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Global internet stability is at risk due to AFRINIC's current mismanagement
by Anthony Ubah 08 Jul '21

08 Jul '21

Dear Community, We are writing this letter to let you know that AFRINIC's recent actions have brought some serious risks to the hundreds of millions of users of the Internet Ecosystem. A global internet depends on cooperation. Being one of five regional Internet Registries, AFRINIC has the power to delete the registration of more than a hundred million IP addresses. This power could be even more destructive with the addition of AS0 ROAs for space which is disputed or reclaimed. Therefore, billions users and large scale content and services that rely on those IP addresses could face instant lost of connection if AFRINIC starts revoking registrations of its members with IP addresses used in active service. Such disconnection will disrupt the connectivity of users as well as impact service at a global scale that has never been seen in human history. AFRINIC has been sending the following lines to members who have active users and service in their IP addresses: *“(AFRINIC) will in its sole discretion determine whether to immediately terminate the said Agreement as well as to proceed with the reclaiming of the aforesaid IP Number Resources.* *You are further informed that AFRINIC shall not be held liable for any loss or damage of whatever nature arising out of the present notice or any action that AFRINIC may take in accordance thereof.”* We have confirmed that many members have also received such notice on AFRINIC's pretense of violation of their RSA (Registration Service Agreement), in addition to their Bylaws, their CPM (Consolidate Policy Manual). The combined scale of those members services impacts tens of millions of Internet users and services globally. AFRINIC's claims were mainly based on the following: *1. "Any change in network or service provided, will request AFRINIC's approval and is subject to re-justification of the allocation.(NOT assignment)."* In reality, the CPM has provided a distinctive use of "Allocation" and "Assignment". Its intended allocations are for general purpose that LIRs can use or assign (or in some cases sub-allocate) and assignments are made within an allocation (or directly from AFRINIC to end users) to serve a specific purpose. To request an LIR to return its allocation when the specific purpose of the assignment has changed, has never happened in any RIR, and was never the intention of any RIR policy. *2. "AFRINIC space cannot be used outside of the AFRINIC region with the exception of soft landing space only for the purpose of supporting connectivity back to Africa. "* In fact, the community has manifested its consensus regarding the fact that there is no regional restrictions for the use of IP addresses for pre-soft landing space. The only territorial restrictions to ever gain consensus in the community specifically covers space issued after the start of the soft landing policy which is clearly stipulated under the CPM. Any act by AFRINIC to disregard this is a blatant act against the community-approved document, CPM. 3. Multiple AFRINIC resource members have been asked to provide information about third parties *that are not using addresses issued to said resource member (e.g. about BYOA(Bring Your Own Address) transit customers).* In scenarios where one resource member (A) is a customer of another resource member (B), there have been multiple instances of AFRINIC demanding that B report utilisation details of A. B is not responsible for the RIR compliance of B's customers except in regards to space issued to B under B's registration service agreement (RSA). Hence, AFRINIC's actions here attempt to force the resource member to violate customer confidentiality and potentially violate data protection laws. We know of a number of members whose resource requests have been delayed or denied pending compliance with such demands. In some cases, AFRINIC has gone so far as to threaten RSA termination based on failure to comply with these demands. *4. "AFRINIC can disconnect millions of users and services without taking any liability and at their will whenever they would like."* *(All the references to AFRINIC's claims, in their actual wording that were sent to the resource members, have been attached at the bottom of this letter, except for point 4, which was shared at the beginning of the letter)* The above claims do not correspond with AFRINIC's governing documents (CPM, RSA, and bylaw). They are a misinterpretation of those documents that have led to an incorrect conclusion. Using those claims to manage people’s network and trying to reclaim people active and legitimately utilised IP addresses without having any concerns about the end users or services that are being impacted is a direct and serious threat to the global internet. We are hoping the global community can realise and act together, to right this wrong. If you are part of AFRINIC's resource membership, please speak out and express your need for:: *1. **The freedom to run your network as you see fit* *2. **The ability to protect the internet connectivity of your users.* 3. *The ability to disclose only that data which is necessary for the legitimate administrative purposes of the registry.* The reference details of AFRINIC’s claims are shown as below: *Point 1:* *“AFRINIC acknowledges the feedback provided and further takes note that the current utilisation of the allocated no longer matches the "needs" expressed when resources were issued, in accordance with the RSA and we hereby refer you to clause 6(d)(iii) of the RSA; which your organisation signed, thereby acknowledged and agreed that the “right of use” of IP Number Resources is bestowed within the ambit of the “need” which is* *justified in its application and for no other purpose during the currency of the present agreement.”* *Point 2:* *“AFRINIC space cannot be used outside of the AFRINIC region with the exception of soft landing space only for the purpose of supporting connectivity back to Africa according to section 6 of the bylaw"* Section 6 of the bylaws only states what type of membership each entity qualifies for and the requirements of said membership, nothing about IP usage. The relevant portion of section 6 is below: 6.1) Subject to the other provisions of this Article, membership shall be open to: ● Any Person who is geographically based within, and providing services in the African region, and who is engaged in the use of, or business of providing, open system protocol network services; or ● Any other Person who is approved by the Board or the members. *Point 3:* AFRINIC requests the following information to its member regarding a customer that does not use his AFRINIC IP: *“Kindly provide the name and the actual service being provided to that client. Moreover, please share with us the reason that the client gave to justify their need for a third-party AS number. You may alternatively share the agreement which you have with that particular customer.”* The signatures of dozens of community members and resource members are attached in the Google drive link below : https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-4ihJZjnDpca4F0JUL8N3yY_eoGhiEjX?us… Regards,

