From what I understand, apart from nonprofit organizations in the United States, Japan also requires government officials to disclose their salaries and bank account information.
Back to RIPE, I agree with Andy’s opinion. Among the Regional Internet Registries, RIPE stands out as one of the more efficient and user-friendly ones. Its Internet Routing Registry database is easy to use and designed with both Local Internet Registries and
their downstream customers in mind.
For example, when an LIR allocates IP resources to a client, that client can still log in through RIPE’s web interface to manage their own entries. This flexibility is a major reason why many operators prefer to have resousces from RIPE.
In contrast, ARIN and APNIC lack such convenience APNIC, for instance, often takes up to two weeks to respond to support tickets. Moreover, RIPE also operates several additional projects, which further highlights its strong position among the RIRs.
Hi,
On Wed, Nov 05, 2025 at 07:31:27PM +0100, Roderick Beck wrote:
> In the US all non-profits must disclose the individual salaries of senior
> management. RIPE does not even though it functions effectively as a
> nonprofit. I think more transparency is due in this respect given that RIPE
> is also a monopoly and has a budget of $40 million versus $33 million for
> ARIN and twice as many employees and contractors as ARIN.
Roderick,
You appear to be confusing RIPE and the RIPE NCC, which is quite the starting point for a post about governance.
You also invoke U.S. non-profit rules as though they were some kind of global standard. They are not. The RIPE NCC operates under Dutch law, within the EU, where transparency and privacy
are balanced obligations, not competing slogans. Publishing individual salary data is neither required nor culturally appropriate, and frankly wouldn’t make the NCC’s finances one bit more accountable.
The RIPE NCC already publishes audited financial statements, annual reports, activity plans, and detailed budgets; all approved by its membership. We (members) elect the Executive Board
who are accountable for spending. Everything material is already open. What’s not open are people’s payslips. That’s fine.
Your calling the RIPE NCC a “monopoly” is a bit of theatre. It’s a member-run, non-profit organisation whose fees, budgets, and board elections are controlled by the members themselves.
The ARIN budget comparison doesn’t hold water: The RIPE NCC serves a larger and more diverse region — over 20,000 members spanning Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia — and supports community services (RIPE Atlas, RIPEstat, RIS, etc.) that ARIN doesn’t
run.
In short: wrong entity, wrong forum, wrong facts.
-a
