Election 2018-2019

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Board

Alexander J. Urbelis ELECTED!

Alexander J. Urbelis

I am attorney, writer, and radio and television personality, who focuses on issues of information security, privacy, and Internet governance. I am a partner in the Blackstone Law Group, and I have long been a member of the hacker and information security community in New York. Additionally, I am a producer on WBAI’s weekly technology-focused radio show with Emmanuel Goldstein, Off The Hook, and am one of the organizers of the Hackers on Planet Earth Conference (HOPE) that will be happening this July in New York, and I am also a member of the UL Security Council for the 2017-2020 term.

ISOC-NY was critical to HOPE in 2016 and provided the much-used streaming services for all major talks. Should I become a director of ISOC-NY, I would devote much time and attention to involving ISOC-NY in additional outreach via WBAI and would endeavor to raise ISOC-NY’s profile and role in the upcoming HOPE conference. It goes without saying that I also believe I could provide legal analyses and guidance on issues of critical importance to ISOC-NY and ISOC generally, and would hope to be a bridge from ISOC-NY to the legal and information security community.

I hold the BCL from New College, Oxford University, a JD, magna cum laude, from Vermont Law School, and a BA, summa cum laude, in Philosophy from Stony Brook University.

Please do feel free to read more about my technical and legal background on my bio page and on Wikipedia.

I would welcome the opportunity to serve ISOC-NY, and will work hard as a member of the Board to achieve its missions.


Reuben Loewy ELECTED!

Reuben Loewy

I am writing to offer my services to the ISOC-NY Board. I am particularly keen to work on expanding our educational programs and outreach, through offering my teaching and internet expertise both locally and internationally.

As you know, I am a pioneer in developing, teaching, and promoting Internet Studies. My engagement in this burgeoning field is partly through Living Online Lab, the educational non-profit organization that I founded and run, and partly through my own teaching as a member of faculty at an independent high school in Princeton, NJ.

The Internet Studies curriculum I have developed for Living Online Lab, in collaboration with experienced teachers and leading academics in many different countries, is now being taught to more than 30,000 students from Senegal to South Carolina. Our work has been featured in The Atlantic, TES (formerly Times Educational Supplement), and other publications. It is also garnering substantial interest from schools around the world as a growing number of people are becoming convinced just how crucial it is to educate youth to become engaged, knowledgable, and critical digital citizens.

My international experience is significant. I am a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science (M.Phil. International Relations), and worked for many decades as a foreign correspondent. I am also trilingual, and have lived and worked in more than a dozen of countries.

I am deeply committed to furthering the Internet Society's goals, and would welcome this opportunity to serve on the ISOC-NY Board as a practical way of achieving this.




Chris Grundemann ELECTED!

Chris Grundemann

I founded and led the Colorado chapter for over 7 years. I worked for ISOC for 2 years. I have a deep technical understanding of most Internet technologies. I have been an active participant in many other Internet organizations, such as NANOG, ARIN, and the IETF for many years.

More: http://chrisgrundemann.com

I think my expertise and experience will bring value to ISOC-NY as a Board member.










Andrea Romaoli Garcia ELECTED!

Andrea Romaoli Garcia

I'm a lawyer and get internacional prominence in Humans Rights, Taxes and Fees and Member delegated by UN to represent Brazil at the IGF Annual Forum (Internet Governance Forum) in Mexico. A consultantant to Visa Immigration to Canada in eVISAimmigration Agency. Professor and seminarian at the lato sensu postgraduate course in Tax Law at IBET (Brazilian Institute of Tax Studies). Lawyer in G&G Consulting. Lawyer Associated with the Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance (IBGC). Co-author of the Best Practices Guide for Third Sector Organizations for the city of São Paulo edited by IBGC Counsel of the Commission Brazilian Bar Association Human Rights (OAB - SP). Associated member at the Brazilian Association of Criminal Lawyers (ABRACRIM). Lawyer and lecturer at ISOC (Internet Society Organization/ONU). Volunteer member of the International UN. Lecturer in Congress and Colleges on Human Rights and Democracy. Counsel of the journal Fundamental Rights & Democracy in UNIBRASIL UNIVERSITY (CAPES A1). Graduated in Law (UNIRP). Graduated in Business Administration from the University Veiga de Almeida – RJ. Post Graduate in Tax Law by IBET (Brazilian Institute of Tax Law), lato sensu. Post Graduate in Administrative Law from the Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-SP), lato sensu (to complete). MBA Foundation for Project Management Getulio Vargas (FGV - RJ). I speak English well and Portuguese is my mother tongue.


Greg Shatan ELECTED!

Greg Shatan

I have a passionate interest in Internet policy and protecting a free and open Internet. I would like to put my significant experience to work with ISOC-NY

I have been practicing IP and technology law in New York for over 31 years, most recently with Bortstein Legal Group, a boutique firm specializing in intellectual property and technology transactions and related matters. Previously, I was a partner in the IP/IT practice at several large law firms, most notably at Reed Smith and Morgan Lewis & Bockius. I started as an associate at Weil, Gotshal & Manges. I have served on the boards of several non-profit corporations. My practice consists of complex intellectual property and technology transactions for large corporate clients; related IP protection, enforcement and counseling matters, particularly relating to online brand protection; Internet and domain name law matters; privacy and data protection; and web accessibility for the disabled.

I graduated from Columbia Law School in 1986 as a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, where I served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia-VLA Journal of Law & the Arts. I received my BA (Sociology/Psychology; Music) from Wesleyan University in 1981, where I served as President of WESU-FM (student-run radio station) and its non-profit corporation.

