Vittorio Bertola
| Gender | Male |
| Age | 30 |
| Region | Europe |
| Nationality | Italy |
| Residence | Italy |
| Languages | Italian, English (fluent); French, Piemonteis (good); Spanish (basic) |
| Nominated by | himself |
| Endorsed by | Internet Governance Caucus |
Personal statement
This is why I am putting forward my name as a WGIG nominee, and why I think I could be a good WGIG member.
I am 30 years old, an engineer, from Turin, Italy.
As a daytime job, I design services and write software for Dynamic Fun, a small company that I co-founded, that creates Internet/wireless logistics and entertainment products. In the past, I was CTO for Vitaminic, a public company which I co-started, and which is a European leader in independent digital music distribution over the Internet.
I have been participating in Internet governance matters since 1996, mostly for passion. I was originally involved with Usenet; then, in year 2000, I was the most voted candidate from Southern Europe in ICANN's At Large elections. I have been participating in ICANN since then, first as Chairman of the grassroots organization named icannatlarge.org, then as proposer and then Chairman of the newly formed At-Large Advisory Committee, the body that advocates the interests of individual Internet users in ICANN. I am also presently serving as member of the .it Policy Board, and of the Council of ISOC Italy.
I co-founded the Internet Governance Caucus in February 2003 and have been an active member since then.
I think I have significant experience with Internet governance at different levels, but also a broad view that encompasses technical, organizational, business and policy aspects, an open mind, and a practical and reasonable attitude; these characteristics would allow me to participate productively and constructively in the working group.
I am willing to commit to the working group a significant part of my time. I think that the most important job for civil society members of the WGIG is to act as communicators and propagate information, for example by blogging, chatting, webcasting, and getting their hands dirty on actual organizational and technical work. CS members should be pushing all important issues on behalf of all CS participants, and not just the areas that they like the most. We need active and enthusiastic people who can take this job as their main commitment for the next months, and I want to do so.
I am fluent in English and Italian and can communicate in French and Spanish (and Piemonteis, a minority language which is my second mother tongue).
Finally, I would like to contribute to the working group the so-called "Internet mentality". The Internet has grown mostly thanks to the efforts of a younger generation of innovators, who wrote free software, created websites, started companies, invented applications and services. I use to talk about "people who found and lost friends and lovers on IRC, who update their blog on a wi-fi connected laptop from their bathroom, and who could actually install a Web server in minutes. People that think that information must be shared, and technology must be used to let everyone watch those in power, and not to let those in power watch everyone. People who like to understand how things work - no matter whether it's a computer or an international organization - so that they can then be used in new ways to make the world better."
This is the kind of person I try to be, and this is why I'd like to try to add my point of view to the WGIG and be nominated, if the caucus thinks that it would be a good idea.