Multistakeholder internet governance can be messy. APNIC wants it that way
(2026/02/13)
- Reference: 1770959617
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2026/02/13/apnic_apricot_2026_multistakeholder_governance/
- Source link:
APRICOT 2026 When members of the Asia Pacific Network Information Centre got their chance to grill its leaders at yesterday’s annual general meeting, they didn’t hold back.
Questions from the floor came thick and fast: Does the organization need someone on the board who isn’t a male engineer? Why were its finances so strained that frontline staff were let go? Why does it take the organization a year to reply to some correspondence? Is APNIC doing enough to support its Foundation? Has it used tricky accounting?
Similarly sharp questions came earlier in the week at the APRICOT conference that precedes the AGM. Why do so many vendors still not enable IPv6 by default? Is it a good idea to accelerate depletion of IPv4 so unused addresses are put to work sooner rather than later? Is it possible to secure an organization with only open-source tools?
[1]
Overseeing all that debate – and APNIC itself – is director general Jia Rong Low, who as leader of the organization [2]has enormous influence over how the internet is governed on behalf of over four billion people – the largest population served by any of the four regional internet registries.
[3]
[4]
In conversation with The Register , Low was entirely comfortable with the robust conversations at the twin events, and said he wants more of them, more often. But he thinks it might take the equivalent of civics lessons to make that happen.
“For a lot of members, their initial interaction is they pay us for IP addresses,” he said, before lamenting that the transaction means members consider themselves customers and don’t contemplate the opportunities and obligations that come from being part of an open organization like APNIC.
[5]
Low therefore wants APNIC’s members to understand that they can influence the organization, as contributors to policies or as representatives on special interest groups or elected members of the APNIC executive council, its equivalent of a board.
“I have members ask me for more IP addresses,” he told The Register . “As staff, I can’t change that. I tell them they can update our policy to do that. I think in the past year we're communicating more of that to members.”
Late in 2025, the United Nations sent a very similar message when it [6]voted to persist with current multistakeholder internet governance structures that see ICANN, ISOC, the IETF, regional internet registries and other bodies work in concert to operate, build and secure the internet without government control.
[7]
Low welcomed that decision, because he believes the success of the internet shows that multistakeholder management works.
But he thinks that ongoing success, at least at APNIC, means improving the organization’s ability to engage more stakeholders.
[8]Asia reaches 50 percent IPv6 capability and leads the world in user numbers
[9]AFRINIC says it's back on track and will soon deliver the plan that proves it
[10]AI vastly reduced stress of IPv6 migrations in university experiment
[11]Tech jobs are now white-collar trades that need apprentices, not a career crawl
Doing so means finding ways to engage people in ways they find culturally appropriate and comfortable, so they feel comfortable participating in governance forums.
Low is a proficient speaker of Vietnamese and explained that there is a hierarchy built into the language that means conversations open with exchanges that determine the age of participants. The language used in a conversation then changes to reflect a speaker’s seniority.
English is the dominant language at APNIC events, and in its many online discussions. Low won’t push for that to change but does want to make sure that APNIC can create an environment in which all its members can express themselves comfortably so the organization can tap their ideas and energy. And fair enough, given the myriad languages and cultures of the region APNIC services.
Doing so will mean APNIC follows the core tenets of multistakeholder internet governance – bottom-up and open standards development processes in which anyone can participate – and encourages more stakeholders to participate.
Low has taken some steps towards this goal, by re-framing audits of IP address holdings as “reviews” and changing the process to make checks more collaborative and educational so they feel like outreach instead of enforcement. He’s also continued to scope establishing an APNIC entity in a country other than its Australian headquarters. He plans to define more of this effort when working on a five-year strategic plan APNIC will deliver next year to cover 2028 through 2032.
APNIC’s AGM ended with an election that saw three executive council members re-elected, meaning the sole female candidate did not win a seat. Members also voted to extend executive council members terms from two to three years, but to limit representatives to three terms.
The AGM ended with news that APNIC will next year take an event to Mongolia for the first time. A representative of the Mongolian Network Operators group, which will host the event, pointed to the nation's young demographic profile as evidence of its vigor and potential. Jia Rong Low could not have asked for a better demonstration of his ambition. ®
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[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/27/apnic_jia_rong_low/
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[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/23/apnic_half_ipv6_capable/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/10/afrinic_turnaround/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/10/ipv6_generative_ai_experiment/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/27/tech_career_paths_apprenticeships_needed/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Questions from the floor came thick and fast: Does the organization need someone on the board who isn’t a male engineer? Why were its finances so strained that frontline staff were let go? Why does it take the organization a year to reply to some correspondence? Is APNIC doing enough to support its Foundation? Has it used tricky accounting?