I have served on the boards of several non-profits, including the Columbia Summer Winds, Inc. and the New York Folklore Society.

I have been involved with Internet governance and policy matters since 2003, when I joined the Internet Committee of INTA. In 2007, I joined the Intellectual Property Constituency of ICANN. I served as President of the IPC from February 2015 through November 2017. My experience includes working on over 100 public comments submitted to ICANN on a wide variety of ICANN and DNS policy matters. I have attended 10+ ICANN public meetings and 3 Non-Contracted Party House Intersessionals.

My involvement also includes active participation in the following:

Current Working Groups: CCWG on Enhancing ICANN Accountability; Rapporteur, Jurisdiction Subgroup of CCWG-Accountability; CCWG-Internet Governance; Review of all RPMs WG; Next-Generation RDS WG; New gTLD Subsequent Procedures WG; IGO-INGO Protections PDP WG (reconvened)

Past Working Groups, etc: Reserved Names WG; Single Letter Names Subgroup of the Reserved Names WG; Temporary Drafting Group on New gTLD Registry Agreement Issues (TDG-Legal;) IOC/RCRC Protections DT; IGO-INGO Protections PDP WG; Policy & Implementation DT; Policy & Implementation WG; CWG on IANA Transition (CSG Representative

  • Disclosure: As a lawyer in private practice, I have worked at several law firms of varying sizes, which have had many, many clients (most of whom I had no relationship to).

I have not worked on any matters for companies in the telecommunications industry since 2014; my only engagement prior to that was unrelated to Internet matters and involved IDT, a non-ISP company in the prepaid card/VOIP space. My clients (or clients I have worked on) are and/or have been primarily in sports and entertainment (mostly on the "talent" side), financial services, insurance, media and publishing, apparel and accessories, technology, online services, and alcoholic beverages.

My practice primarily involves technology and IP transactions; trademark and copyright advice and protection, including online brand protection and domain name management; web accessibility for the disabled; and "weird Internet stuff." I regularly provide updates and advice to various clients relating to ICANN and domain name policy matters, as well as Internet-related legal matters unrelated to ICANN.

However, I have never been engaged to advocate on behalf of any clients in the development of ICANN policy, except that in 2013-14, I provided ICANN-related advice to and wrote several ICANN public comments for the Association of National Advertisers, but I did not engage in any other policy advocacy on their behalf. Specifically, I have never been engaged or compensated for my time spent in Internet policy development (e.g., ICANN, ISOC, NetMundial). (That might make me an idiot, given the amount of time I've spent "doing policy"....)

I have received travel funding (airfare, hotel, transportation and/or per diem) to attend ICANN general meetings and Non-Contracted Parties Intersessionals from the Intellectual Property Constituency of the GNSO and from ICANN (as an officer of the IPC, which ended in November 2017). While this enabled me to attend these meetings, it did not influence my opinions.

  • Additional Statement and Response:

I wanted to clarify a few things about my background and reasons for running for the board. Hopefully, this will dispel some misconceptions. First, although Joly suggested I consider running, I nominated myself for this election. Second, I have been a member of ISOC since 2013, and I have attended several ISOC-NY events in the past year, including the ICANN 60 Readout, where I was invited to come up from the audience and speak about the work of the ICANN Cross-Community Working Group on Accountability (in which I participate). I also attended "Teaching the History of the Internet" and the social portion of the ISOC 20th Anniversary in October. Third, I've never described myself as a "corporate lawyer," since that's not really my specialization (and it has certain connotations that don't fit me). I would call myself a Technology, Internet and IP lawyer. Fourth, while my clients have included large corporations, they have also included companies of many sizes (down to a 2-person video production company and a 1 person mobile app start-up), as well as individual musicians/singers. Fifth, I have provided financial disclosure, which was added to my statement soon after the election went live.

Internet Governance (IG) and policy-making is a bottom-up, consensus-driven, multistakeholder process. In my 10+ years of volunteer involvement in IG (primarily through ICANN), I've become increasingly involved in projects dedicated to improving how the process works -- increasing transparency, accountability, fairness and access to policy-making and implementation. These issues go far beyond the brand-owner concerns that first brought me into IG. This is a natural part of my evolution and metamorphosis as an IG participant, and getting more plugged in to ISOC and the NY Chapter helps me to be part of the "bottom" (that's a good thing, in this context) that must be connected to other levels in IG for the multistakeholder model to be legitimate.

I think ISOC-NY needs to be more actively engaged with IG -- at ICANN, IGF and elsewhere (e.g., various UN-related opportunities in our fair city). Internet Governance is not a spectator sport. While ISOC-DC may nave more depth and breadth in this field, that's no reason for ISOC-NY to cede the field to them. New York occupies a unique place in the Internet ecosystem -- an intersection of policy, commerce, technology development, creativity, academia, civic activism, grassroots activity, and culture. DC may be a policy town, and Los Angeles an entertainment hub, and Silicon Valley the epicenter of tech development -- but New York is no slouch in any of those areas or the others I've mentioned. ISOC-NY should reflect that variety and energy. All of these communities need an Internet that is (as the ISOC Mission Statement says) "open, globally-connected, secure, and trustworthy" -- though some may not be as focused on it. New York is also a city where extremes of wealth and poverty exist, almost side-by-side. Four days a week, my wife wakes up and goes to work in the poorest Congressional District in the poorest urban county in the nation, as a psychologist working with kids in foster care and elsewhere in "the system." Communities like these also need to be part of the New York "Internet Community." There are so many ways that ISOC-NY can and should be relevant to the Internet Community/Communities of New York. Yet we are still a relatively small organization. We can't bite off more than we can chew, but we also can't be the "same as it ever was."

