Kiwi lands mediator role with global internet body
Icann appoints a Wellington barrister as its new shuttle diiplomat.
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A Wellington barrister has been appointed the new ombudsman for Icann, one of the key organisations that runs the internet.
In his new role Chris LaHatte will mediate in any disputes that arise between the US-based Icann and its stakeholders, which include InternetNZ and equivalent local organisations in almost every country (which is no exaggeration. Mr LaHatte is shortly off to Senegal).
Icann - The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers – is a non-profit organisation set up by the US Department of Commerce in 1998 to manager internet addresses, a task formerly carried out by the US government. It became fully independent in 2006.
Mr LaHatte will shortly spend a week in LA being inducted into the ways of Icann, but will continue to base himself in Wellington. Some disputes will be resolved online, others by “shuttle diplomacy.”
He expects “cultural interplay” as developing countries take more of a role in the global internet as one of the factors in his new job.
Before accepting the Icann role, Mr LaHatte worked as a barrister and mediator, including work as a conflict resolution specialist in the construction industry.
Mr LaHatte told NBR he would be paid "an appropriate salary" in US dollars.
Asked if he was looking for downward movement in the NZ dollar, he replied "sincerely."
In an open letter to Icann members on his blog, Mr LaHatte notes he has three teenage children "and I practice my conflict resolution skills on them."
Chris Keall
Fri, 05 Aug 2011
Fri, 05 Aug 2011
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Kiwi lands mediator role with global internet body
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