How to Participate in APNIC Events and Policy Discussions
APNIC runs an open, recurring cycle of conferences, policy discussions, and technical training that anyone in the Asia Pacific Internet community can join. The main entry points are the APNIC conference (held twice a year), the Policy SIG where address policy is debated and decided, and APNIC Academy webinars. You do not need to be an APNIC member to follow the discussions or watch recordings, though some formal roles in the policy process require participation in the relevant SIG.
Where participation happens
APNIC's community activity centres on its twice-yearly conference. The most recent, APNIC 62, is a useful reference point for what a typical programme looks like.
At APNIC 62, the Policy SIG reviewed seven policy proposals, two of which reached consensus. The proposals covered IPv4, IPv6, and Internet abuse-related issues. That single session shows the range of what the policy track handles: address management rules, transition mechanics, and abuse response.
Alongside policy, the technical programme covers operational topics. APNIC 62's Technical Session 1 on Internet Operations highlighted new management capabilities for Kea DHCP and BIND DNS, preparations for the DNSSEC root KSK rollover, and ongoing challenges in certificate revocation. Other sessions at the same event examined IP geolocation — how geofeeds, RIR data, and third-party providers work together, and the tension between accuracy and user privacy.
How the policy process works
Policy proposals move through the SIG, where they are presented, debated, and either reach consensus or do not. Consensus at the SIG is the signal that a proposal has community support; from there it continues through APNIC's formal process before becoming policy.
Two practical implications follow from this:
- Timing matters. If you want to influence a proposal, the SIG discussion is the stage where argument and evidence change outcomes. Waiting until after consensus removes most of your leverage.
- Consensus is not automatic. At APNIC 62, only two of seven proposals reached consensus — the rest did not, which means the discussion itself is doing real work rather than rubber-stamping.
To take part, follow the published policy proposals before each conference, join the Policy SIG mailing list discussion, and attend the SIG session in person or remotely. The APNIC 62 recordings are available if you want to see how proposals are argued before you participate yourself.
Technical learning and webinars
APNIC Academy runs webinars on operational topics. One example from the current programme covers ASPA (Autonomous System Provider Authorization): how ASPAs work, how they complement ROAs, and how to begin monitoring and deploying them in your network. That is a concrete, deployable skill rather than a conceptual overview.
The technical content also extends to research and guest posts. Recent items include an analysis of a BGP hijack against hosting software vendor Softaculous, in which an attacker obtained a fraudulent TLS certificate and distributed a malicious Virtualizor update; a discussion of surplus DNS queries seen at APNIC Labs and the implications of how a resolver says "no"; and a guest post arguing for open-weight models over frontier APIs on the grounds that a frontier API can refuse, change, or vanish.
Choosing how to engage
| Goal | Where to start | What it requires |
|---|---|---|
| Understand current policy debates | Policy SIG proposals and session recordings | Reading proposals; no membership needed to follow |
| Influence address policy | Policy SIG discussion and session | Sustained participation across the proposal cycle |
| Build operational skills | APNIC Academy webinars | Time; check each webinar's prerequisites |
| Track technical developments | Conference technical sessions, APNIC blog | None beyond attention |
| Follow routing security specifically | ASPA webinar, BGP hijack analyses | Basic routing knowledge helps |
Practical notes
- Conference content is recorded, so missing a live session does not cut you off from the material — APNIC 62 recordings were published for exactly this reason.
- The policy and technical tracks are separate. If your interest is address allocation rules, the Policy SIG is the relevant venue; if it is DNS, DHCP, routing, or certificates, the technical sessions are.
- Guest posts and podcast items are part of the same community output and often surface operational problems before they reach formal sessions — the surplus DNS query discussion is one example.
Participation scales with what you want from it: watching recordings is enough to stay informed, while shaping policy requires engaging with proposals while they are still open for debate.