The concerns expressed by TISPA, as well as other concerned parties and especially by AFRINIC's own admission in the news outlet lexpress.mu, which is attached to this email, regarding the AFRINIC’s inability to keep providing its core registry functions due to its inability to meet its financial requirements. I suggest that in order not hold end users, ISPs and any other business's hostage, for the interest of continue service of AFRINIC’s core registry service, we should urgently call for NRO fulfil their responsibility as well as commitment to the global internet to take over AFRINIC’s registration service for the time being, until litigation is settled some time later. (https://www.nro.net/accountability/rir-accountability/joint-rir-stability-fu...) That way, no end user or business will ever impacted however results come out of litigation. Regards Paul Wollner
Apologies for the duplicate post, but the initial posting was too large. The concerns expressed by TISPA, as well as other concerned parties and especially by AFRINIC's own admission in the news outlet lexpress.mu, which is available at https://ibb.co/tmWCk0k, regarding the AFRINIC’s inability to keep providing its core registry functions due to its inability to meet its financial requirements. I suggest that in order not hold end users, ISPs and any other business's hostage, for the interest of continue service of AFRINIC’s core registry service, we should urgently call for NRO fulfil their responsibility as well as commitment to the global internet to take over AFRINIC’s registration service for the time being, until litigation is settled some time later. (https://www.nro.net/accountability/rir-accountability/joint-rir-stability-fu...) That way, no end user or business will ever impacted however results come out of litigation. Regards Paul Wollner
Apologies for the duplicate post, but the initial posting was too large.
The concerns expressed by TISPA, as well as other concerned parties and especially by AFRINIC's own admission in the news outlet lexpress.mu, which is available at https://ibb.co/tmWCk0k, regarding the AFRINIC’s inability to keep providing its core registry functions due to its inability to meet its financial requirements.
I suggest that in order not hold end users, ISPs and any other business's hostage, for the interest of continue service of AFRINIC’s core registry service, we should urgently call for NRO fulfil their responsibility as well as commitment to the global internet to take over AFRINIC’s registration service for the time being, until litigation is settled some time later. (https://www.nro.net/accountability/rir-accountability/joint-rir-stability-fu...)
That way, no end user or business will ever impacted however results come out of litigation.
it is sooooo noble of you, as a completely disinterested party, to make such kind suggestions. < /snark > randy
Hello community I think I misused the word “take over” to spike some unfortunate sentiments. Let me try this again: In the interest of internet continuity, another RIR should help AFRINIC (by staff or infrastructure), to perform it’s core registration service function for the time being, until all AFRINIC litigation has been sorted to avoid disruption to our African end users and businesses. Regards Paul ---- On Thu, 29 Jul 2021 23:38:32 +0200 Paul Wollner <paul.wollner@africaoncloud.net> wrote ---- Apologies for the duplicate post, but the initial posting was too large. The concerns expressed by TISPA, as well as other concerned parties and especially by AFRINIC's own admission in the news outlet lexpress.mu, which is available at https://ibb.co/tmWCk0k, regarding the AFRINIC’s inability to keep providing its core registry functions due to its inability to meet its financial requirements. I suggest that in order not hold end users, ISPs and any other business's hostage, for the interest of continue service of AFRINIC’s core registry service, we should urgently call for NRO fulfil their responsibility as well as commitment to the global internet to take over AFRINIC’s registration service for the time being, until litigation is settled some time later. (https://www.nro.net/accountability/rir-accountability/joint-rir-stability-fu...) That way, no end user or business will ever impacted however results come out of litigation. Regards Paul Wollner
Well yes, because at some point, AFRINIC will most likely find itself in the obligation to ask for staff support from other RIRs to maintain its operations, but probably until it’s too late. There’s too much to risk if we don’t get any help from another RIR as soon as possible.. Le dim. 1 août 2021 à 10:58, Paul Wollner <paul.wollner@africaoncloud.net> a écrit :
Hello community
I think I misused the word “take over” to spike some unfortunate sentiments.
Let me try this again:
In the interest of internet continuity, another RIR should help AFRINIC (by staff or infrastructure), to perform it’s core registration service function for the time being, until all AFRINIC litigation has been sorted to avoid disruption to our African end users and businesses.
Regards Paul
---- On Thu, 29 Jul 2021 23:38:32 +0200 *Paul Wollner <paul.wollner@africaoncloud.net <paul.wollner@africaoncloud.net>>* wrote ----
Apologies for the duplicate post, but the initial posting was too large.
The concerns expressed by TISPA, as well as other concerned parties and especially by AFRINIC's own admission in the news outlet lexpress.mu, which is available at https://ibb.co/tmWCk0k, regarding the AFRINIC’s inability to keep providing its core registry functions due to its inability to meet its financial requirements.
