Make Your Voice Heard

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Number Resource Society (NRS) is campaigning to restore community-led bottom-up governance, to take back control of APNIC to ensure the community voice is heard clearly and not side-lined.

 

NRS believes that our core strength grows from the community we represent. We believe in a free, fair, and transparent election so all members across the continent can have a say in who represents them.

 

NRS simply believes that APNIC like any RIR should operate as an organization that works through a bottom-up system of accountability, where its grassroots members are involved in the discussion and the decision-making process.

In other words, an organization where all stakeholders can participate equally, and no one is excluded.

 

Taking Back Control

 

For far too long APNIC has been taken advantage of by a small group of individuals with vested interests.

 

Be it utilizing APNIC as their personal vehicle to try to enrich themselves or stifle innovation, competition, and engagement.

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Reason is because APNIC seems to fall under one man’s control, Paul Wilson. It is managed by only ONE director sitting on the board, made answerable to only ONE shareholder with only ONE share allotted and paid up, assisted by ONE secretary and that ONE person is none other than Paul Byron Wilson the man himself. While the observations we gather are far from casting aspersions as to the impartiality and legitimacy of a one-man show company being entrusted with a such huge responsibility in championing the interests of all users within the Asia Pacific Internet Region, one can’t help but question why would such an organization which self-proclaims to be a non-profit one, decides to be solely run by a single man, clearly with a vested interest, with no proper check and balance in place. 

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That is why Number Resource Society is hoping to steer things back on track and assert new changes and structural reforms into the system by endorsing fresh faces and injecting new blood into the organization with the end goal in mind to regain control of APNIC for its rightful stakeholder-it’s members and make it great and whole again; to make it a reliable and trusted organization that member could trust and rely upon.

 

That is why Number Resource Society is endorsing candidates that aim to take back control of APNIC and lead the way in making APNIC accountable to its members and return to the bottom-up approach giving us all greater engagement with the policy-making process.

 

Returning to a bottom-up approach to policy making and engagement will result in better engagement for all members and will lead to greater transparency. It will stamp out mismanagement and misappropriation of funds and put a stop to the recent culture of closed doors and backroom deals that benefit the privileged few.

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Your candidates

 

Number Resource Society is endorsing independent candidates from across the continent with a wide range of experience and skills. Each one supports six simple pledges.

 

Your candidates pledge to you to:

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• Reduce membership fees by 30 percent.

• Reaffirm community lead sprit with one world, one internet.

• Being a strong voice for businesses.

• Restructuring APNIC operation.  

• Ensuring the executive team of APNIC is held accountable to members.

• A free market, where businesses are free to run unhindered.

• Re-incorporating APNIC with relocation to Singapore, and make APNIC carbon neutral by 2030. ​

 

 

1)Reduce membership fees by 30 percent.

 

APNIC at its core operates a few hundred megabits database, a database small enough can fit into any modern USB stick. Yet, it requires over 20 millions dollars to run, and some members have to pay few hundreds thousands dollars a year in membership fees.

 

And it is doing all sorts of activities that most members have never heard of.

 

Yet again, the membership fee has been just raised more than 10% for members in 2023 alone.

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We will reduce APNIC's budget and membership fees by at least 30% or more by restructuring APNIC and reducing overheads and costs, also relocation to Singapore means APNIC will be closer to majority of its member base, therefore the cost of travel will reduce considerably.

 

2)Reaffirm community lead sprit with one world, one internet.

 

Paul Wilson has signed a letter on behalf of APNIC with Number Resource Organisation (NRO), in which there seems to desperate attempts of seeking government control of RIRs by 1) affiliating RIR with inter-governmental organisations 2) seeking diplomatic immunity for the officials of RIRs to escape from community scrutiny, which the community firmly rejects.

 

NRS strongly opposes such action. The abandonment of the community-driven process will lead to uncertainty and backroom deals, turning the Internet into a place which only serves a few privileged people. The risks brought by such a drastic change to the Internet’s ecosystem and stability are tremendous.

 

Here at NRS, we deem it essential to reaffirm and preserve the community-led spirit of the Internet - the very first human creation which is devoid of racial, gender, and geographical differences. To have an Internet which is truly fair and transparent (One World, One Internet), it is a MUST to let the decisions be made by the real stakeholders of the Internet: the community, ISPs, telecoms, exchanges and end-users.

 

3)Being a strong voice for businesses

 

Listening to the needs of businesses is imperative as this will encourage innovation, participation and investment in the sector. It will also give business assurances that RIRs work with and for them. We will be their voice and reflect on their needs. They are the backbone of the internet. Businesses strive for certainty when policy is made, and certainty is what we will give to businesses.

We ensure all businesses are treated equally. We will provide an environment that allows all businesses to thrive with minimal

interference from APNIC by championing the free market and fair competition.

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4)Restructuring APNIC operations

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Restructuring operations and the way they are delivered enables quick decision- making and better coordination and communication among employees resulting in enhanced productivity. Implement operations efficiency, where needed and stop wasteful expenditure will be one of our top priorities.

 

5)Ensuring the executive team of APNIC are held accountable to members

 

The executive team is elected by members and works for members. To that extent members should have the right to voice their concerns if elected members or appointed officials are acting in a bad way. We will introduce checks and balances, where rules can be scrutinized. We will also introduce three term limits for elected officials. We will endeavor to be transparent and allow criticism to be given robustly by our members. We will dismiss any member of staff found to be acting unlawfully or not in the interests of members. (We will report to law enforcement authorities any member of staff found to be acting corruptly or attempting to circumvent the rule of

law.) 

We will provide whistle-blowing protection to every member of staff or member who provides evidence of wrong doing.

We will ensure that APNIC treats all members equally regardless of race, religion, sexuality or geographical location.

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6)A free market, where businesses are free to run unhindered

 

A free market is vital for businesses run efficiently and unhindered. If governments run or get control of RIRs they will most certainly encroach on the free market as government strive to control with rules and regulations that stifle investment, innovations and increase barriers to entry. APNIC and all RIRs should not be controlled by any government as it will inevitably lead to barriers to entry and less

competition. We will ensure that at the heart of APNIC is the principle of a free market. We will stop APNIC anti-competitive policies. We will ensure that APNIC represents all members equally.

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7)Re-incorporating APNIC with relocation to Singapore, and make APNIC carbon neutral by 2030. ​

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By re-incorporating APNIC to turn into a member based organisation, we make every member a true stakeholder in APNIC’s legal existence. So every member has rights to be part of its legal entity and therefore the EC are merely excusing at the members’ will.

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And by relocating to Singapore, we make APNIC closer to the majority of its member base, and hence by reducing travel cost from Australia to most of Asian countries, we strive to make APNIC carbon neutral by 2030.

 

Sign up for more information and to meet your candidates at: https://www.nrs.help/apnic-election