Electronic Frontiers Australia (EFA) is urging Australians eligible to vote at the ICANN elections in October to nominate a Japanese candidate to represent the Asia Pacific region.
"Japanese candidate Yukika Matsumoto's platform is based on encouraging use of Internet by groups who have had difficulties in obtaining access," EFA Chair Kimberley Heitman said.
The ICANN elections have been set up to establish an international governing body to oversee key Internet issues. Registered voters across five world regions will elect one candidate to represent their region. The board will be made up of five international directors.
Australians registered to vote only represent 1000 out of the 10,000 voters in the Asia Pacific region.
According to Heitman, EFA believes Matsumoto is the best candidate to represent the Asia Pacific region in issues such as encouraging freedom of speech on the Internet, establishing the Internet in regions and groups that have been disadvantaged, and working towards lower cost Internet access.
"We need more of a focus on the Asia Pacific region. ICANN has historically been somewhat US-centric and part of the process is to encourage input from parts of the world that hasn't been involved in Internet governance," Heitman said.
