Supporting and Protecting Internet Governance

Hello,

Back on 10 August 2023, I joined in a discussion on the Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre's mailing list titled "Feedback on APNIC proposed By-law reforms" which was started to discuss the proposed by-law reforms for APNIC's By-laws. These proposed reforms were developed and put forward to the community for discussion prior to being voted on at APNIC 56. Over a number of weeks various employees of an APNIC member organisation engaged in this discussion in (in my view) an attempt to discredit the proposed reforms, as these reforms will make things very difficult for them to gain the control they are looking for in an attempt to further their organisation's objectives. Fortunately, all five by-law reform resolutions have passed by well over 85% of votes cast (https://www.bigpulse.com/pollresults?code=1348492h9hqvqMNTeNh6wGUecBK).

Back on 7 September (almost 3 weeks ago) I received a letter from a solicitor acting on behalf of Lu Heng from LARUS Limited, claiming that I have defamed him and that he "has suffered, and continues to suffer, serious harm to his reputation" as a result of the discussions on the mailing list discussion, among other things.

As these legal matters can become rather expensive, I am asking for the support of the wider community in an attempt to challenge his claims. I'm not in this for the money, fame, glory, nothing of the sort. I'm simply trying to help protect the policies and organisations that support the internet. In order to cover the initial costs, I am seeking to raise the amount of $5000.00 to help cover the legal costs of my response. Should there be any remaining funds that have been fundraised at the conclusion of the matter, these can either be returned on a pro-rated basis (at the request of the donor) otherwise the law firm will be instructed to disburse the remaining funds as a donation to the APNIC Foundation (https://apnic.foundation/), whose vision is a global, open, stable and secure Internet that is affordable and accessible to the entire Asia Pacific community. At no point will any fundraised funds be paid out to me for any reason.

Any support that you may be able to offer will go a long way to supporting a stronger and stable internet.