Hi Gert, On 20 Nov 2007, at 12:34, Gert Doering wrote: [...]
Actually I think that this wouldn't be easy today (given that PI stands for "independent"), but with the new contract framework, we *do* have the instruments to tag PI/AS objects to "who is the currently-responsible LIR for this"?
Why would we care which LIR sent in a request for a PI assignment and why would we want to require "independent" networks to maintain a contractual relationship with an LIR?
Because the RIR wants to know how to reach the PI holder. Either they have a direct relation - or if not, they need to go through a LIR.
(At least that seems to be what the RIPE community and the NCC agrees to be the way forward).
Whether or not this relationship should be made publically viewable is a completely different discussion, of course.
The RIPE NCC has always maintained records of which LIR sent in a request for a PI assignments. I assume that this would continue. I have doubts about whether publishing this information is appropriate.
Identifying LIRs strikes me as a mechanism to label LIRs as either "good" or "bad" and doing this is at best likely to besmirch innocent customers who are unrelated to any abuse. At worst it is likely to cause them problems operating their networks. "Guilty by association" is something we should try to avoid.
Actually it goes along with the responsibility thing of address distribution. If the LIR doesn't do a proper job in maintaining contact data for the end user, the blame falls back onto the LIR, and I think that this is actually not such a bad thing.
I doubt that most LIRs are in a position to maintain the end users's contact information as well as the end user. I understand that the RIPE NCC encourages PI holders to have their own maintainer on the inetnum for their address space. The current training material mentions this on slide 72: http://www.ripe.net/training/lir/material/lir_training_oct07-1.pdf I expect a very well designed web based tool to allow end users to manage their contact information would have a far more beneficial effect that a contractual requirement for the LIR to do it for the end user. Regards, Leo