Finally, a little more about my personal background. I grew up on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, on 101st Street and Central Park West. I've lived my adult life in Greenwich Village, a stone's throw away from the Strand Bookstore. After Hunter College Elementary School, I went to the long-gone Walden School, which was a leader in progressive education (and where my 6th Grade teacher was a party in a Supreme Court case in which he was charged with "sedition" for organizing the United Mine Workers). I studied Yiddish (poorly) at the Workmen's Circle and went to Camp Boiberik, another lost institution, run by the Jewish Labor Bund. In college, I helped to run the radio station, where we had and seized the opportunity to "break" punk, new wave and other music that commercial radio was ignoring. I play the bari sax, most recently with the Columbia Summer Winds (though I play jazz, rock, blues and unclassifiable music as well as classical). I played rugby for 15 years, until spinal fusion told me to stop. I've been a Wikipedia editor since 2007, though not a particularly active one. I'm an omnivore, always looking for new tastes and flavors. I'm a trivia maven. I'm in love with New York City, though the relationship can be difficult at times. Among other things, that helped inspire my older son to be an urban planner, now working with a non-profit in the Bronx to encourage "development without displacement." I may not be a "very progressive lawyer" (whatever that means), but my worldview is very progressive. Although I can be an iconoclast and don't mind being outspoken, I also believe in consensus-building, disagreeing without being disagreeable, avoiding petty and parochial squabbles (though it can be hard to avoid getting sucked into them), and above all, being productive. During my time at ICANN, I've worked to build bridges between business stakeholders and both ALAC and non-commercial stakeholders, both personally and at the group level.

Apologies for going on at length, but I wanted to give you all a bit more of a sense and flavor of who I am, aside from the rather dry professional bio I provided (and some of the conclusions that might be jumped to incorrectly based on that). If you've read this far and you still have questions, feel free to email me at gsshatan@gmail.com. I hope you will consider letting me serve you as a member of the ISOC-NY board.

Michael Burstein

Michael Burstein

I'm an award-winning science-fiction writer, an editor of science curriculum for K-12, an elected library trustee and town meeting member in my town, and a freelance journalist. Although I now live near Boston, I grew up in New York City before attending Harvard College and Boston University. I'd like to continue to do good work as a member of the ISOC-NY board. I feel an open Internet is vital to the development of a just society, and I hope with my perspective on education, libraries, and futurism I can contribute to our mission.

I receive no income from any part of the telecommunications industry.







Stuart Reid ELECTED!

Stuart Reid

I have been involved with building and operating community-based communications networks since the mid -1980’s when I co-lead an effort to bring cable TV services to underserved communities in the South Bronx. Our group, Urban Cable, successfully launched a private cable operation headquartered in the basement of a public housing development that brought state- of-the art addressable cable and PPV services to thousands of South Bronx residents five years before the franchised operator. Our efforts culminated in the acquisition of a citywide broadband franchise in 1993, then the largest single telecom franchise ever granted to an African-American owned and operated company.

As the technology evolved my work moved from cable to broadband, including the successful implementation of an experimental hybrid fiber/wireless community network that brought free and subsidized Internet service to over 30,000 residents in the Bronx, Harlem and Brooklyn under a New York State grant (2009-14). As Co-Chair of Digital Divide Partners and its Streaming University Project, I continue to work with local community and housing groups in a public/private partnership that brings free broadband service and resources to underserved residents in the City.

Many of the participants in the Streaming University Project are residents of the City’s public housing, a population of nearly 600,000 - larger than the City of Boston. More than half of these residents are unemployed, and the average household income is below the poverty level at $23,000. It is further estimated that nearly half of these households do not have broadband at home.

I believe that this constituent group needs a voice at the ISOC-NY table, and that my involvement at the board level could help facilitate dialogue and stimulate more inclusion in the important discussions and initiatives of the ISOC.

It is for these reasons that I seek Board Membership at the ISOC-NY. Thank you for your consideration.



Joly MacFie ELECTED!

Joly MacFie

I am the current President of ISOC-NY, having taken over when David Solomonoff resigned in 2016. Previously I was Director of Media Services. Before that VP (Admin) for some years. I am the current Chapter administrator, website designer and maintainer, notice board and newsletter author, Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin manager. I liaise frequently with our fellow North American ISOC Chapters, including Washington DC, and the SF Bay Area. I am currently leading the effort to rejuvenate the ISOC Disabled and Special Needs Chapter into an ISOC SIG. I am a member of ISOC Kenya, ISOC Chennai, ISOC England, the InterPlanetary Networking Chapter, as well as the Cybersecurity, Blockchain, Internet of Things, and Internet of Food SIGs. I am the ISOC-NY lead representative in our role as an At-Large Structure advising the board of The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), where we also participate in the Non Commercial Users Constituency within the Generic Names Supporting Organization.

I record and livestream our meetings, as well - on behalf of ISOC-NY - many other local meetups such as Beta NYC, Silicon Harlem, IOT-NY, Civic Hall, Legal Hackers, CITI, SIPA, CSNYC, CUNY-Tech, A11yNYC, Wikimedia, Manhattan Borough President's Office etc, as well as major conferences such as Theorizing the Web, Radical Networks, Silicon Harlem, NYMJCSC, and HOPE. This enables ISOC-NY's wide global membership to keep up online, and thus belong to the greater NYC community. I also run the global Internet Society's livestream channel. I have for over 7 years produced a fortnightly local ISOC-NY cable tv show.

