PICISOC is an accredited At Large Structure (ALS) under ICANN and part of ICANN's Asia Pacific Regional At Large Organisation (APRALO). The At-Large? community represents individual Internet Users within ICANN.

ICANN is responsible for the global coordination of the Internet's system of unique identifiers. These include domain names (like .org, .museum and country codes like .UK), as well as the addresses used in a variety of Internet protocols. Computers use these identifiers to reach each other over the Internet. Careful management of these resources is vital to the Internet's operation, so ICANN's global stakeholders meet regularly to develop policies that ensure the Internet's ongoing security and stability.

ICANN At Large consists of an international "At Large Advisory Committee" (ALAC) and user groups throughout the world working together to form five "Regional At Large Organizations" (1 in each geographic region; "(APRALO)." in Asia Pacific) that inform and involve the world's Internet end-users in issues that affect the future of the Internet. ICANN At Large provides crucial contributions to ICANN's work on such matters as:

* guidance on how internationalised domain names ("local language" domain names) are implemented;
* how new top-level domains (i.e. .info, .name, .museum, etc.) are introduced;-
* How to manage the implementation of a new IP addressing system to make sure there are enough unique addresses so the Internet can grow without constraints or instability

These are just a few of the issues that affect individual users worldwide currently being worked on at ICANN. At-Large? is also a leading voice for ICANN stakeholders on Internet Governance and issues related to WSIS follow-up, and helps raise awareness of key Internet resource issues that affect ICT development.

APRALO has ALS' from across the Asia Pacific region, which is ICANN's largest region stretching from the Middle East to Asia to the Pacific Islands. APRALO is currently chaired by Charles Mok, ISOC-HK.

Current ICANN topics

Information on current ICANN topics of interest are available here.

Getting Involved

Monthly Teleconferences

APRALO meets monthly on the 4th Tuesday of the month at 0600 UTC. Are you interested in getting involved in At-Large? Why don't you join a monthly teleconference and see what's happening. Look at the APRALO Meetings and Events page for details on how to join the call.


Mailing Lists

There are several mailing lists available where those concerned with ICANN activities in the Asia Pacific region can collaborate with one another - and with others around the world.

For a complete list, see the At Large Mailing List Page here. You are invited to join the Asia Pacific Discussion list and the Global Discussion list.

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