Similarly sharp questions came earlier in the week at the APRICOT conference that precedes the AGM. Why do so many vendors still not enable IPv6 by default? Is it a good idea to accelerate depletion of IPv4 so unused addresses are put to work sooner rather than later? Is it possible to secure an organization with only open-source tools?
[1]
Overseeing all that debate – and APNIC itself – is director general Jia Rong Low, who as leader of the organization [2]has enormous influence over how the internet is governed on behalf of over four billion people – the largest population served by any of the four regional internet registries.
[3]
[4]
In conversation with The Register , Low was entirely comfortable with the robust conversations at the twin events, and said he wants more of them, more often. But he thinks it might take the equivalent of civics lessons to make that happen.
“For a lot of members, their initial interaction is they pay us for IP addresses,” he said, before lamenting that the transaction means members consider themselves customers and don’t contemplate the opportunities and obligations that come from being part of an open organization like APNIC.
[5]
Low therefore wants APNIC’s members to understand that they can influence the organization, as contributors to policies or as representatives on special interest groups or elected members of the APNIC executive council, its equivalent of a board.
“I have members ask me for more IP addresses,” he told The Register . “As staff, I can’t change that. I tell them they can update our policy to do that. I think in the past year we're communicating more of that to members.”
Late in 2025, the United Nations sent a very similar message when it [6]voted to persist with current multistakeholder internet governance structures that see ICANN, ISOC, the IETF, regional internet registries and other bodies work in concert to operate, build and secure the internet without government control.
[7]
Low welcomed that decision, because he believes the success of the internet shows that multistakeholder management works.
But he thinks that ongoing success, at least at APNIC, means improving the organization’s ability to engage more stakeholders.
[8]Asia reaches 50 percent IPv6 capability and leads the world in user numbers
[9]AFRINIC says it's back on track and will soon deliver the plan that proves it
[10]AI vastly reduced stress of IPv6 migrations in university experiment
[11]Tech jobs are now white-collar trades that need apprentices, not a career crawl
Doing so means finding ways to engage people in ways they find culturally appropriate and comfortable, so they feel comfortable participating in governance forums.
Low is a proficient speaker of Vietnamese and explained that there is a hierarchy built into the language that means conversations open with exchanges that determine the age of participants. The language used in a conversation then changes to reflect a speaker’s seniority.
English is the dominant language at APNIC events, and in its many online discussions. Low won’t push for that to change but does want to make sure that APNIC can create an environment in which all its members can express themselves comfortably so the organization can tap their ideas and energy. And fair enough, given the myriad languages and cultures of the region APNIC services.
Doing so will mean APNIC follows the core tenets of multistakeholder internet governance – bottom-up and open standards development processes in which anyone can participate – and encourages more stakeholders to participate.
Low has taken some steps towards this goal, by re-framing audits of IP address holdings as “reviews” and changing the process to make checks more collaborative and educational so they feel like outreach instead of enforcement. He’s also continued to scope establishing an APNIC entity in a country other than its Australian headquarters. He plans to define more of this effort when working on a five-year strategic plan APNIC will deliver next year to cover 2028 through 2032.
APNIC’s AGM ended with an election that saw three executive council members re-elected, meaning the sole female candidate did not win a seat. Members also voted to extend executive council members terms from two to three years, but to limit representatives to three terms.
The AGM ended with news that APNIC will next year take an event to Mongolia for the first time. A representative of the Mongolian Network Operators group, which will host the event, pointed to the nation's young demographic profile as evidence of its vigor and potential. Jia Rong Low could not have asked for a better demonstration of his ambition. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_onprem/networks&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2aY8ET-QwGnFUsOJROnjAvAAAAA8&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/27/apnic_jia_rong_low/
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[6] https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/18/wsis_20_plus_resolved/
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[8] https://www.theregister.com/2025/04/23/apnic_half_ipv6_capable/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/10/afrinic_turnaround/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/10/ipv6_generative_ai_experiment/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/27/tech_career_paths_apprenticeships_needed/
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Someone who isn’t a male engineer?
Taliesinawen
> Someone on the board who isn’t a male engineer?
Would the organization run any more efficiently depending on what the engineer has between their legs?
Great summary
Not that I was there but I've been following the issues of the top level registries for years.
I was glad when APNIC left Australia for more inclusive membership and it looks like Low has been a great leader during his tenure.
Many thanks for this.