Invitation to join and actively contribute to a RIPE Taskforce on "Abuse Contact Management in the RIPE Database" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Background: The RIPE Database serves as a data repository for Internet resource assignments and allocations in the RIPE NCC's service region. Among other purposes, it serves as a contact repository for administrative, technical and operational matters regarding IP address ranges and autonomous system numbers. Over time, some mechanisms became available, such as the Incident Response Team (IRT) object and an abuse-mailbox: attribute. Different communities seem to have developed varying expectations and understanding of how the data quality for such contact information can be maintained at a high level, and how and when a report sent to such a contact mechanism will be responded to or otherwise acted upon. Recently, some RIPE Policy Proposals were submitted for consideration and these proposals (2010-08, 2010-09 and 2010-10) were discussed in the Address Policy Working Group, the Anti-Abuse Working Group and briefly in the Database Working Group during the RIPE 61 Meeting in Rome. Deliberations among the responsible working group chairs and senior policy experts suggested that investigation be carried out to get a deeper understanding of the motivations behind the policy proposals, the expected outcomes, the operational and maintenance implications and the role the RIPE Database could perform to support the desired results. It was then suggested to the community and the policy proponents that the most efficient way to progress the issue would be the creation of a RIPE Task Force. There was no objection raised by the members of the community present at the meeting. Call for Participation ----------------------- We invite members of the RIPE community, from the security as well as from the anti-abuse areas, to volunteer and contribute to the proposed task force. Ideally, we would like to bring together the security and anti-abuse communities and the IP resource management and network operations communities to jointly analyse and refine the issue. *Draft* Mandate for the Task Force ---------------------------------- [This draft mandate is for consideration, modification and refinement by the task force] The task force is mandated to: - Agree on a useful name for the task force and, with the help of the RIPE NCC, arrange the logistics and report back to the community about the establishment of the task force - Collect all relevant input that is readily available, in particular policy proposals, information from presentations given recently by the RIPE NCC regarding ideas on the future structure, credibility and quality of data, and the maintenance mechanisms for entries in the RIPE Database - Collect and document comparable mechanisms and proposals in the other RIR Regions (APNIC, AfriNIC, ARIN and LACNIC) - Work with the interested community and the RIPE NCC to understand the problem at hand and the environment in which to develop a proposal. This analysis of the environment should include legal aspects, formal responsibilities for the use of resources on the Internet, well-established operating procedures and relevant operational aspects. - Develop one or more (policy) proposals and/or general recommendations on how collection and maintainace of relevant information in the Registry Database should be organised, including a description of potentially alternative implementations or approaches and the related impact on all parties involved *Draft* Timeline ----------------- The Taskforce should: - Try to collect the core group of participants before end of February 2010 - Start work on the dedicated mailing list as soon as possible, with a view to meet for a face-to-face meeting in advance of RIPE 62 (May 2011) - Report on the task force's progress during RIPE 62 (May 2011) and collect regular input from the RIPE community - Submit a first draft of a recommendation(s) and/or policy proposal(s) before RIPE 63 - Agree on the proposal(s) and agree on the expected implementation deadline Submitting statements of intent to actively participate -------------------------------------------------------- If you would like to participate in the task force, please email the RIPE NCC's Database Manager, Paul Palse, at <ppalse@ripe.net>. ________________________________________________________________________ Best regards, Wilfried, circulating this invitation on behalf of the group of the proponents, with kudos to the colleagues at the RIPE NCC for their help with wording!