2018 Annual General Meeting – Electronic Frontiers Australia

The Annual General Meeting of Electronic Frontiers Australia Inc. will be held on Saturday 24 November 2018, via videoconference, at:

16:00 AEDT (NSW, ACT, VIC, TAS)
15:30 ACDT (SA)
15:00 AEST (QLD)
14:30 ACST (NT)
13:00 AWST (WA)

Zoom/Teleconference Information

The videoconference technology used will be Zoom, with meeting ID: 749 594 226

Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/749594226

Or iPhone one-tap :

Australia: +61280152088,,749594226# or +61871501149,,749594226#

Or Telephone:

Dial (for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):

Australia: +61 (0) 2 8015 2088 or +61 (0) 8 7150 1149

Meeting ID: 749 594 226

International numbers available: https://zoom.us/u/acsgeAwq92

For In Person Attendance

Members in Melbourne may also attend the meeting in person at the University of Melbourne, location information is to be confirmed. The board would appreciate if members wishing to attend in person could register their interest by emailing secretary[AT]efa.org.au to ensure sufficient space is available.

Voting at the AGM is open to all financial EFA members, regardless of their membership type, who joined prior to the close of nominations (23:59 AEDT on Saturday 26 October 2018).

If you are unsure of your membership status, please email secretary[AT]efa.org.au.

If you are unable to attend the AGM, you are able to appoint a proxy.

Meeting Agenda

The meeting will consider the following matters.

Minutes of 2017 AGM
Chair’s report
Annual financial statements and auditor’s report
Appointment of auditor for FY2018-2019
Election of board members

The meeting is anticipated to run for no more than 1.5 hours.

Full details, including access details, proxy form, and supporting documentation will be available at least one week prior to the AGM at: https://efa.org.au/about/2018agm

Documents

Board Election

There are five vacancies for the EFA board.

Nominations have been received from the following members for election to the board:

Richard Prangell
Karl Goiser
Justin Warren
Simone Denereaz
Ashwin Vasanth
Matt Watt
Eli Bernstein
Yassmin Abdel-Magied
Dr Liz Williams
David Cake
Eliza Sorensen

Election Process

Members have now been sent their unique voting link and will have until 11:59PM 23 November, 2018 (the Friday) before the AGM to vote

As more nominations have been received than there are available positions, a secret ballot will be held to elect board members. The ballot will be conducted using the Opavote online system, as in previous years.

All eligible members will be sent an email containing a unique URL, which will enable them to cast their vote through OpaVote’s web interface. The votes uses Scottish STV, the default, and recommended, voting option from Opavote for a situation where multiple candidates can succeed, and provides a good reflection of the will of the voters.

Proxies

You are able to nominate a proxy for any votes at the AGM. The Rules of Incorporation state:

22. PROXIES

A member shall be entitled to appoint in writing the chair of the meeting, or a natural person who is also a member of the Association, to be his / her proxy, and to attend and vote at any meeting of the Association.
A member, other than the chair of the meeting, shall not be entitled to exercise more than ten (10) proxy votes upon any motion.

If a member has more than 10 proxies assigned to them, I will only be allowing the first ten received to be counted. I will allow members to nominate the Chair as a second preference should this happen.

As such, if you would like someone to be your proxy at the AGM, please copy the below text into an email body and fill in the appropriate fields. Add the final line if it is your preference.

Return it to the Secretary by 23 November 2018 by emailing to [email protected]

Note that there will be no opportunity to proxy for the election of Board members as that will be managed through an automated system which will send people a separate email. Members will have a week in which they can vote for the new Board members, so a proxy isn’t necessary.

2018 EFA AGM Proxy Nomination

I,

_________________,

a current member of the EFA, nominate

_________________,

to vote as my proxy in the 2018 AGM of the EFA.

I allow the Chair to be my proxy in the case that my preferred proxy has over 10 nominations.

Candidate Statement: Richard Prangell

Richard is a corporate and commercial lawyer, based in Sydney.

Richard is the principal solicitor at Viridian Lawyers, and is deeply immersed in the online and technology industries in Australia. Richard lectures in Advanced Commercial Transactions at the University of Technology, Sydney and is presently treasurer of NSW Young Lawyers. Richard also sits on the Legal Technology Committee of the Law Society of New South Wales.

Viridian Lawyers works exclusively with startups and innovators on issues related to venture capital, digital security, privacy and digital media, and comments in the media regularly on issues relating to startups.

Richard has a great deal of experience advising the boards of both for profit and not for profit entities in his capacity as a corporate lawyer and has a personal and professional passion for the issues relating to data rights and intellectual property.