I support our NYC Mesh project and its role as a model for Community Networks elsewhere. I support Reuben Loewy's efforts to bring Internet Studies curricula to young children, so they may better adapt to living in a networked world. I support Tom Lowenhaupt in his efforts to ensure that the .nyc top level domain be used to benefit the NYC community, not speculators. I support WikiMedia NYC in their effort to promote accessible knowledge. I support the New York Network Operators Group (NYNOG) in their efforts to promote fellowship among NYC infrastructure operators and ensure robustness in our networks. I support the efforts of Silicon Harlem and New America to establish new models of resilient connectivity in some of our most under-served neighborhoods. I support BetaNYC in its work to bring the benefits of Open Data and Civic Tech to the NYC Community. I support the Things Network in their effort to build an open, free and community-owned IoT data network in NYC. I am a member of the Open Infrastructure Alliance. I am an individual member of Civic Hall.

Soon, many of NYC's major telecom/cable franchises are up for renewal, ISOC-NY has a role to play in ensuring that, regardless of federal rulings, Open Internet principles are baked in to these franchises.

Trust and cyber-security are critical issues. I will continue ISOC-NY's collaboration with the Online Trust Alliance, and local cybersecurty groups such as OWASP, ISSA, ISACA, ISC, and the Global Cybersecurity Alliance, to ensure a safe online environment.

I look forward, over the next two years, working with our new ISOC-NY Executive Director Shuli Hallak, to increase the frequency and vibrancy of ISOC-NY activity, strengthen and broaden our membership, and solidify our base amongst the NYC Community, while pursuing the ISOC mission of Internet for Everyone, Everywhere.

It was I who, some years back, originally nominated Dave to the ISOC-NY Board. I subscribed to his newsletter and was impressed by the way he kept up with tech developmemnts, in particular access technologies, which he continues to do. He also has good perception of policy matters, and many of his action/policy prescriptions are spot on.

However, since then, what I perennially have had a problem with is the manner by which he presents those prescriptions. He combines sweeping negative statements, almost Trumpian in nature, such as the "ISOC has talked a lot but done almost nothing effective towards bringing down access costs" below - this while in NYC alone ISOC has pumped $30k into NYC Mesh, not to mention Global Staff, 5 Regional Bureaus, and 120 Chapters, all doing the damnedest to make access more affordable - with persomal attacks on other people amd their motives - recently when ISOC President Kathy Brown announced her retirement on the Chapter Leaders list, the first response was from Dave gracelessly speculating on her succession, with a jab at Raúl Echeberría, ISOC's VP of Global Engagement, who, in Dave's mind, covets the position. Several other Chapter leaders expressed their disgust at Dave's behavior. To be frank, I was ashamed to be presiding over the Chapter that put him on that list.

Then there's his constant assertions, as below, that he's right and everybody else doesn't get it with regard to global inclusion. It's just plain insulting to people who work very hard to widen participation. Yes, we'd all like to see more diversity.

To sow dischord, distrust, and disharmony between people working for the same aim in a mission-based organization wastes everybody's time and energy. It may actually be self-defeating if its effect is to turn good people off volunteering. it is not, in my opinion, helpful.

Adressing his specific issues on this election. Knowing Dave, I made a point of including him, along with our Executive Director Shuli Hallak, on the NomCom so that we'd have an open process. There was an open call for nominations. I nominated certain existing board members, plus two women Ingrid Burrington, and Lauren Gardner - who have impressed me via their active participation in NYC events such as Radical Networks - plus Brian Hall of NYC Mesh. I was hoping for fresh blood on the board, doers. Dave nominated his brother Michael and his partner Jennie, along with Bruce, Stuart, and Sherrie. All other candidates were self-nominating. After the deadline passed, we had 19 candidates who had formally accepted their nominations. These did not include Ingrid, Lauren, Jennie, or Brian. Ultimately the decision on the slate was by majority of the NomCom. Imran plain missed the boat. I am sorry to say there was one self-nominee - the first - Kristina Villarini - who, when we made up the slate, all 3 of us on the NomCom entirely overlooked. Many apologies to Kristina, I hope to bring her concerns to everyone's attention in the New Year.

Shuli and I had concerns about Dave packing the board with his family, somewhat assuaged when Jennie didn't make the cut, Dave made a fuss about conflicts of interest, which prompted Greg Shatan and Avri Doria to provide financial disclosures. He then provided the candidate statement below - which initially Shuli and I rejected, mainly because of its discussion of other candidates. We suggested he amend it, which he has elected not to do.

Please think carefully, when reading all candidates's statements, and making your vote, about what best serves the Chapter and its mission.


Tom Lowenhaupt ELECTED!

Tom Lowenhaupt

I experienced a déjà vu last month, with 2017 feeling like 2002.

Back then, after a several year effort to create an engaging website for my community board, I discovered that my fellow residents didn't view the new civic engagement medium as as a wondrous endeavor as I. My clue: one of the website's features (IMHO) was a discussion forum - rare or even unique on as an official government provided resource back then. There I imagined the district’s 175,000 residents delving into the issues of the day, using the Internet to move us toward a better world, or at least community district. But nobody posted a meaningful comment, nary a hello for over a year from the site's initiation, to my best recollection.