I suggest that in order not hold end users, ISPs and any other business's hostage, for the interest of continue service of AFRINIC’s core registry service, we should urgently call for NRO fulfil their responsibility as well as commitment to the global internet to take over AFRINIC’s registration service for the time being, until litigation is settled some time later. ( https://www.nro.net/accountability/rir-accountability/joint-rir-stability-fu... )
That way, no end user or business will ever impacted however results come out of litigation.
Regards Paul Wollner
--
Lamiaa CHNAYTI
[truncated Cc: to the one mailing list I'm actually subscribed to.] On Sun, Aug 01, 2021 at 11:57:29AM +0200, Paul Wollner wrote:
In the interest of internet continuity, another RIR should help AFRINIC (by staff or infrastructure), to perform it’s core registration service function for the time being, until all AFRINIC litigation has been sorted to avoid disruption to our African end users and businesses.
Pardon my naïveté, but why would this be staff/infrastructure rather than financial? Their staff and infrastructure seems perfectly fine.
From the news sources you provided, it's an asset freeze to ensure the assets will be available /if/ these legal proceedings find them at fault. I see no argument that their operations would be impeded if they find some way to sustain ongoing payments.
And indeed they have asked the court to allow enough use of their assets to this extent. If that fails, they'll proceed down their list of options to the next one. I would assume the RIR stability fund is one of the options further down on their list, and when they reach that point and ask for it, it should be granted. No earlier, no later, and based on their request. (And of course they would try their more direct options first, i.e. asking the court to release some of their own assets. Who wouldn't?) Cheers, David P.S.: I'm not even alarmed all that much by this. It seems primarily a problem with the laws they operate under. An asset freeze as part of legal proceedings is useful, but if it strangles a defendant before the court can even hear merits of a case that seems to be going a bit too far.
Paul & all - it would have been helpful if you also had provided a translation into English of this French newspaper article, given that your post is in English, too. I did that for you by using DeepL (https://www.deepl.com/translator). Please find attached: * "Journal jeudi 29 juillet-pages-2 (pdf) FR.txt" (a 1:1 C&P job of the article into txt format) * "Journal jeudi 29 juillet-pages-2 (pdf) EN.txt" (the unedited result of having run DeepL on the txt mentioned before) The content of the second txt is also copied below. Thanks & best, -C. === DISPUTE BETWEEN AFRINIC AND CLOUD INNOVATION Internet network at risk of being compromised The dispute between African Network Centre (Afrinic) and Cloud Innovation may disrupt the Internet in the Indian Ocean and Africa. This, if the freeze on Afrinic's bank account is maintained. (Manisha DEENA) [portrait photo] Lu Heng, founder of Cloud Innovation. [portrait photo] Eddy Kayihura, CEO of Afrinic. This dispute is over a year old. It all started in June 2020 when the African Network Centre (Afrinic) informed Cloud Innovation (CI) that the provider was violating their Registration Service Agreement (RSA) because the resources it allocated to them were "not being used for the purpose for which the applications were made. Moreover, Afrinic blames CI for the fact that the resources are mostly used in China instead of the African region where these services are supposed to be offered. Indeed, CI, although registered in the Seychelles, is in partnership with Larus Limited, a company based in Hong Kong. On July 13, 2020, CI filed for an injunction against Afrinic in the Supreme Court, but this was rejected a year later, on July 7. The day after the dismissal, Afrinic decided to terminate CI's membership and "recoup" the approximately 6 million in resources allocated in installments over the years. But CI retaliated by seeking a new injunction, which was granted on July 13, preventing Afrinic from recovering the resources. Moreover, according to documents CI submitted to the Supreme Court, the court order was complied with after a warning was sent to the legal panel of the regional internet registry (RIR). CI's membership was reinstated on July 15 and its 6 million in resources released the same day. However, the company was not content with that. It filed a claim for damages against Afrinic on July 23 for "unlawful termination" and "illegal acts. The Supreme Court granted the claim based on information provided by CI. However, it warned that a counter-action by Afrinic is possible "at CI's peril". The case will be called again in court on August 4. Impact on Afrinic An explanatory video from Afrinic's Chief Executive Officer, Eddy Kayihura, was released Tuesday. He explains that July salaries were able to be processed before the freeze of accounts and that support from other RIRs was sought so that a stability fund created in 2015 could be used to ensure a safe and stable global internet. He added that Afrinic's legal panel has requested a variation of the freeze before a judge in chambers on Monday, but if that request is not approved and Afrinic is deprived of long-term funds, "disruptions to Internet service in the Indian Ocean, the African continent and parts of the world" are possible. Contacted by the Express, the president of