Intentions

Recent releases by the leadership of the EFA suggest that it has been struggling to achieve its goals as a result of long standing corporate governance issues. I believe I can assist broadly with issues of this kind going forward.

Despite a great deal of hard work on press releases, the organisation’s actual media footprint is substantially smaller than is required to achieve its stated goals, and I believe that increased focus on media strategy is appropriate.

Australia has become something of an international test bed for government action in the online and digital communications space, including web censorship, intellectual property enforcement and encryption of communication. Corporate sponsorship to support campaigns in these areas from high growth/high value Australian technology companies should be explored.

Finally, the legal community have resources and interests that align with the goals of the EFA. Some of these resource might be tapped to assist with the law reform goals of the organisation.

Candidate Statement: Karl Goiser

Karl has been tinkering with IT since the advent or microprocessor. Just missing out on the punched-card era, he has watched, played-with, and worked with the first pc’s, used the internet before the www, suffered through the Y2K pseudo-doomsday, and watched the rise and rise of the ‘free’ services which steal your personality for profit. He is now looking at AI, cryptocurrencies and blockchains, and is worried about surveillance and privacy.

Karl has designed and worked on mission-critical software and iPhone apps; he has worked as a software developer and contractor, in sales, and for himself.

Having Honours in Computing, a major in Sociology, and just completed a Juris Doctor law degree with Honours, Karl is at an intersection of knowledge areas allowing him to understand technological developments, their impacts on society, and ways in which they could of should be controlled.

In the time where it is said that people are more interested in free WiFi than free will, it is more important than ever for people to understand the risks and responsibilities of living on the internet – it is also time for people who know about the issues and can help to stand up and be counted.

Intention

For the past 3 years, I have been on the board of the Environmental Defenders’ Office for the ACT, and am now its acting chair. I believe this gives me good understanding of procedures, rights and responsibilities of board membership.

As mentioned in my bio, I want to stand up for digital freedom. I think that the pressures of surveillance and invasion of privacy by both the State, private enterprise and social media platforms today may be more than ever before, and that that behoves people to stand up for the human rights in this increasingly digital age.

I therefore believe that a combination of background knowledge and experience, coupled with board experience and a willingness to become involved in the issues close to the heart of the EFA makes me well-suited to be a member of its board.

Candidate Statement: Justin Warren

Justin is Managing Director of PivotNine Pty Ltd, a boutique consulting firm based in Melbourne, Australia. He specialises in positioning and messaging consulting for technology companies.

An IT veteran with over 20 years experience, he has worked with many well known companies around the world, from Silicon Valley startups to large, publicly listed companies.

He is a regular contributor to Forbes and CRN Australia, and his writing has appeared in iTNews and The Saturday Paper. He has appeared as a host on theCUBE and as a commentator on ABCNews24.

Justin holds an MBA from Melbourne Business School and is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

He has been a member of EFA since 2001.

Intentions

I intend to build upon my work with the board that succeeded in getting EFA back into a financially healthy state. We achieved a lot despite having to sort out a variety of basic administrative issues that had dogged the organisation for some time. I look forward to seeing what is possible with more board time now available to devote to furthering the objectives of the organisation.

Candidate Statement: Ashwin Vasanth

Ashwin is a information security professional with over 10+ years of experience having worked in both consulting and industry roles. He believes in Privacy as a fundamental right and has always strived to help differentiate between Privacy and Secrecy. He is involved in the community as a founding member of Australia’s first student run infosec body, RISC (RMIT Information Security Collective), as a former organizer of Ruxmon Melbourne, as a former staff member at the Ruxcon Security Conference, as a current staff member at OWASP Melbourne’s monthly events and a current staff member at OWASP AppSecDay, Australia’s only software security conference for technology professionals.

Formerly a penetration tester operating on the offensive side of security, he recently switched to the defensive side and works as a Senior Security Engineer at a leading SaaS software company. He also has maintained memberships with AISA and ACS in the past and currently is a proud supporter of both the EFF and the EFA. When not contemplating the effect of technology and computing on our lives, he spends most of his time training as a triathlete.

Intention statement

I would like to apply for the position of a Board Member of the EFA. I have been involved in various community organizations as a staff, as a volunteer and as an organizer. Over the course of these engagements and my professional experience, I have learnt to build relationships and connections and along the way developed skills that I would like to put to use for the cause of promoting and protecting digital rights in Australia.

Technology, cannot improve the quality of life of humans without respecting basic human rights such as privacy and free speech. It is hence important for an organization such as EFA not only to exist but also help guide policy and discussion to productive outcomes and I hope with this opportunity be able to partake in it.