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Updated Draft Code of Conduct Published for Review
by Leo Vegoda 07 Jul '21

07 Jul '21

Dear RIPE community, As promised at RIPE 82, we have published an updated draft RIPE Code of Conduct. A clean text version of the document and a redline version, showing all the changes from the version published in March, can be found at: https://www.ripe.net/publications/docs/ripe-documents/other-documents/copy_… Please send comments in support of this draft, or asking for specific changes, to the RIPE Discussion List by 17 September 2021. The RIPE Chair will evaluate the community’s consensus based on comments made. Some of the key changes in this draft: - We have numbered the major sections and simplified some of the language - We have expanded the introduction to provide background on the discussion that led to the development of this document - We have added a new “Call to Action” section - We have clarified the language in the “Scope” section and removed the bulleted lists there - We simplified the subsection on law - We added a new subsection on aggressive behaviour in the “Behaviour” section - We added a section noting that reports that are not made in good faith, such as in retaliation for another report, can be rejected We have also published a RIPE Labs article about why we made the changes you’ll see in the new draft. https://labs.ripe.net/author/leo_vegoda/updated-draft-ripe-code-of-conduct/ We will hold a session with the community to discuss the changes, which has been scheduled for 1 September 2021. We recognise that it will not be possible for everyone to attend this webinar so it will be recorded and published, and we will release more information about the session nearer the time. Kind regards, Leo Vegoda for the Code of Conduct TF

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New on RIPE Labs: The RIPE Chair Team Reports - June 2021
by Alun Davies 07 Jul '21

07 Jul '21

Dear colleagues, The RIPE Chair Team's June report looks into community events, draft proposals issuing from RIPE Task Forces, and plans for future meetings that might just provide a much needed opportunity for the community to get together in person: https://labs.ripe.net/author/mirjam_kuhne/the-ripe-chair-team-reports-june-… Kind regards, Alun Davies RIPE Labs Editor RIPE NCC

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Join a Session on RIPE Community Resilience and Wellbeing on 14 July 2021
by Mirjam Kuehne 01 Jul '21

01 Jul '21

Dear colleagues, As a follow-up to the Community Wellbeing Survey and the related presentation at RIPE 82, we are inviting everyone to join a session about wellbeing, mental health, resilience and community care. We have all experienced the impact of COVID-19 on our social connections and with our mental health. Let's connect with each other, exchange experiences and tips, ask for help or offer a helping hand. The session will take place on 14 July 2021 at 12:00 - 13:30 (UTC +2). You can find more information here: https://www.ripe.net/participate/meetings/open-house/ripe-ncc-open-house-ri… Kind regards, Mirjam Kühne RIPE Chair

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Fwd: [ncc-services-wg] New on RIPE Labs: RIPE NCC and the Cloud - Let’s Start Again
by Mirjam Kuehne 23 Jun '21

23 Jun '21

Dear colleagues, For those of you who are not on the RIPE NCC Services WG mailing list but are interested in the discussions around the RIPE NCC's cloud strategy, there is a new article on RIPE Labs that is listing some of the concerns raised by the community so far: https://labs.ripe.net/author/felipe_victolla_silveira/ripe-ncc-and-the-clou… If you would like to participate in the discussion, please refer to the RIPE NCC Services WG mailing list. Kind regards, Mirjam Kühne RIPE Chair [1] RIPE NCC Services mailing list archives: https://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/ncc-services-wg/2021-June/003408.ht… [2] Subscribe to RIPE NCC Services mailing list: https://www.ripe.net/mailman/listinfo/ncc-services-wg/

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Reminder: ASO Call for Nominations to 2022 ICANN NomCom
by Ulka Athale 22 Jun '21