Realizing that my likes and inclinations were apparently unlike those of my fellow community board members and neighbors, I sought a more efficacious method to facilitate civic engagement. “How might I add a splash of water to enliven what most apparently found a dry world of policy and governance?” I wondered. After some exploration I delved into learning from games and adding some fun to participation in the governance process.

Reaching out, I found a fellow grad school alum who was also on a games path and joined with a few others to sponsor the Serious Games, Serious Issues conference in 2004. I felt I was off to a strong start in a budding field. But my engagement with the gamification movement proved short lived.

In August 2005, while working on a redesign of Landing Lights Park, located on Democracy Island in SecondLife, I received a call from a fellow in Berlin urging me to re-engage with the effort to acquire the .nyc TLD. Seems he wanted to pursue a .berlin initiative and learned that I'd introduced an Internet Empowerment Resolution in 2001 calling for the acquisition and development of the .nyc TLD as a public interest resource. He sweet talked me into speaking at a new TLD conference in Prague, and within a few months I heedlessly agreed to a “short term” engagement to help make city-TLDs happen. That turned into a 10 year ICANN odyssey that ended with the city acquiring the .nyc TLD.

Hoping to demonstrate the utility of .nyc (and that my 10 year effort wasn’t a total waste), last year the organization I helped found to advance the .nyc initiative started a neighborhood communication center, JacksonHeights.nyc. And now (December 2017), after a year of engagement, the déjà vu has kicked in and I'm returning to the conclusion that gamification and collaboration techniques are as needed in 2017 as in 2002.

That’s a long intro to my SOI for a ISOC-NY board position. I’ve long thought that the Internet should serve people first, then families, friends, neighbors, neighborhoods, cities, and nations. And if all these are helped they’ll create a better world. Understandably most saw the Net first as global, simply because it could be.

My interest in ISOC-NY is twofold: to engage its members in applying tech to local needs; and to see if I can influence global ISOC to flip its lens.


Jonathan Askin ELECTED!

Jonathan Askin

I, Jonathan Askin, of the Brooklyn Askin’s, hereby submit myself for consideration to the ISOC-NY Board.

I am a professor at Brooklyn Law School, teaching technology, telecommunications, and entrepreneurial law and policy. I am the Founder of the Brooklyn Law Incubator & Policy Clinic (http://www.brooklaw.edu/blip), which represents Internet, new media, communications and other tech entrepreneurs, startups, innovators and organizations on business development, policy advocacy and law reform. I am also the Faculty Chair and Innovation Catalyst for the Brooklyn Law Center for Urban Business Entrepreneurship. I am a founder of the Legal Hackers movement, the largest community of legal hackers in the world. I am also a founding member of the Legal Technology Laboratory, designed to bring lawyers together with technologist to advance the law and legal process.

I have served as a Visiting Professorial Fellow at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary University of London, a Fellow at the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information, an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Law School, and Founder/Advisor to iLINC, a network of legal support clinics for the European startup community. Last year, I was a Visiting Professor at the MIT Media Lab and a Fulbright Scholar with the University of Amsterdam’s Institute for Information Law. I chaired the Internet Governance Working Group for the Obama ’08 Presidential Campaign. I have served as lead counsel and on the boards of many communications and Internet ventures, industry associations, and consumer advocacy groups. I am an honors grad of both Harvard College and Rutgers Law School.

I think my background, experience, insights, and passion make me well suited to advance the mission of ISOC-NY. I hope and trust others might tend to agree.

Yours in common uncommon mission, Jonathan


Richard Knipel ELECTED!

Richard Knipel

I'm the founding President of Wikimedia NYC, the nonprofit supporting Wikipedia in the New York City area, encouraging and enabling participation of a broader local community in the "free encyclopedia", and I'm still a board member there. I'm also a board member at the Wiki Education Foundation, a US-Canada nonprofit that helps university students develop articles on Wikipedia as part of class assignments, in lieu of a traditional term paper.

I have been an incumbent board member of the ISOC-NY for several years, and was also active in the Students for Free Culture movement. I helped spur the Free Culture Alliance NYC, attempting to bring together free/open advocacy groups in the city.

In my day job, I'm Wikimedia-in-Residence for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, helping to make their collection open access.


Sherry Antoine ELECTED!

Sherry Antoine

​​I care about the future of the internet and the continually developing humanitarian connections to it.

As the manager of the New York - based Wikimedia NYC AfroCROWD program, I was recently a keynote speaker at Wiki Conference North America in Montreal and have also presented at Wikimania and other related events. My work with the program -- locally and internationally -- has the taught me a great deal about the internet's interplay with society and, most importantly, its ability to empower so many. Our work has since been featured in the New York Times and other publications.

Additionally, I am on the planning committee for NGO CSW which participates in an advisory role with the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women, and I am active with Black Girls Code, a not-for-profit organization that focuses on providing technology education for African-American girls.

I have a Master of Public Administration from The American University School of Public Affairs, have worked as a digital writer, and spent years in public outreach.

I became involved with ISOC New York Chapter three years ago. I​ ​see ​its ​great ​potential to become a powerful hub of impact in the world.

I would love to add my public outreach skills to the efforts of ISOC NY.​


Irene Fariña ELECTED!

