Nomination of Farzaneh Badiei for the GNSO Council

[farzaneh badii]

Thank you, Amr for the nomination.

I accept it and here is my statement:

*Name: *Farzaneh Badii (officially written as Badiei)

*Region of Residence:* North America

*Gender: Female*

*Employment:* Internet Governance Project (Georgia Institute of Technology)
https://internetgovernance.org <https://www.internetgovernance.org/>

*Conflicts of Interest: *None


I believe the noncommercial stakeholders' group can exert quite a lot of
influence in policymaking at ICANN through the GNSO council if it pays
attention to the most important issues, treat the noncommercial posts
seriously and care about noncommercial values such as freedom of
expression, preventing government and trademark overreach, and protection
of privacy.

I think NCSG needs to have at least a short term strategy on how to deal
with ICANN processes and policies. We have established our set of values
over time but we need a strategy to achieve them. This is what can be done
at the policy committee with the help of NCSG chair. I am hoping that I can
help  Stephanie who is already shaping our strategy.

I am not quite happy with the recent developments at ICANN, one is giving
too much power to the governments (sometimes stems from the bylaws but not
always), the desire to "fix" the multistakeholder model while the actual
deficiencies stem from other sources and decisionmakers and not from the
community. The power of ICANN org and its influence on the Board is also
another problem that should be tackled. While I cannot address all these
issues at the Council, I believe I can at least pay attention to the
developments and alert NCSG members about them.

Another reason I would like to be on the Council is to keep NCSG members
informed of what decisions are being made. Rafik did a tremendous job and
reported all the time but he is very busy and needs help. Since February
2019, NCSG members have not received a report on what the Council is doing.
Rafik cannot do everything single-handedly. We need to step up and help and
report and keep NCSG members informed.

I think it is quite important to be vocal during GNSO council meetings and
on the mailing list. Of course, Council members cannot weigh in on all the
issues but I think at least they have a duty to keep abreast of most of the
important issues that affect NCSG values and their own values and speak up.

I have been involved with NCSG/NCUC since 2015. As most of you know I was
the chair of NCSG in 2018 but decided not to run for re-election due to
travel restrictions. NCSG needed a present chair during the meetings. The
chair's presence during meetings is very important because she has to
defend NCSG values and standing, in the corridors, in private conversations
and make sure NCSG does not miss out on important issues which are normally
relayed to the chair.

The travel restrictions have now ended for me and I have been traveling but
I am a believer in remote participation. I think many of these ICANN Face
to Face meetings are unnecessary. We are not a business association to
network for business, we are making policies. We are not tourists either.
So while I can travel and attend meetings, I think I can be effective as
well if I just attend remotely and be aware of the issues and react to
them.


All in all, my purpose for running for the GNSO council is to inform NCSG
members of what we are doing, uphold its values in GNSO council processes
and help with hopefully maintaining the multistakeholder model and keep
checks and balances on powerful actors at ICANN. If you think these are
important issues to be addressed then vote for me!


Farzaneh


On Tue, Jun 4, 2019 at 4:13 PM Amr Elsadr <aelsadr at icannpolicy.ninja> wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I’m very happy to nominate Farzaneh Badiei as a candidate for this year’s
> elections for NCSG representatives to the GNSO Council.
>
> Farzaneh has done an outstanding job at advocating for non-commercial
> interests in ICANN for a number of years now. Her service on behalf of
> non-commercial interests has included administrative/executive when she
> chaired the NCUC and NCSG, governance and accountability when working with
> issues such as the CCWG for Enhancing ICANN’s Accountability then the
> revision of GNSO Operating Procedures to address the new Bylaws resulting
> from the CCWG’s outcomes, as well as policy development in the GNSO, either
> in the form of the many NCSG comments she has contributed to, or her time
> and effort on behalf of the NCSG on groups such as the Expedited Policy
> Development Process on the Temporary Specification for gTLD Registration
> Data.
>
> What’s more is that I find that Farzaneh has always taken her role as a
> *representative* of the NCSG seriously. She and I actually disagree on
> policy positions as often as we agree, however, I found her commitment to
> engaging with NCSG members, and gauging our views, when developing
> Stakeholder Group positions to be admirable. In my opinion, few of our
> previously elected representatives have gone the distance in this regard as
> much as Farzaneh has, and I’ve always appreciated it. If she is elected to
> represent the NCSG on the GNSO Council, I expect that she will continue to
> do so, which I would very much look forward to.
>
> I hope others are as eager as I am to see Farzaneh join our team of reps
> on the GNSO Council.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Amr
>
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