Candidate Statement: Matt Watt

Matt has been a digital rights activist since being inspired by WikiLeaks and Arab Springs in 2010. Starting with couch activism via twitter, Matt’s passion for protection the privacy, rights and freedoms of internet users grew to activism on the street and involvement in digital campaigns and website development of multiple organisations.

Matt has been involved in CryptoParty events since 2012, which went viral around the world hosting workshops to encourage everyone to protect their privacy online using cryptography tools. Matt has hosted multiple CryptoParty events in Sydney, and pro-bono individual trainings for activists, lawyers and not for profit organisations.

Matt has worked in the technology industry for 13+ years, with a combination of electronic, electrical and computer programming skills. He is also continuously improving his skillset through university studies in mechatronics and artificial intelligence.

Intention

I care about the privacy creep that has been happening on the internet over the last decade, and I want to ensure that everyone can use the internet with the rights and freedoms they expect. In addition to being an active member of the EFA organization, I will use my experience of internet activism and knowledge of Australian privacy, internet and cybercrime laws to commit to working on EFA projects that will ensure the rights of internet users.

Examples of Australian TV appearances by Matt Watt on internet privacy in Australia:

https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/video/11863107729/cryptoparties-teach-privacy-to-the-public

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98_K5YvwY08

Candidate Statement: Eli Bernstein

I am the founder of CryptIQ, a consulting group advising companies seeking to launch digital currencies and funds seeking to invest in them. I have a background in finance, innovation strategy and business development for emerging markets and technologies. I previously consulted to companies in diverse sectors including energy, resources, finance, technology, and law.

I have contributed to the startups, change and innovation scene through CrowdedSpace and related enterprises. Beyond that, my strategic work included policy submissions to State and Federal agencies; board-level strategic reviews; mergers and acquisitions advice and business case preparation for infrastructure projects.

I am Passionate about emerging markets and technologies, I’m particularly interested in the intersection between finance, technology and the law.

I founded LibertyWA, a West Australian unincorporated association seeking to defend civil liberties and have been on a number of boards and advisory groups including the Australia-India Business Council as well as chairman of an ASX-listed company. I am a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and hold a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours), an MBA and a Juris Doctor.

About my interest in EFA

I hold serious concerns about data privacy and censorship and believe that as our lives become increasingly digital, the line between digital rights and human rights becomes increasingly thin. In light of upcoming legislative changes, it is imperative that the EFA provide a voice that protects individual liberties and ensures that government does not overreach its mandate.

I believe that my background in government policy, law and technology may be of assistance to the EFA board as it deals with the challenges that lay ahead.

Candidate Statement: Yassmin Abdel-Magied

Yassmin Abdel-Magied is a Sudanese-born Australian mechanical engineer, writer and social advocate.

Yassmin worked on oil and gas rigs around Australia for almost half a decade before becoming a full-time writer and broadcaster in 2016. She published her debut memoir, Yassmin’s Story, with Penguin Random House at age 24, then became the presenter of Australia Wide, a national weekly current-affairs show on the ABC and Motor Mouth, a podcast on becoming an F1 driver. After hosting the documentary, The Truth About Racism, she created Hijabistas for the ABC, a series looking at the modest fashion scene in Australia. Yassmin is an internationally accredited F1 reporter and a regular contributor to the BBC. Her writing has appeared in publications like Teen Vogue, The New York Times, The Guardian and numerous anthologies. Yassmin has also appeared at literary festivals around the world, including the Jaipur Literary Festival in India and Colorado, Hay Festival in the UK and the Dalkey Book Festival in Ireland. She is also a regular on The Guilty Feminist podcast, and has appeared as a co-host on the incredibly popular feminist show.

With over a decade’s experience in non-profit governance, Yassmin founded her first organisation, Youth Without Borders, at the age of 16. She has since served on numerous board and councils, including the Council of Australian-Arab Relations and ChildFund, and also serves as the Gender Ambassador for the Inter-American Development bank. Yassmin has been awarded numerous awards nationally and internationally for her advocacy, including the 2018 Young Voltaire Award for Free Speech and Queensland Young Australian of the Year in 2015. In 2017, Yassmin created Mumtaza, dedicated to the empowerment of women of colour, and most recently founded Kuwa, a platform tackling cultural change around sexual harassment in workplaces.

Yassmin has delivered keynotes in over 20 countries on unconscious bias and leadership. Her TED talk, What does my headscarf mean to you, has been viewed almost two million times and was chosen as one of TED’s top ten ideas of 2015. Not one to shy away from a discussion, Yassmin’s appearance on Q&A with former Senator Jacqui Lambie went viral, viewed over 12 million times in less than a week. In the debate, Yassmin challenged the orthodox conception of feminism in Islam and spurred on a global conversation about being a young Muslim woman of colour in the West today.