Irene Fariña

I am a Communications and Social Responsibility expert. I am founder of small a consulting, training and research project called PhilanTropics and partner with governments, companies, NGOs, academia and civil society internationally to advance their social impact around the world. Some of my clients include Article 1 Human Rights and Business founded by BSR and Berkley Human Rights and Business Initiative specialists, where are their official partner for Latin America, Penn State and Harvard Universities for different initiatives, Aspen Institute, companies like Citi, Moody´s as well as UNICEF where among other topics we co-partnered alongside A1 to study the needs of migrant children and technology to and from the US down to Salvador, as well as developed the guidelines to partner with the private sector in emergencies for Latin America, OECD, Organización de Estados Iberoamericanos, European Union projects and many others. On my free time I also founded a collaborative Facebook based household service community operating in 5 countries in Central America, called Busco y Encuentro Ayuda Doméstica (Look and Find Household Help) where members can enter, and post any question about home or household topics and connect with people who can help them or offer the service for free. The largest of the groups has 12000 members and has advocated and helped passed laws and public policy regarding insurance for household cleaning employees and maids. I also serve on the board of ISOC Costa Rica where I chair the Human Rights Committee. I have been on ISOC NYs board and look forward to play a more active role in engaging the Hispanic community in internet topics.

I hold a Communications and Advertising title from Universidad Latina in Costa Rica, a Licenciate degree in International Business from ULACIT in Costa Rica as well as studies in Political Science by Universidad de Costa Rica and CSR by Harvard Business School.


Joe Plotkin ELECTED!

Joe Plotkin

As a native New Yorker, I’m honored to have been an ISOC-NY board member for the last 5 years.

For over two decades, I’ve been fighting to keep the Internet open (even before Tim Wu dubbed this concept “net neutrality”).

Professionally, I’ve been at forefront of providing broadband Internet connectivity since the US introduction of DSL in 1998. Currently, I’m the Director of Business Development for Stealth Communications, an independent fiber ISP in NYC, providing gigabit speed connectivity. My expertise is at the intersection of marketing and telecommunications infrastructure.

Additionally, I’ve worked in a variety of pro bono roles including:

  • NYCwireless (Board of Directors) The not-for-profit organization that pioneered free wireless Internet access in NYC’s public places in the early 2000s.
  • TeleTruth (Strategist) A customer rights group founded with Bruce Kushnick, which fought against monopoly control of the public telecommunications infrastructure.

In media and various public fora, I’ve been outspoken advocate for unencumbered, permission-less Internet access, as well as pro-privacy, and anti-censorship. I believe it is essential that the Internet remain open, to act as a robust platform for innovation, global communication and free expression.

I hold a Masters Degree from NYU’s Interactive Telecommunications Program (ITP).

I hope I can continue serve ISOC-NY, and as a fervent and full-throated advocate in the on-going battle to keep the Internet fully open.




Dave Burstein ELECTED!

Dave Burstein
  • Initial statement

I just got the request a few hours ago and will put something in soon. But I wanted to include my financial disclosure.

My disclosure:

I have received no income from telcos, public groups, or organizations in recent years (and not that much before that.) The one exception is the Marconi Society, which gives an annual award in communications, for whom I did a web site and other things for low five figures. Most of my income comes from conferences (not in policy) advertising, consulting, etc., primarily companies who produce telecom equipment. Occasional journalism, never above low four figures.

  • Additional Statement

I'm in ISOC because I believe the Internet should be for everybody. A fancy resume - I have one - is a terrible reason to vote for me or anyone else here. The right reason is that the person has worked hard on what can make a difference. I'm emphasizing here what I have done and what I want to continue doing in ISOC. My tech background often allows me to provide a perspective that is new to our policy people.

For five years, I've been working in ISOC and other places to explain how we can could bring more people online, reduce the costs, do something about the massive giveaways in all the government broadband subsidies, and keep policymakers honest. I also think it's crucial to build bridges to the other side of the North/South Divide/ US & allies vs BRICs. I could go on much longer - I've been active since 1999. If I haven't mentioned what you personally care about, email me at daveb@dslprime.com. I'll answer promptly.

Apologies for the interruption. If you're reading this, it's because something has gone wrong with this election and I had no other way to reach you. If the President agrees to a board or membership meeting to set election rules, I will delete this message.

The likely result of violating the bylaws would be the new people the President nominated give him control. Some or all never had anything to do with ISOC-NY previously. Procedure is boring and I prefer avoiding it, but ISOC is worth protecting. Some details:The bylaws require the board or committee to set the election rules. But Joly insisted on making his own rules. His rules were never even presented, are contradictory, and possibly invented when he wanted to get rid of someone. Nominees have never had a chance to address the board or membership. That's because the President hasn't had a board or membership meeting in more than a year. (They are required by the bylaws. Never happened.) The bylaws require a nomination committee to recommend applicants. (This was ignored in favor of the President's choices.) He left three appropriately nominated people off the ballot. If this is still here, the election is a sham and easy to invalidate. Several of these issues would be enough to throw the election out if taken to court. (Which I do not plan to do. Waste of ISOC money.) Ask if you want to know more about selfish and outrageous stuff going down. Very boring. Bylaws: http://isoc-ny.org/wiki/Bylaws_Rewrite bottom of page. Again, the problem could be immediately resolved if Joly agreed to hold a board meeting and then the election. Ask him why he won't.

Back to real stuff.

Credentials. I've reported broadband since 1999, written two books, run seven major conferences and spoken at dozens of others. I did two workshops for the FCC. I did 18 years of The Personal Computer Show at WBAI-FM and we won about a dozen awards from the Computer Press Association. I served four terms as President of the New York Amateur Computer Club back in the days of Apple II and Trash 80's For a while I earned a living moving pianos. From about 1980 to 1999, I was a computer geek. I was on the Postscript Standards Committee when I transferred newspapers from Amman and Moscow to print in New York 15 minutes later. Then I became a network geek, reporting DSL as it went from 2,000 connections to 400M. I'm working on a book about Gigabit Wireless (5G-4G.) The 140M signups at Reliance Jio in India have demonstrated that 4G is so much cheaper per bit that's it is a mistake to build 3G networks. That insight Blah Blah Blah.

