Dear working group, We have a proposed timeline for the implementation. Let me quote the proposal sent out on 28 June here, and comment in-line:
1) Allow “abuse-c:” on INET(6)NUM and AUT-NUM objects
We will deploy a new version of whois where the “abuse-c:” attribute will be allowed to exist on INET(6)NUM and AUT-NUM objects. The syntax will be the same as for the ORGANISATION object: abuse-c: [optional] [single] [inverse key]
The Abuse Finder logic will be updated to use the first "abuse-c:" found in this order of priority: -the local "abuse-c:" in the resource object -the "abuse-c:" in an ORGANISATION object referenced by the "org:" attribute in the resource object -search up the resource object hierarchy (less specific objects) --the "abuse-c:" in the less specific resource object --the "abuse-c:" in an ORGANISATION object referenced by the "org:" attribute in the less specific resource object
The search will stop when the top level resource object is reached.
In addition to this we plan to introduce a business rule that will disallow “abuse-mailbox:” to be modified, or (re-)added to any object, other than ROLE objects. This will enable us to do a phased clean-up of this data without invalidating objects.
We plan to have a whois release 1.90 for this (and the updated use of the ‘pn’ keyword mentioned under item #5 below) in the Release Candidate environment no later than Monday 2 October. We plan to deploy this version to production on Monday 16 October.
2) Clean up of “abuse-mailbox:” on ORGANISATION objects
Three cases exist:
A) “abuse-mailbox:” is present and it is the same as the “abuse-mailbox:” in the also present “abuse-c:” reference (8919 cases)
In this case we propose to simply delete the “abuse-mailbox:” attribute and inform the holder. We will work on a clear text for this email, but the main message would be: "We removed “abuse-mailbox:” from your ORGANISATION object because this attribute is deprecated as the final step in the deployment of the "abuse-c:" attribute. However, we see that you were already using the preferred way to document abuse contact details for your organisation and you are referencing an “abuse-c:” ROLE object with the same email address in its its “abuse-mailbox:” attribute. No action is required.”
B) “abuse-mailbox:” is present and it is different from the “abuse-mailbox:” in the also present “abuse-c:” reference (1848 cases)
Note that some of these cases have been caused by the fact that since the introduction of “abuse-c:” LIRs can no longer modify the value of the “abuse-mailbox:” attribute. The intent was that “abuse-mailbox:” would have been cleaned up earlier, but unfortunately that dit not happen. That being said “abuse-c:” has been kept up to date by the LIR, and out of the two is also the one that is being shown on the Abuse Finder.
Therefore we propose to delete the “abuse-mailbox:” attribute in these cases, and send a different notification to the holder with the following main message:
"We removed “abuse-mailbox:” with value $email from your ORGANISATION object because this attribute is deprecated as the final step in the deployment of the "abuse-c:" attribute. However, we see that you were already using the preferred way to document abuse contact details for your organisation and you are referencing an “abuse-c:” ROLE object with that uses $email_2 in its “abuse-mailbox:” attribute. If the latter is correct no action is required. However if you want to modify the email address in your “abuse-c:” ROLE object, you can do so here (link to webupdates).”
C) “abuse-mailbox:” is present, and there is no “abuse-c:” reference (28312 cases)
We *could* create “abuse-c:” ROLE objects for these cases, using the same maintainers as the ORGANISATION object. However, the “abuse-mailbox:” attribute has not been shown in the Abuse Finder, and this change could lead to wrong or out-of-date addresses suddenly receiving abuse reports. Therefore we suggest that we delete the attribute instead, and send the following main message to the holder of the ORGANISATION object:
"We removed “abuse-mailbox:” with value $email from your ORGANISATION object because this attribute is deprecated as the final step in the deployment of the "abuse-c:" attribute. However, if you wish to add an email address for abuse reports you can do so by editing your object here (link to web updates for the ORGANISATION object)."
We plan to perform these clean-ups on Monday 30 October.
3) Clean up of “abuse-mailbox:” on PERSON (89k cases), MNTNER (2500 cases) and IRT (238 cases)
In these cases we propose to send a warning email to the holders of these objects with the following main message:
“The “abuse-mailbox:” is deprecated on these object and will be removed in 4 weeks, if you want to set up abuse contact information on your resource objects you can do so by having a default “abuse-c:” on your ORGANISATION referenced by your resource objects, or possibly overriding that default with a specific “abuse-c:” reference on applicable resource objects."
And then 4 weeks later we will preform the clean-up and refer back to this communication.
On further reflection we would prefer to alter the plan, and just a single clean-up of these objects on Monday 30 October as well. This way the clean-up process will be consistent across all object types. Furthermore, there is no action to be taken on these objects and “abuse-mailbox:” on these objects is ignored in the Abuse Finder. In short there does not seem to be a strong motivation for bothering the holders of these objects twice.
4) Clean up whois code
Now that “abuse-mailbox:” only appears where it should, we will be able to update the whois code itself so that “abuse-mailbox:” is no longer syntactically allowed on objects other than ROLE objects. This will allow us to remove the business rule added in phase 1 and simplify the whois code and maintenance. We will also update the RIPE Database Documentation to reflect this.
We plan to do this as part of a future whois 1.91 release, as yet unplanned. This clean-up will not change any publicly visible functionality.
5) Inverse queries
As requested we can change the behaviour of the “pn” short cut to also search for “abuse-c:” in inverse queries. I.e. one can use: whois -r -i pn uk41-ripe
Instead of: whois -r -i abuse-c,admin-c,tech-c,zone-c,author uk41-ripe
As mentioned above, we plan to include this in the whois 1.90 release. Kind regards Tim Bruijnzeels Assistant Manager Software Engineering RIPE NCC Database Group
On 4 Aug 2017, at 14:39, William Sylvester via db-wg <db-wg@ripe.net> wrote:
From: William Sylvester <william.sylvester@addrex.net> Subject: NWI-7: abuse-c implementation plan Date: 3 August 2017 at 21:12:06 GMT+2 To: "db-wg@ripe.net" <db-wg@ripe.net>
Working group members,
Based on the responses we have received for NWI-7 : Abuse-c implementation, there is a clear consensus for the proposed implementation that has been presented by Tim from RIPE NCC as written for improving "abuse-c:".
At this time, the DB-WG co-chairs would like to ask the RIPE NCC to proceed with this implementation.
Kind Regards,
DB-WG Chairs