Yassmin is currently based in London

Intention

My interest in being a member of the board of the EFA is two fold: one to the organisation, and one to the public, especially those who follow my work. The majority of those, and therefore the perspectives I represent, are women, Muslims and people of colour; folk who are generally underrepresented and underinformed about developments in this space. I am interested in protecting and ensuring the rights of individuals, especially those from marginalised groups, in the online space, and curbing the risks of overreach from states and corporates who do not have the priority of people’s human rights as their main priority. I am also interested in being aware and involved in action around these issues, in order to communicate this to my communities and inform + involve them in any action / awareness required.

I’m also looking forward to learning much more about the space!

Candidate Statement:Dr Liz Williams

I’m a deeply experienced international policy specialist focused on information technology, digital economy and law. The intersection of my commercial work delivering professional services to an array of global clients complements my academic work on Internet regulation, the role of national governments in global Internet management and consensus driven policy making.

I am a skilled commercial negotiator and facilitator of technical working groups, boards of directors and stakeholder engagements. I have run complex, multi-site projects, underpinned by strong corporate governance and contract compliance in addition to delivering complicated policy development processes for ICANN and other international organisations.

My academic background demonstrates my ability to research, write and demonstrate new ideas based on robust industry and academic engagement. My presentations history embraces innovation & development through rigorous analysis and research at the forefront of the evolution of the domain name system.

I look forward to contributing my skills and expertise to the EFA Board as it enters a new phase of growth and development.

Intention

As a professional board director I want to bring my extensive governance experience to the Board to continue to improve and refine the way in which the organisation is run. For me, this falls into two categories of activity around financial and operational stability and comprehensive subject expertise in information technology, law and the domain name system. I would like to complement the skills of the existing board members and find ways of expanding the reach and relevance of the organisation as an important member of Australian stakeholders who care deeply about the enabling power of a well run communications network. This includes contributing to robust policy development, firm and accountable advocacy and demonstrable skill in enabling a strong Australian Internet as part of global critical infrastructure upon which our modern life relies.

Candidate Statement:David Cake

I have worked in the IT industry for over 25 years, as a programmer, a system administrator, and a technical consultant. I currently work mostly for an Australian internet security company. I was a board member of EFA from 2005-2017, and served variously as Secretary, Vice-Chair, and Chair. I am also involved in digital rights efforts through international meetings such as ICANN, where I am heavily involved in the work of the Non-Commercial Stakeholders Group in protecting human rights (such as free expression and privacy) and security in the domain name system. Aside from that, my hobbies include building my own analog synthesisers, and science fiction fandom. I’ve had an email address since 1989.

Intentions

My intentions as a board member are, of course, to keep fighting for human rights in the digital world. One area I would like to focus on is finding more sustainable funding for EFA activities. One method will be identifying a few useful specific projects and applying for grants to carry them out. Another method would include continuing to look at the restructure program that was attracted majority support at the last AGM, which would enhance access to grants and other forms of ongoing funding. I am also focussed on building and maintaining partnerships with other organisations active in the digital rights area. I also think we need to work on our political lobbying capacity. I am enthusiastic about returning to conversations about governance of the organisation, and hope that I will be able to contribute in particular with my knowledge of the organisations history. Policy areas that I want to focus on include copyright reform, opposing internet filtering, opposing surveillance, and end user security. I do not anticipate returning to organisational leadership at this time.

Candidate Statement: Eliza Sorensen

Eliza Sorensen is a passionate technologist, educator, activist and co-founder of Assembly Four. Eliza believes in education rather than abstinence, running digital security and privacy workshops and founding the Sex Worker Digital Security Project (SWDSP) alongside Gala Vanting and Thoughtworks.

Intentions

As a member of the EFA, I would be looking to help continue the efforts to ensure that our rights to privacy are protected.

My name is Eliza Sorensen and I want to nominate myself for a board position. I believe that I’m a good candidate to join the EFA as I have a background as a infrastructure and security engineer in a range of fields such as banking, medtech and analytics which gives me a unique understanding in the use of data and regulated fields.

With the support of Assembly Four and peer organizations, I’ve been fortunate enough to run multiple workshops educating sex workers about protecting themselves and their privacy online and with the help of Gala Vanting and Thoughtworks we’ve founded the Sex Worker Digital Security Project to ensure that technical resources are widely available.

It’s been a wild year in the digital rights space and I want to be a part of the amazing work that the EFA does.