I report worldwide and bring that knowledge here. I wrote that Myanmar is headed to 95% LTE. I'm working on one about Rwanda at 92% LTE, better than Italy. I've written for ISOC how to focus on what's important for Internet growth in Africa. I know some of the very best engineers and have introduced ISOC policy people to true experts. Sometimes I get deep into policy. I reported from the ITU WCIT in Dubai and Plenipot in Busan. I did an interview with ITU Secretary-General Toure about bringing more civil society into the ITU, which he strongly supported. ISOC as a sector member can bring as many delegates as we choose. Some countries send over 100. Toure told ISOC CEO Brown this would be the best way to get more NGO's into the ITU. He urged her to move on this. I told ISOC people about this several times, although ISOC still hasn't done much.

See my work at http://fastnet.news; http://wirelessone.news; http://netpolicynews.com. If you take a look, I believe you will see a great deal of information worth bringing to ISOC, which I do.

I've worked in ISOC, NY & Central, to actually implement the democratic & "multistakeholder" principles we claim. We go to International meetings and demand governments become "multistakeholder" and "transparent" but we can't come close ourselves. Reality is all important ISOC decisions are made top down. The biggest decision of the last few years - whether to let chapters control 3% of the budget - was denied in a closed meeting. We refuse to name our donors, some of whom benefit from our policies.

I come from the "speak truth to power" side. I've spoken strongly in ISOC about Net Neutrality. ISOC central was opposed for years. We say now we support NN but the ISOC position is nearly identical to Comcast's. NN was named by Columbia Professor Tim Wu, whom I've interviewed several times. That allowed me to give one of our policy guys a better understanding/

Most of the statements here are about how great someone is; several of them really are great. But ask what a candidate has done for what you believe in. I'll try to provide some useful information.

There is no reason for you to pick 15. Choosing fewer means those you do choose are more likely to win. Current board members who have done decent work include Jonathan Askin, Irene Farina, Joseph Shraibman, Evan Korth, Richard Knipel, Imran Anwar, Joe Plotkin, Avri Doria, Tom Lowenhaupt and I guess Dave Burstein would be on that list. Currently, Joly is blocking Imran, a decision he made rather than the nomcom. I would add to that group Bruce Kushnick, who has done so much I thought he was on the board. Brian Hall of NY MESH does good work.

Joly also is blocking Jennie Bourne, I believe we found the error and that will end. My partner Jennie is a video producer with a couple of degrees and remarkable experience. She did the Evening News at WBAI-FM. She's good and we need black women. I'll also continue to urge ISOC to find officers like my friend Stu Reid of Digital Divide Partners, He has 30 years of solid community work in Harlem and the South Bronx, doing cable, DSL and now Wi-Fi. I've pointed out to ISOC that the people on the ground doing the work know much more than "policy" people typical in DC. Again, what I can bring to ISOC is ideas about getting things done, which includes hiring mostly people who have worked directly with the networks they analyze.

I would stop there.

Chris Grunderman used to work for ISOC and comes recommended. I don't know him. My brother Michael would be excellent. Community active, two physics degree, day job doing science textbooks, enthusiastic. 10 Hugo Award nominations for his fiction, some of which had interesting takes on the Internet. I persuaded him to run when I thought we didn't have enough candidates. That has changed, and there are many factors in your choice. I wouldn't have nominated him today given the complications.

Most of the rest are nominations by Joly and have never had anything to do with ISOC-NY. Some look good. One is a very progressive lawyer, Alexander J. Urbelis. A second is a corporate lawyer with a great deal of IPR and ICANN experience. He reports "large corporate clients." He hasn't posted a financial disclosure form; I hope he does and makes clear whether his clients are in Internet Policy. It's not required.

One approach would be to ask these new people to spend some time with the chapter and then ask for the board seat. Others would look at the resumes and make a decision.

I've asked everyone running to do a disclosure of income from organizations & corporates active in policy. Mine is below. Think twice about voting for anyone unwilling to disclose but don't use income source as the only criteria. There are two people on this list who should disclose what I believe are not large amounts. I know them to rise above that and I've voted for them.

ISOC has a $30M a year net income from the .org registrations and should be the world's key advocate for Internet users. It hasn't been and I have worked six years trying to make it so. In particular, ISOC has talked a lot but done almost nothing effective towards bringing down access costs, the best way to connect more people. We have actively opposed net neutrality until recently

I want to continue learning the tech stuff and bring it to ISOC.



Bruce Kushnick

Bruce Kushnick

I care passionately and have been a steadfast defender of open internet and networks for all stakeholders in all parts of America -- especially New York State. We believe in competition as the driver in a free market, and that all should have access to the best possible services at fair and reasonable rates.

I have been a telecom analyst since 1982 and Senior Telecom Analyst for International Data Corp's (IDC) office IDC/Link in 1985 where I wrote seminal reports on telecom, including the first report on what would become Caller ID. And in 1992 I helped to create and deploy the first 3-digit service "511" with Cox Newspapers, and our research on consumer telecommunication's use became the centerpiece of the first flat rate long distance service, "$.10" an minute plan, by Sprint, with Candice Bergen, circa 1995.

