All, it is difficult to not to correct some of the misconceptions voiced here repeatedly. Apologies to those who already know. So, for the record, here are some facts:
RIPE is able to register IP's and collect the fees because of the MOU with IANA which is paid for by the USA taxpayer.
Not correct. The RIPE NCC is registering IP addresses based on a long string of documentation starting with RFC 1174 and ripe-19, for about 20 years now. The RIPE NCC is a membership organisation, based on its Articles of Asscociation, and funded by its members, according to the RIPE NCC Charging Scheme, agreed to by its members. The IANA function, performed by ICANN, is provided under a zero-cost contract with the US Department of Commerce. ICANN bears the operating cost of IANA. ICANN in turn is financed by its community. The RIRs contribute to the ICANN budget since 1999. RIPE
can collect user fees because they entered into the MOU agreement with IANA.
Not correct. See above. Also, the RIPE NCC has no MoU with IANA. Part of that agreement is to provide certain
services required by the RIR's which includes the whois data. RIPE collected this data under the MOU agreement and has agreed to make the data available under the MOU agreement.
Not correct. The RIPE NCC and ICANN agreed on an MoU establishing ICANN's Address Supporting Organisation. Its purpose is... " - defining roles and processes supporting global policy development, including the relationship between the Internet addressing community (represented by the NRO) and ICANN within the operation of this process; - defining mechanisms for the provision of recommendations to the Board of ICANN concerning the recognition of new RIRs; and - defining accessible, open, transparent and documented procedures for the selection of individuals to serve on other ICANN bodies, including selection of Directors of ICANN and selection of members of various standing committees and ad hoc ICANN bodies." The entire system
hinges on the US government contract with IANA.
This is occasionally debated, but not really relevant for this discussion. As it stands, the activities of the RIPE NCC are determined by its members through the RIPE NCC Activity Plan. Allocations of Internet Number Resources (IP addresses and ASN) to the RIPE NCC are done according to the Policy Development Process, described in Attachment A to the ASO MoU. Links to the relevant documents in order of appearance: ftp://ftp.ripe.net/rfc/rfc1174.txt http://www.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-019 RIPE NCC Activity Plan: http://www.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-543 RIPE NCC Charging Scheme: http://www.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-499 IANA Contract: http://www.icann.org/en/general/iana-contract-14aug06.pdf ASO MoU: http://www.nro.net/documents/icann-address-supporting-organization-aso-mou RIPE NCC Activity Plan: http://www.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-543 kind regards, and have a good weekend, all, Axel