On 14 May 2020, at 10:11, Gert Doering <gert@space.net> wrote:
So, yes, I think input from RIR staff can be very valuable to policy building - the community is watching, and I fully trust the community to call "STOP!" if something questionable is proposed.
If we do think, as RIPE community, that RIR employees should not be permitted to participate in policy making, we need to adjust the PDP to actually say so.
I think they should be allowed to provide input to the PDP but not run or control it. Those are two different factors. We have in the past also (always?) made WG Chairs who become NCC employees step down. From memory I think that happened for both when James Aldridge and Maco Hogewoning joined the RIPE NCC. Daniel raises the issue that there never was a encoded separation between the RIPE NCC and RIPE. I would have to go and check to what extent it was encoded, but for almost all WG Chairs meetings I have attended it has certainly been clear, and if we don’t believe this to be the case any more or even that it shouldn’t be - then I question why we need a RIPE chair at all? Surely this role then just become a function of the NCC? If we believe that there is no distinction between RIPE NCC and RIPE I would suggest we cut out a lot of red tape and run RIPE as part of the RIPE NCC existing structures. If we DO believe there is separation between RIPE and the RIPE NCC then we need to ensure that is carried properly in the selection of the RIPE Chair. This is not a view on any of the candidates it is a view on what we see RIPE itself being. I would argue that we (well all least I) didn’t foresee this complexity arising when reviewing the RIPE chair selection process, and I now wish I had. - kurtis -