The Business Constituency


BC elected representatives

Philip Sheppard	Currently one of three elected BC representatives to the GNSO Council. Current term of office October 2007 to October 2009. Previous term of office 2003 to 2007. Member since 1999	Public Affairs Manager for AIM - European Brands Association, a Brussels-based trade association involved in public affairs activities. AIM represents the branded goods industries in Europe on key issues which affect the ability of brand manufacturers to design, distribute and market their brands. AIM’s membership groups 1800 companies of all sizes through corporate members and national associations in 21 countries. These companies are mostly active in every day consumer goods. AIM's mission is to create for brands an environment of fair and vigorous competition, fostering innovation and guaranteeing maximum value to consumers. Non-remunerated directorships and honorary positions: Olivers Wharf Management Limited, Zaparazzi sprl, President 2007 International Public Relations Association, Freeman of the City of London. I am a contact point for various domain names.

Zahid Jamil	Currently one of three elected BC representatives to the GNSO Council. Current term of office August 2008 to October 2009. Member since 2007.	I am a Barrister-at-law of the Hon’ble Society of Gray’s Inn, London, an Advocate High Courts of Pakistan and Senior Partner of Jamil & Jamil, Barristers-at-law a commercial and corporate law firm in Pakistan which is the only firm that also specialises in IT, IPR, Cyber crime and Data Protection. I am the Chairman of the Domain Name Dispute Resolution Center (www.dndrc.com) which deals with domain name disputes under the .pk ccTLD and is a member of the Business and Commercial Users Constituency. I am legal counsel to the IT Association in Pakistan (Pakistan Software Houses Association of IT & IT Enabled Services www.pasha.org.pk) and Chairman of the Electronic Business, IT & Telecom Commission of the Pakistan Chapter of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC). I have been an active advocate of policy reform in Pakistan to improve the E-Crime Ordinance in line with international best practice and the CoE Convention on Cybercrime and have assisted the ISP Association, IT Association, the Computer Society of Pakistan and the ICC Pakistan Chapter in formulating their comments to the Government on the legislation. I have also been working informally with the Federal Investigation Agency’s National Response to Cyber Crime Cell (NR3C) in certain cyber crime cases. In a recent event that took place in Pakistan, where a IT Company owner who was proved innocent was arrested for using VoIP, I provided pro bono legal advice. Also during Youtube’s blocking by Pakistan’s Telecom Authority, I successfully lobbied and advocated the withdrawal of the block. As such I am deeply concerned about the stability and security of the Internet and the need to educate all stakeholders, especially regulators, against ill-advised regulatory mechanisms to ‘control’ the internet that may result in the fracturing or instability of a global, secure, stable and 24x7 available internet. I have run several workshops and spoken at several events in Pakistan with the business community and especially the Banking community on Cyber security, and also participated in cyber security events abroad. In this respect at the 2007 IGF in Rio I have been a panellist at the CoE Workshop "Legislative responses to current and future cyber-threats" and also been a panellist in the main Session at the Rio IGF on 14 November 2007. I attended the 2007 IGF in Athens where I made interventions from the floor and was a panellist in the APC workshop. I also attended the IGF Second round of consultations on the convening of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) 19 May 2006, Geneva. I have participated in the 2007 ICANN meeting in New Delhi, the 2008 Dubai Regional Meeting and the 2008 ICANN Paris meeting. Also as Chairperson Joint Legal Working Group and Member of AFACT Asia Pacific Council on Trade Facilitation and E-Commerce (AFACT), I have a particular interest in how the domain name system affects business and trade facilitation. The internet has been a huge boost for developing country businesses. and has turned the pyramid on its head by empowering developing economy businesses with information which used to be the purview of government or vested interest. This has resulted in their being able to make quantum leaps in exports of goods and services where once the regulatory regimes imposed upon them would impede and restrict interaction and trade. Hence, developing economy businesses rely as much if not more on the availability, stability, security and global unity of the internet. As such, I believe that developing country businesses have an important role in providing input into the ICANN process. They currently enjoy little representation on the GNSO and as such I would wish to be a voice to advocate their role in the BC. However, as a representative elected to the GNSO Council by the collective members of the Business Constituency, I am required by the Constituency's Charter to support and otherwise remain faithful to approved positions of the Constituency as applicable. None of my clients presently have any contractual relationship with ICANN.

Mike Rodenbaugh	Currently one of three elected BC representatives to the GNSO Council. Current term of office October 2008 to October 2010. Previous term of office January 2007 to October 2008. Member since 2005.	I am owner of Rodenbaugh Law, a member of the Business and Commercial Users Constituency. I am an attorney licensed in California. I conduct much of my business via the internet. I advise and represent entities and individuals with various commercial interests in domain names and other forms of intellectual property, and with varying interests in internet commerce. I am personally concerned about the security and stability of the Internet, as it is increasingly the backbone of our society, critical to global commerce, communications and safety. So I am interested in ICANN's role in managing and coordinating the technical and policy aspects of the Internet. I am mindful of the many enormous benefits of the internet that are fostered by ICANN policy, and seek for ICANN policy to develop in ways that will enhance the growth of internet commerce and communications. I am also concerned about various, serious harms enabled by policies of ICANN and its contracting registries and accredited registrars, or by lack of effective policy. Businesses and their customers are experiencing increasingly severe harm from phishing, malware distribution, hacking and other forms of online crime and intellectual property infringement. For many years I served as in-house counsel at Yahoo! Inc., working increasingly to protect Yahoo! users and their commercial and personal interests, as well as Yahoo!'s commercial interests, against these increasing worldwide threats. I believe that these harms will continue to rapidly grow, unless DNS policies are adapted to help fight them. So I strive for DNS policy that helps to mitigate those threats as much as reasonably possible. On occasion, I may have clients with similar concerns, or who have other policy interests at ICANN. As a representative elected to the GNSO Council by the collective members of the Business Constituency, I am required by the Constituency's Charter to support and otherwise remain faithful to approved positions of the Constituency as applicable, rather than my own views or those of any client I may have at any given time. Generally my clients are online businesses that do not have a contract with ICANN, though I may represent contracting parties from time to time in matters unrelated to ICANN policy, for example in a commercial transaction or dispute resolution. To the extent that any client seeks my representation or advocacy in any ICANN forum, I would further disclose the existence of such client and their interest in the matter at the time of that representation. I currently advise a for-profit entity in a business venture that will apply for a new gTLD when ICANN opens the domain space in 2009, and I am personally engaged in a second for-profit business venture that intends to apply for another new gTLD through that ICANN process. I may consult on other, similar projects in the future. In addition, I advise Yahoo! and several other clients with respect to cybersquatting and cybersecurity problems that they suffer, which problems are enabled (often unknowingly) by ICANN contracting parties and by ICANN policies or lack thereof. Therefore I also advise those clients about ICANN, and advocate at ICANN some of their views that ICANN policies should change and/or be adopted to mitigate these problems.