Dear APNIC Community,
The EC election has just been announced, and I would like to send sincere
congratulations fo r the successful candidates!
With that, JPNIC has a concern for the election process and sent a public
correspondence titled "An appeal for reinforcement of the governing mechanism of
APNIC".
Here's the text of the letter, for your reference:
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Mr Gaurab Raj Upadhaya, Chair of the APNIC Executive Council,
The members of the APNIC Executive Council,
Mr Paul Wilson, Director General of APNIC
An appeal for reinforcement of the governing mechanism of APNIC
APNIC is the Regional Internet Registry for Asia Pacific Region that administers
and distributes IP Addresses and AS Numbers which are indispensable unique
identifiers underpinning the function of the Internet and operates the related
services including reverse DNS. In addition to these inherent functions, it
conducts related activities of research and capacity building, among others, all
of which make it play the most important role for the operation of the Internet
infrastructure.
The Secretariat fundamentally operates APNIC's business and the Executive
Council, which consists of the members who are elected by APNIC Membership,
oversees the Secretariat's operation. It is of the utmost importance that the
Executive Council appropriately represents the membership and appropriately
oversees the proper operation of the Secretariat.
However, the 2023 election of the APNIC Executive Council has brought a
substantial concern on this proper operation. The announcement which the
Secretariat made on February 15 and 21 (*1) told that during the election period
there were unsolicited telephone calls to encourage voting for certain
candidates impersonating APNIC representative and threatening anonymous phone
calls demanding silence on election issues and they were reported to law
enforcement agencies. The newly introduced Election Nominee Code of Conduct and
its oversight mechanism should have alerted to these offenders, but further
active measures were not taken as no action is specified under the current APNIC
Bylaws. We are aware that very explicit concerns have been expressed by several
governments and other Internet Coordination bodies, which suggest the threat on
APNIC’s stability would have wider effects on stability of the entire Internet.
These offenses may impede the oversight of the APNIC operation by the fairly
elected representatives, therefore endanger the stable operation of APNIC. In
order to address these threats in future, we believe it is needed to inspect the
current mechanism which governs APNIC, including by-laws and other
constitutions, to reinforce if there is any vulnerability, so that it can
maintain robustness to ensure the stable operation onward. It is the most
urgent call; therefore, we urge the APNIC Executive Council to take strong
leadership to take deliberate and steady steps toward such reinforcement.
JPNIC is the organization which took the initiative to establish APNIC thirty
years ago and has been a member of it since then. We regard APNIC as one of the
most important functions of the global Internet, therefore we have been involved
in its operation through the Executive Council member from us and through the
participation in the policy process. We are more than happy to take part in the
consideration of the reinforced governing mechanism as a Member, if it is needed.
(*1)[apnic-talk] [Apnic-announce] Callers impersonating APNIC: Election scam
warning
https://orbit.apnic.net/hyperkitty/list/apnic-talk@lists.apnic.net/thread/OAHAKZE33QSGDTY3KQ23SNRQOLPVNQ6R/
[apnic-talk] [Apnic-announce] Appointment of law firm to oversee election
nominee code of conduct
https://orbit.apnic.net/hyperkitty/list/apnic-talk@lists.apnic.net/thread/MQZLPC54FDOWB3DKO4WDIDNY6XQQIPTH/
Yours Sincerely,
Hiroshi Esaki, PhD,
President and Chair of Board of Trustees,
Japan Network Information Center
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