Hi,
Could we please stop with any character based arguments? By design, anyone can participate in RIPE.
In my opinion, the primary question remains:
The RIPE NCC has already implemented additional security controls regarding transfers from distressed territories, like Ukraine. Is there any evidence that this additional screening is not already sufficient? Have there been any actual cases of IP addresses
being stolen in the RIPE region (before or after these additional measures were introduced)? Perhaps we should take even more action before this can be attempted, but if not I believe we can have a calmer and more relaxed discussion.
I do also want to remind everyone of a few facts regarding this situation:
- RIPE policies are decided based on consensus. Your goal should not be to make yourself seem like the winner as you don't just need a majority to make or change policies. You need to not have a meaningful amount of objections, which is clearly not the case at the moment.
- The RIPE NCC is bound by the RIPE policies. It cannot make its own changes to transfer policy (outside changing slight implementation details, such as how to carry out the screening) unless they are legally required. LIRs could, and likely would, take legal action against the NCC if they suffer financial damages due to the NCC going against the established policies.
- There is no framework for temporarily freezing resources until a potential new RIPE policy can be put in place. This in itself would require a new policy.
Maybe these are things that should be discussed now so we can have a framework for them in the future.
Personally, I currently see the following issues with the proposals, but I'm sure they could be addressed if we go back to having a civilized discussion:
If we block transfers from certain regions (or all of RIPE) completely, this removes a means for companies to obtain money they might need to keep operating. I am not particularly concerned about companies that obtain resources solely to profit off them,
but it's possible that a company might sell part of its IP space to recover from an unexpected bad financial situation. One of my companies has done this earlier this year. This seems especially realistic for Ukrainian companies given the current situation
in Ukraine. While of course IP addresses may be needed to rebuild networks, as is money, and I doubt there aren't ISPs who have more IP space than they need.
If we give LIRs a way to opt into a resource lock, this might give a way for rogue employees to severely hurt their employer, for example shortly before being fired or quitting. This could probably be worked around by having an unlock procedure (which
might involve a video call or in-person meeting with NCC staff) or by notifying all contacts and having a grace period of a week or two to cancel the lock.
With either option, it is possible that transfers still unofficially take place, just without being reflected in the RIPE database. This would cause the RIPE database to become less accurate. There is no real practical requirement for IP space to be registered
to someone before they can use it.
—
Matthias Merkel
