Re: Welcome / introductions

Dear friends,

my name is Robin Berjon and I am another of the folks who worked towards 
the formation of this group.

I've been doing Web and open source things for 25 years and standards 
for over 20, mostly in W3C where I've chaired a few groups, edited a few 
specs, and been elected to the TAG.

I'm currently in charge of data governance at The New York Times. I 
spend a lot of time working on privacy, which I see as much more than an 
individualistic right. Data is power and privacy is how we call the 
struggle for a fair and free society in the face of asymmetries of 
information and automation[0]. I am currently working with the TAG to 
establish Privacy Principles for the Web[1] (which is still very much an 
early draft), and with the PATCG[2] where I expect to soon provide a 
draft view of what "good advertising" looks like online.

My interest in this group stems from multiple overlapping sources.

First, the W3C (and other SDOs) have been focusing on way too narrow a 
scope compared to their responsibility. In the case of W3C, that can be 
seen as a laser focus on browser engines as the rest of the Web — 
including browser engine diversity — burns. We need to broaden our work 
on interoperability to go well beyond specifying the latest 
Blinkenlights API so as to ensure that the Web is sound infrastructure 
soundly managed.

Second, I have had several conversations with policymakers in which it 
became clear that they were hesitant to act for lack of clear 
alternatives to the current system. I hope that we can deepen the 
relationship between our communities and show that other options, rooted 
in interoperable standards and collective governance, are possible.

Finally, over the past few years I have been brought to work farther 
away from "core tech" and become much more aware of what it's like to 
mostly have to build atop infrastructure designed by others. I knew 
things were bad, but I hadn't realised just how bad they are — 
specifically just how hostile tech platforms are to sources of 
information that they don't control and intermediate. I see 
interoperability requirements as key to liberating the Web from NOBO 
(not-owned-but-operated) intermediation.

I live and work in Princeton, NJ, USA and am Australo-European.


I look forward to working with all of you on this!


[0] https://bookshop.org/books/why-privacy-matters/9780190939045
[1] https://w3ctag.github.io/privacy-principles/
[2] https://patcg.github.io/

On 2021-11-24 00:49, Mark Nottingham wrote:
> Hello everyone. Welcome to the Community Group!
> 
> We're just getting started, so please excuse the quiet while we wait
> for people to join and allow the Americans their holiday. I'm aiming
> to hold an online meeting before the end of the year, so that we can
> start discussing how the group will function and what we want to
> focus on first.
> 
> However, it'd first be good to get to know each other.  Please send
> an e-mail introducing yourself, including:
> 
> * A brief summary of your background * Why you're participating in
> this group * Where you call home (so we can try to schedule meetings
> when it's not *too* painful for anyone)
> 
> I'll start below.
> 
> ---
> 
> My name is Mark Nottingham, and I'm one of the folks who supported
> formation of this Community Group and coordinated drafting of the
> charter.
> 
> I've worked in Internet and Web standards for more than 20 years,
> having chaired a few different groups (including HTTP and QUIC),
> authoring many RFCs (including the most recent revision of HTTP), and
> also being a member of the W3C Technical Architecture Group and
> Internet Architecture Board.  I currently work for Fastly, a US-based
> Content Delivery Network, and I'm also working on a Graduate Diploma
> in Communications Law at Melbourne Law School.
> 
> I'm excited about combining architecturally sound, open
> specifications with the potential for a legal mandate from regulators
> -- while there are many risks, there are also opportunities to
> improve the Internet in ways that haven't been possible to date.
> 
> I'm located in Melbourne, Australia.
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> 
> P.S. If you haven't seen the group home page, please take a look at:
> https://interop-remedies-cg.github.io
> 
> -- Mark Nottingham   https://www.mnot.net/
> 
> 

-- 
Robin Berjon
VP Data Governance
The New York Times Company

Received on Monday, 29 November 2021 17:49:14 UTC