Building or Policy? Q3. If there was one thing that you'd like to achieve when sitting on the ALAC, what would it be?

There is no right or wrong answer, it's just to get a better idea of your future focus.

There will soon be a follow-up with a reminder of the calendar. I expect that we can conduct a single issue call where members can ask questions from both of you. This will be proposed shortly.

Kindest regards,

Olivier