And the networks are at the core of delivering the internet and services. Over the last 2 decades I've been focused on telecommunications infrastructure issues -- tracking the broadband commitments, the costs of services to customers, who got upgraded and who didn't, and the competitors and their ability to offer services. In short, New Networks and the IRREGULATORS have been attempting to hold the companies accountable for upgrading and providing broadband infrastructure, wireline and wireless.

As the Executive Director of New Networks Institute since 1992 and the founding member of the IRREGULATORS, 2016, our track record speaks for itself.

  • FCC Comments, Complaints, Reports and Filings, 2016-2017 - http://irregulators.org/fccfilings20162017/
  • Reports and Filings in New York and mainly about Verizon New York and Time Warner - http://irregulators.org/fixing-telecom/
  • In 2001, we worked with Congressman Nadler to create the first proposed legislation called the "Broadband Bill of Rights", worked with SBA's office of Advocacy for the first 'small business (ISP and CLEC) telecom competitor summit in 2002. And in 2006 we were featured and helped to shape the first national broadcast program on Net Neutrality and broadband infrastructure, Bill Moyer's Emmy-nominated "The Net at Risk".
  • In 2013-2015, we helped to get three municipalities wired/upgraded with fiber optics; Fire Island in New York and Stow Creek and Greenwich, New Jersey, based on existing laws.
  • As of June 2017, there is a multi-billion dollar settlement underway based on a multi-year investigation of Verizon New York's cross-subsidies of Verizon's state utility and its subsidiaries, as well as the condition of the networks-- which is based, in part, on our research and analysis.
  • As of September 2017, New Networks Institute is part of an appeal of the FCC current Business Data Services Order in an Amicus brief, filed with Public Knowledge and Consumer Federation of America.
  • And along the way we have worked with the Internet Society of New York. In 2009, we held a 25th anniversary of the break up of AT&T event at NYU, and in 2013 we worked with ISOC-NY and created "Reverse ALEC Legal Hackerthon", a conference at Brooklyn Law School's BLIP clinic, which predicted the current plans to shut off the existing copper networks and replace them with wireless-- instead of upgrading customers to fiber optics. - https://isoc-ny.org/p2/4778

It would be great to more formally continue our work with ISOC-NY and do new events and projects.

Avri Doria ELECTED!

Avri Doria

I have been a member of the ISOC-NY board for 2 terms now. During my last term I served as the ISOC-NY representative to the Chapters Advisory Council (ChAC), and was elected as chair of its first steering committee. I found it very satisfying to be part of the creation of the ChAC and its Steering committee, and while I am not completely satisfied with the results of our various recommendations to the Board in the last year, I am satisfied that we have created the basis for an ongoing Advisory Council to try and get some bottom up mechanisms for ISOC.

I have opted not to serve another term on the ChAC steering committee, and am stepping down as the council representative for ISOC-NY. While I felt this work is important, it was rather removed from the chapter itself, and did not afford me an opportunity to be involved in fostering chapter goals. I also believe that as the one who created the leadership mechanisms, it is time for me to step aside and let others lead – the creators of governance mechanisms are never the best choice for ongoing leadership in my view. At this point, I want to shift my focus to the needs of the chapter itself and its participation in solving the local and national Internet fractures and other problems that are continually occurring in the one network. We are at a turning point in the Internet in the US and I think we need to do what we can to direct the Internet toward a future that lives up to its promise. I will now focus on understanding how our chapter can better serve the community it serves, both NY and the wider region for which it serves as a focal point, and the Internet at large. While I am no longer a NYC resident, though once I was, my sister still is. Also as a RI resident, ISOC-NY is my closest chapter and the ISOC Chapter I associate myself with.

I strongly support the role of the ISOC chapters in the creation of internet governance positions of the society itself in its effort to maintain a single Internet that reaches and serves all people. Situated as the chapter is in the same city as the UN headquarters, a body that is ever looking for greater ways to gain intergovernmental influence over the Internet, I think there is more we can do to establish relationships in that body and gain the influence one gains by participation in their events and debates. I think we can also help the Internet Society and our sister chapters in this process. I also think the IGF-USA is an important venue for dealing with national Internet governance issues, but feel it is limited by remaining a Washington DC effort. I want to help the chapter work on ways, through the IGF-USA planning group, to bring the IGF-USA to NY, and to other locations in the US. These are efforts I wish to explore and help with if there is a consensus for doing more.

ISOC-NY has an excellent reputation for service to the global community, a reputation that is wide spread. Just last week in Geneva, a founder of the Norwegian ISOC chapter was saying that he hoped his chapter could do as well, and that we were his model. Our stewardship in making information available globally is an important role and one that needs as much support as possible. Not sure what I can do help in furthering this effort, but it is one I intend to support in any way I can.

In short, I stand as a candidate for another term to do what I can to help further the chapter’s and the Internet Society’s goals.

  • Financial disclosure: My financial income consists of:
    • US Social Security pension
    • Employee at Association for Progressive Communications (APC)
    • Stipend for service as a member of the ICANN Board of Directors




Evan Korth

Evan Korth

Jumping on a non-wifi plane this morning to Mexico.

Don't think I am going to have time to do this between now and the new year.















Joseph Shraibman

Joseph Shraibman

I have been a member of ISOC-NY since very near the beginning. I'm the current treasurer and in the past I have served as the secretary. I have been a software developer working in internet technologies for 19 years.





Officers

President

  • Joly MacFie ELECTED!

(see above)

Vice President

  • Chris Grundemann ELECTED!

(see above)

Secretary

  • Tom Lowenhaupt ELECTED!

(see above)

Treasurer

  • Joseph Shraibman ELECTED!