Candidate Statement of Ayden F érdeline

[Ayden Férdeline]

Dear NCSG members,

Please find below my candidate statement as I seek a second term representing the NCSG on the GNSO Council.

I would like to thank Professor Mueller for nominating me and express my gratitude to all those who expressed their support for me on the list. Your words of encouragement were very important to me. Thank you very much.

Name: Ayden Férdeline

Region of Residence: Europe

Gender: Male

Employment: Technology Policy Fellow, Mozilla Foundation

Conflicts of Interest: None

Reasons for willingness to take on the position:

I have had the great privilege of representing the NCSG on the GNSO Council for the past two years, and now that I’ve learned the ropes, I’d like to volunteer to serve another term. Through the GSNO Council, civil society has real voting power to impact domain name system policy. We are not the primary actor there and our challenges and constraints to participation are both well-known and legitimate. But this is not to say that we cannot be more vocal or have more influence.

We all have different ways of operationalizing how we bring about change. In Stephanie Perrin, when she was on the Council, that was by methodically deconstructing arguments and highlighting the holes in them. In our new NCSG Councilor Elsa Saade, her willingness to take the mic and to ask questions and to make others explain their points of view has just as powerfully seen their arguments collapse into pieces. Personally, I’m not always the most vocal person, and instead I have opted to Chair the Council’s Standing Committee on Budget and Operations. This has allowed me to take a deep dive into the financial and operational aspects of how ICANN org and the ICANN Board are functioning and to bring matters of common concern to the attention of the Commercial Stakeholders Group and the Contracted Parties House so that, in recognition of the fact that we lack some of the muscle that they do, we can work together to advance change.

I’ve enjoyed doing this, and I’ve enjoyed being on Council supporting and developing positions that advance non-commercial interests at ICANN. In general I would say that I have well-developed normative positions on issues, but when faced with specific policy questions, I take care to revise my thinking based on evidence and analysis. What I find exciting about ICANN is how it harnesses the power of the Internet to experiment in democratic governance on a global scale. It allows end-users like myself to participate in the management of a global resource. This public involvement in policy making is something which I have taken very seriously in the nearly four years that I have been an NCSG member, and if re-elected, I am willing to put in the hours to represent the NCSG professionally and intelligently as we advance and preserve non-commercial interests in GNSO discussions.

Qualifications for the position:

I am currently a technology policy fellow with the Mozilla Foundation, where I participate in advocacy and policy efforts to improve the health of the Internet. I thus have a professional interest in Internet and technology policy more broadly, but my involvement at ICANN in DNS policy is a personal endeavour and a personal interest.

I enjoy putting time aside in my calendar to advance the NCSG's interests at ICANN by drafting public comments, volunteering on the frontline in working groups, and communicating to new voices my own pathway to engagement and how they too can get involved. In addition, I have facilitated workshops and webinars to upskill participants in domain name policy issues, and I have worked with NCSG and NCUC leadership and alongside other NCSG, NPOC, and NCUC colleagues to contribute to the development of our onboarding programme.

I hold an MSc from the London School of Economics.

Additional information:

I believe in the NCSG's mission. I recognise the value of multistakeholderism, and I am passionate about the potential for technology to drive opportunity and to make our world a more open and connected place. I am absent circumstances that could give rise to a conflict of interest or bring the reputation of the NCSG into disrepute. To the best of my knowledge I have not taken any positions which are fundamentally inconsistent with the NCSG's principles or mission, and I have a history of active engagement in Internet governance-related working groups, discussion lists, and related activities.
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