22 Jun '21

This reminder is sent on behalf of the Number Resource Organization -------------- Please note that the call for nominations for candidates to be the ASO delegate for the ICANN NomCom 2022 will close on Sunday, 27 June. The full announcement can be found on the NRO website: https://www.nro.net/aso-call-for-nominations-to-2022-icann-nomcom/ ASO Secretariat Regards, Ulka Athale Senior Communications Officer RIPE NCC

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Fwd: [ncc-announce] [news] Apply now for the RIPE NCC Community Projects Fund
by Mirjam Kuehne 16 Jun '21

16 Jun '21

Dear colleagues, Please see below the announcement of the next round of the RIPE NCC Community Projects Fund. Kind regards, Mirjam Kühne RIPE Chair -------- Forwarded Message -------- Subject: [ncc-announce] [news] Apply now for the RIPE NCC Community Projects Fund Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2021 12:13:22 +0200 (CEST) From: Alastair Strachan <projectsfund(a)ripe.net> Reply-To: Alastair Strachan <projectsfund(a)ripe.net> To: ncc-announce(a)ripe.net Hello, For the fifth year in a row, the RIPE NCC is committing to support activities and projects for 'the good of the Internet'. We are pleased to invite applications for funding from the RIPE NCC Community Projects Fund. Through the Community Projects Fund, the RIPE NCC will provide up to EUR 250,000 per year to support projects of value to the operation, resilience and sustainability of the Internet, with a focus on tools and services benefitting the technical community in the Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. The Internet today owes its success to a lot of non-commercial, community-driven work, and this continues to ensure the Internet remains resilient, secure and accessible. If you or your organisation are working on a new or existing project that fits the criteria below and need some financial support to get it off the ground or keep it going, we want to hear from you! Is your project of benefit to the Internet, particularly the RIPE community? Is your project non-commercial in nature? Do you have a clear project plan and timeline? Some things to keep in mind: - Funding may be used to purchase equipment, but this cannot be the sole expenditure - Funding cannot be used for humanitarian aid, donations, or to encourage political reform - Funding cannot be used to provide scholarships or cover tuition fees - Funding cannot be used to support any form of commercial activity The call for applicants will remain open until 23:59 (UTC), Saturday, 31 July 2021. You can find more details on the RIPE NCC Community Projects Fund page: https://www.ripe.net/support/cpf We also welcome Samaneh Tajalizadehkhoob and Flavio Luciani to the selection committee. The selection committee for 2021 consists of Jaya Baloo, Bert Hubert, Flavio Luciani, Samaneh Tajalizadehkhoob, Tim Wattenberg and Remco van Mook (RIPE NCC Executive Board representative). Thank you to the selection committee for volunteering their time to support the Community Projects Fund. Best regards, Alastair Strachan External Relations Officer RIPE NCC

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New on RIPE Labs: The End of an Era - Gert Döring on His Time at RIPE
by Alun Davies 15 Jun '21

15 Jun '21

Dear colleagues, Gert Döring chaired the RIPE Address Policy Working Group for close to two decades. Representing one of the first German ISPs, SpaceNet, he helped create RIPE’s process for adopting policies. In this recent interview with CENTR, now available on RIPE Labs, Gert talks about how he thinks the RIPE community has to start adapting to the “bigger” Internet, and how, even as he departs from his chair role, he will continue to be present. https://labs.ripe.net/author/monika-ermert/the-end-of-an-era-gert-doring-on… Kind regards, Alun Davies RIPE Labs Editor RIPE NCC

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Post-RIPE 82 Working Group Chair Meeting Summary
by Mirjam Kuehne 15 Jun '21

15 Jun '21

Dear colleagues, The RIPE Working Group Chairs met end of May to review the RIPE 82 meeting. You can find a summary from the meeting here: https://www.ripe.net/participate/ripe/wg/wg-chairs/working-group-chair-coll… <https://www.ripe.net/participate/ripe/wg/wg-chairs/working-group-chair-coll…> Kind regards, Mirjam Kühne RIPE Chair

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Request for Proposals for Consulting Services: NRO Strategy Plan Review
by Ulka Athale 14 Jun '21

14 Jun '21

This message is sent on behalf of the Number Resource Organization ------------------------ This announcement can also be found on the NRO website: https://www.nro.net/request-for-proposals-for-consulting-services-nro-strat… ------------------------ The Number Resource Organization (NRO) is calling for proposals for an independent review of its Strategy Plan for the next five years. Proposals will be accepted until 9 July 2021 23:59 UTC. The selected bid will be announced around 23 July 2021. Full details of the Call for Proposals are available at: https://www.nro.net/request-for-proposals-for-consulting-services-nro-strat… NRO Secretariat Regards, Ulka Athale Senior Communications Officer RIPE NCC

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