Dear colleagues, Apologies for the delayed response concerning the RIPE NCC's KYC processes referenced in the mail thread around a beIN article and references to Notorious Markets here <https://mailman.ripe.net/archives/list/ripe-list@ripe.net/thread/AR54WJAJNMLO5WM26H62TKZTODRSQOC2/> – RIPE 91 preparations have been keeping us busy! In answer to Michele: our first impression is largely in line with what Nick and others have already said in the thread – the report seems to mix up the RIPE NCC’s due diligence processes and responsibilities with entities that are either involved on the user or content layer of the Internet (e.g. ISPs)[1] or are sponsoring End Users, in which case the RIPE NCC only has a contractual agreement with the sponsoring organization. It’s understandable that people use ‘KYC’ as shorthand for making sure bad actors can’t hide. However, the Internet registry system is substantively different from (e.g.) the financial services industry where this term originates. The RIPE Database does not hold information about individual users or website content. It holds information about who is responsible for IP addresses and AS Numbers, and parts of this information is curated by the holders of these resources themselves. Our job is to ensure that the RIPE NCC-curated part of this data is correct and that the right people can be contacted if needed (e.g. abuse-c contacts). Of course, this is a complex issue and we invite all stakeholders with concerns to raise them within the RIPE community, both on the appropriate WG mailing lists and at the RIPE Meeting next week. For our part, I will see to it that we prepare some material that clearly outlines what we currently do in terms of due diligence checks and where responsibility for maintaining data rests under the existing framework. This can form the basis for any constructive discussions stakeholders wish to have on this topic moving forward. We will therefore aim to publish something on RIPE Labs after RIPE 91, which can be informed by any discussions we have at the meeting. Radu, I've also asked someone from my team to contact you as I would like to understand what went wrong with your referenced tickets. -- Gabor de Wit Chief Registry Officer | RIPE NCC ---------------------------------------------- [1] For more information on the differences between the various responsibilities in Internet governance, have a look at an excellent RIPE Labs article here: https://labs.ripe.net/author/anastasiya-pak/hisham-ibrahim-the-internet-is-n...