There have been a lot of matters discussed in this work group over the last couple of weeks. Much of the information that both Stephen Burley and myself have been privy to has, admittedly, come from RIPE NCC hostmasters themselves. We are not talking about disgruntled employees spreading tales about their organisation, but rather dedicated individuals who wish to see their daily lives improve and be able to offer a good service to the members of this community. They could not contribute directly to these discussions because of the internal policies of the RIPE NCC. Now, many companies have non-disclosure agreements with their employees and rightly so. Many of the allusions I have made in my emails has had as it's source, emails from employees of the RIPE NCC. However, without their express permission to reveal this information, I have been necessarily circumspect with the information I have emailed to this list. Nevertheless, the RIPE NCC management have obviously taken great pains to ascertain the identities of these individuals since two RIPE NCC hostmasters have been sacked over this matter. Since there is now nothing more for them to lose, I am going to reveal the manner in which they were dismissed in order that the RIPE NCC have a chance to explain their actions. Before I do this however, I would like to pount out categorically that this email is not be to taken as being the views of my company, but rather as that of an individual who does not like to see people persecuted. The first person to be sacked, was not done so for revealing information to persons outside of the RIPE NCC. He was sacked for daring to take the managers to task and to try and get someone to improve the situation for the other hostmasters. I am not entirely certain if this person was already working his notice period, but the end result was that he was asked in to a managers office, fired, escorted home in a taxi whereupon his PC was confiscated. The second person to be sacked was done so for discussing internal RIPE NCC matters with a member. The internal matter in question was the internal policy that no-one gets any training whatsoever. She was off work sick when they sacked her, and although I won't give you the full story, it is going to take her a long time to put her life back in order I'm sure. I cannot imagine the feelings that the other RIPE NCC hostmasters must be feeling at this moment in time. Needless to say they are all probably scared sh*tless about losing their jobs, and you never know, I may even lose mine over this, since I have also dared to speak out. The difference however is that I am no longer trying to be constructive in my criticism and am openly condemning the gestapo-like tactics of the RIPE NCC management. I would like to point out to the RIPE NCC that I did not receive this information from a RIPE NCC hostmaster this time, but from a personal friend of those involved (that doesn't work for you) so you can call off your witch hunt. I am sure that many members of this list will be surprised at the vehemence of this email and dubious of the material that it contains. I would like to say that this situation has been brewing for several weeks, and has come to a head because I take the sacking of valued hostmasters seriously. Not just for the fact that they discussed internal matters with a member, but also for the manner in which the deed was done. At the end of the day, the hostmasters work for the community, at least they used to. It is time to get everything out in the open and demand that the RIPE NCC management remove their restrictions on letting their hostmasters contribute to this list so that you can ascertain the truth for yourselves and not have to rely on my heresay. Your truly, Gareth.