5-3 APRICOT Report

Social Aspect of the Internet Development in Asia Pacific Region BOF

(Planning/International Working Group)

A BOF (small session) entitled "Social Aspect of the Internet Development in Asia-Pacific Region" was held from 14:00 to 15:30 on March 1. Jointly presented by JPNIC and APIA, the purpose of the session was the exchange of information concerning the spread of the Internet in the Asia-Pacific region, and the impact it has on each society.

Approximately 20 people mostly from the Asia-Pacific region attended the session. This time the attendants exchanged information how the lnternet spread and penetrate in each society in the Asia-Pacific region, and what kind of measures are being taken to promote the lnternet use.

For example, a TV program in Sri Lanka is helping to increase interest in the Internet, by conducting Web site searches for audiences who phone in. In addition, interesting examples were presented that showed how the Internet is steadily spreading in each country and region. Some problems were also pointed out, including the inequality in the spread of the Internet between the urban areas and the rural areas, and the cost of utilizing the Internet are high for the standard income level.

This BOF was a trial, and the first time that people from various countries could share this information face to face. The BOF Participants will share the information and experiences through E-mail exchangs, and will seek clues for easier Internet use in the Asia-Pacific region. For example, we are hoping to ascertain development trends of the Internet in the Asia-Pacific region, pass this information on to our members, and consider what type of support may be possible. Additionally, it has been decided that a similar BOF will be held during INET2000 in July to further share experiences.

IP address Issues

(IP addresses and the AS number Assignment Working Group)

APNIC SIG Session

Each year, APNIC organizes an annual member meeting concurrent with APRICOT. As something new this year, following five "SIG (Special Interest Group)" sessions were held.

Session Name	Chairperson
Address Policy SIG,	Takashi Arano (Chair of JPNIC IPwg, ICANN AC)
PGP and the RIPE Database SIG,	Joao Damas (RIPE NCC)
Routing SIG,	Phillip Smith (Cisco Systems)
DNS SIG,	Mathias Koerber (SingTel)
IPv6 SIG,	Akira Kato (WIDE Project)

For more details, please refer to the following URL:

http://www.apnic.net/amm2000/sigs.html

The following presentations were made by JPNIC IP-WG at the SIGs:

Routing SIG

"IRR Cooperative Operations System" Kuniaki Kondo

With regard to the consideration of IRR operations in many ISPs, which was started from RADB's introduction of a charge system, this presentation showed the necessity of proper coordination to retain the integrity of the data globally. The proposition was approved in principle, and it was decided that the details would continue to be discussed, on the mailing list and other opportunities.

Address Policy SIG

(1) "Simplified Assignment of Address Space under /29" by Yoshiyuki Ezura

(2) "Clarification and Standardization of Principles for Assignment Evaluation" by Midori Hiromi

(3) "Protection of Personal Data on APNIC Database" by Masanori Maemura

The Address Policy SIG is a session where APNIC IP address allocation policy is discussed openly among APNIC and its members. This is a newly defined requirement for RIRs as dictated by ICANN. The establishment of this session now allows propositions to be submitted by members in addition to the policies planned by APNIC, enabling members to have their opinions reflected in the policies. It can be now said that a democratic policy creation procedure based on consensus of the members has been established.

Regarding proposal (1) from JPNIC, major opinion was availability should be verified even for small address blocks. Thus, it was agreed that we could investigate the possibility for simplifying availability verification via practical discussions. The neccesity for (2) was generally agreed on, and it was decided that the details would continue to be discussed. Consensus was reached regarding (3).

Important proposals submitted by APNIC included a proposal concerning the start of regular assignment of class A addresses in RIPE NCC and ARIN based on the assignment history. and a proposal to change the minimum allocation size to ISPs from /19 to /20. Agreement was reached on both proposals.

APNIC NIR Meeting

Separate from the SIGs, an NIR meeting was held to discuss policies relating to NIRs between APNIC and representatives of certain NIRs under APNIC, specifically KRNIC (Korea), TWNIC (Taiwan), CNNIC (China), and APJII (Indonesia). Items on the agenda, including improvements to APNIC's procedures for allocation to NIRs, and dispatch of personnel to APNIC, were all agreed to in principle. As with the case of the Address Policy SIG, this meeting was aimed towards a democratic decision-making process of its policies regarding NIRs, a direction we can welcome.

APNIC General Meeting

As is the case with every general meeting, the business report for the year was presented, important issues were discussed, and summarized reports of each SIG were explained. The items agreed to in the Address Policy SIG were confirmed by a show of hands. We believe that this method is very effective for democratic and speedy execution of policies.

A vote was taken to elect three members of the EC (Executive Council). From five candidates, two incumbent officers were re-elected, and JPNIC IP-WG Chair Mr. Takashi Arano was chosen to replace JPNIC Trustee Mr. Toru Takahashi, whose term is expiring.

At the end of the meeting two RIRs, ARIN and RIPE, reported on their activities. In addition, progress reports on AfriNIC (African region) and LACNIC (Latin American region), currently being formed, were presented. The upcoming change from the current 3 RIR system truly made us feel that a new age is on its way.

For more details on the General Meeting, please access: http://www.apnic.net/amm2000/index.html

At the general meeting, APNIC's new logo was presented for the first time.

In the past year under the new ICANN system, improvements were seen in APNIC's system and business content, as exemplified in the clarification of RIR structure, the start of SIG, and realization of a democratic decision-making process for policies in APRICOT. As the refined logo symbolizes, this meeting gave the impression of considerable progress for APNIC.

ICANN Panel and BOF Report

During APRICOT, panels on ICANN updates and ICANN BOF were held. The ICANN panel explained five topics and included a description of the structure of ICANN, activities to date, challenges, and future plans.

Western countries have a more influential voice as regards the Internet, and there is a gap in its use as well. It was proposed that the Asia-Pacific region and others should actively contribute to the development of the Internet.

A point worth taking notice in the organizational structure other than the subordinate organizations such as ASO, DNSO, and PSO, was the introduction of and the call for participation in "At-Large Member." This is a membership system targeted at Internet users all over the world, in which opinions are enlisted for the sake of future development of the Internet. There is a high expectation for Japanese participation; registration can be done through the ICANN homepage. Activity reports from ASO, DNSO and PSO were also presented.

A BOF was then held in a different location. The meeting started with 30 persons in attendance, in an open atmosphere with each person introducing himself or herself; by the end of the meeting, the number of participants had doubled, and there were many heated discussions.

Six topics were discussed at BOF: "At-Large Member," "Regarding ASO," "The Next ICANN Meeting in Cairo," "Decision-making Process in ICANN," ".eu Issue," and "Financing."

The ".eu Issue" had generated criticism from participants that a new top level domain name had been created so easily, but documents explaining the creation of the domain name were distributed and the matter was resolved at the meeting. Some topics were carried over to be discussed at the meeting in Cairo, to be held the second week of March. Although the meeting lasted 4 hours, active exchange of opinions continued until the end.