However, being in a fiduciary role - with IPv4 being traded like currency these days the description fits - RIPE NCC can’t not get involved.

NCC owes it to the rest of its membership and the internet community at large to take a more active role in this matter.

This.

And as long as RIPE and/or NCC explicitly does not want to take action when RIPE members don't handle abuse from their networks properly, the whole issue of validating abuse mailbox addresses is moot. After all discussion, the toothless compromise will be that there should be an abuse mailbox, and FWIW it can be handled by Dave Null because nobody will exert pressure on the resource holder to do anything else.

Our problem on the receiving side of network abuse is not with the few good-willing but technically challenged providers whose abuse mailbox isn't working properly but with those large operators who don't give a flying f about their customer's network abuse.

Personally, I consider the anti-abuse WG a failure at this point. When I joined I had hoped to see and possibly support constructive work towards a reduction in network abuse, but apparently there are big players in this game who are not interested in such a reduction as it would undermine their "business".

Cheers,
Hans-Martin