On Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 10:54 PM, Brian Nisbet <brian.nisbet@heanet.ie> wrote:
The RIPE NCC service region, and the region from which most of the community originates, comprises of some 78 countries with widely varying laws and cultures. It is an extremely interesting region in which to work and while I would not for one moment suggest that we can do nothing, not even close, it is a very important point to remember in any anti-abuse conversation.
This is a valid point and that's why I'm glad to see Wout de Natris, Uwe Rasmussen and others who do have a background in international regulatory policy and law enforcement involved in this and related RIPE WGs. My only point is that far more could be done - and this should have been done far earlier to avoid the tensions generated so far, with active and informed people from other groups with the same focus having to vent their frustration in this manner. Richard, and before that Andy Auld of SOCA, who I admit could have made his point more diplomatically. Auld said -
""If we were being harsh, we could say that Ripe has received criminal funds and was involved in money-laundering offences. We are not treating it that way, but you could see it like that."
Correct in that the the front organization was the RBN, and that the funds were criminal. Also correct that RIPE the RIR did not know either of these facts and had clean hands. And correct that in a different situation than this, the organization receiving the funds would be liable to prosecution. I still can't help wondering what effect believing a bit less in the "we are not the (routing|internet|document) police" mantra would have had on policy enforcement. -- Suresh Ramasubramanian (ops.lists@gmail.com)