I agree Jim. At the risk of sounding naive, while it is of course important to be critical, advocate for transparency, and take a stand when needed, alienating LEAs who have legitatent challenges and concerns won't do us any good. Of course, that may be slightly off-topic given the initial response by Alexander, and I do understand his criticism.

Best,

-Michael

On Thu, Mar 29, 2018 at 12:07 PM, Jim Reid <jim@rfc1035.com> wrote:

> On 29 Mar 2018, at 10:45, Alex Smirnoff <ark@eltex.net> wrote:
>
> It is like they need us, not vice versa, right?

First, let’s stop this “us” and “them” attitude. It’s wrong and unhelpful.

Law enforcement, regulators and so on are members of the RIPE community. We have to work with these sectors, just like we engage with IXPs, ISPs, privacy activists and so on.

An adversarial relationship with the authorities will not be in the best interests of anyone. That doesn’t mean “we” must always agree with “them”. It does mean at a minimum that there are channels for discussion and mutual understanding and that these work well. It looks to me that the recent workshop was a welcome step in that direction.

And FWIW we need “them” just as much as they need “us”. We’re all passengers on the same Internet bus and we have a common interest in making sure the wheels don’t come off.