Afrinic, Subramanian Moonesamy, said he respects the decision of the Supreme Court. However, he hopes that a solution will be found "in the interest" of all parties concerned. "It's really unfortunate because 50 employees are affected by this decision to freeze the accounts, but we remain optimistic." One of Afrinic's board directors, Mark Elkins, submitted his resignation on July 26. Without going into detail because of confidentiality agreements, he said through a mailing list that he "does not agree" with what is happening and that he has been "misled. When asked, Subramanian Moonesamy did not wish to say more, arguing that it was not his place to comment on another person's choice. "I respect his decision." Cloud Innovation justifies its actions Since 2020, CI has refuted the allegations against it. After Afrinic's initial "threats," its founder, Lu Heng, said that it was only recently that RIR imposed restrictions on the use of its resources and that at the time of the agreement between the two, it was not Afrinic's policy to mandate that the allocated resources be used only in Africa. Lu Heng also maintained that there was no question of China having a stranglehold on African territory, as Afrinic claims. "We realize that the African Internet is still underdeveloped. We are doing our best to help the continent." In a statement issued on July 26, CI contends that "Afrinic acted in bad faith to tarnish its reputation" and that the company had "no choice but to take the necessary actions to protect hundreds of customers." ABOUT Afrinic is one of five RIRs worldwide. It was established in 2004 and is headquartered in Ebony. As the RIR for Africa and the Indian Ocean region, it is responsible for the distribution and management of Internet number resources consisting of the IP Address Space (IPv4 and IPv6) and Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs). Anyone wishing to connect to the Internet or to a host server to publish content online must have an Internet Protocol (IP) address. These addresses are essential resources for accessing the Internet. Afrinic has 1,900 members, including Cloud Innovation, Mauritius Telecom and La Sentinelle. === On 29.07.2021 23:12, Paul Wollner wrote:
The concerns expressed by TISPA, as well as other concerned parties and especially by AFRINIC's own admission in the news outlet lexpress.mu, which is attached to this email, regarding the AFRINIC’s inability to keep providing its core registry functions due to its inability to meet its financial requirements.
I suggest that in order not hold end users, ISPs and any other business's hostage, for the interest of continue service of AFRINIC’s core registry service, we should urgently call for NRO fulfil their responsibility as well as commitment to the global internet to take over AFRINIC’s registration service for the time being, until litigation is settled some time later. (https://www.nro.net/accountability/rir-accountability/joint-rir-stability-fu... <https://www.nro.net/accountability/rir-accountability/joint-rir-stability-fund/>)
That way, no end user or business will ever impacted however results come out of litigation.
Regards Paul Wollner
+1 "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". The NRO's Joint Stability Fund was literally set up to guarantee the continued operation of an RIR in case of an emergency, and for an RIR to no longer have access to its bank accounts is obviously one. Otherwise how will AFRINIC maintain its payroll and maintain its services to serve the African Internet stability? It really baffles me how some people are so convinced that anything that differs from their usual opinion means that it's wrongful. There is no shame in asking for help. What is shameful is to know that help is needed and pretend that it's not in order to save one's pride. There's a system in place, so why not use it until AFRINIC gets back on its feet? I don't want to see our Internet registry get destroyed and I don't want to suffer from the consequences, and I doubt anyone in this community does. Best regards, Lamiaa On Thu, 29 Jul 2021 at 22:13, Paul Wollner <paul.wollner@africaoncloud.net> wrote:
The concerns expressed by TISPA, as well as other concerned parties and especially by AFRINIC's own admission in the news outlet lexpress.mu, which is attached to this email, regarding the AFRINIC’s inability to keep providing its core registry functions due to its inability to meet its financial requirements.
I suggest that in order not hold end users, ISPs and any other business's hostage, for the interest of continue service of AFRINIC’s core registry service, we should urgently call for NRO fulfil their responsibility as well as commitment to the global internet to take over AFRINIC’s registration service for the time being, until litigation is settled some time later. ( https://www.nro.net/accountability/rir-accountability/joint-rir-stability-fu... )
That way, no end user or business will ever impacted however results come out of litigation.
Regards Paul Wollner
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The NRO's Joint Stability Fund was literally set up to guarantee the continued operation of an RIR in case of an emergency, and for an RIR to no longer have access to its bank accounts is obviously one.
somehow i missed the bit where afrinic asked for this support. could you please point me to it? thanks. randy
participants (4)
-
Carsten Schiefner -
David Lamparter -
Lamiaa Chnayti -
Paul Wollner -
Randy Bush