and I would like to discuss on how we should do with personal contact information in the RIPE db.
The db should only contain the contact information of people who are ready, willing and able to communicate regarding network issues and who are able to act on that communication. This means that much of the existing contact information in the db would disappear and LIRs would formally have the responsibility of relaying communications to their downstream networks. Some of these downstream networks MAY still be in the db but the network contacts MUST agree to be listed and MUST agree to be ready, willing and able to communicate regarding network issue and MUST be able to act on that communication. This would clean most of the useless garbage out of the db, solve the privacy issues, and focus the LIR's attention on the true purpose of the db. The RIPE db is not a general purpose telephone book, it is a contact directory for a specific purpose which is required by TCP/IP internetworking activity. There is no point in including contact data for people who are not ready, willing and able to communicate or who are not able to take any action. RIPE has a direct relationship with LIRs so there is the possibility to force them to have someone who is ready, willing and able to communicate and able to take action. Some LIRs may choose to force their customers to also provide such a contact person, but there is nothing wrong if an LIR chooses to be the direct contact for all of their customers. --Michael Dillon