[address-policy-wg] 2022-02 New Policy Proposal (Remove mandatory IPv4 PA assignment registration in the RIPE Database)

Colleagues

I have many things to say about this proposal but I will start with a
response to Sander's concern.

On Tue, 4 Oct 2022 at 13:53, Sander Steffann <sander at steffann.nl> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> >> To break it down by rationale:
> >>
> >> "One of the main reasons for registering IPv4 PA assignments was that LIRs could show their use of IPv4 and thus justify the request for an additional IPv4 allocation from the RIPE NCC. However, this requirement has become obsolete since the RIPE NCC ran out of IPv4 addresses in 2019."
> >
> > This merely means that this particular reason is no longer relevant for IPv4 addresses.
>
> Justifying getting more PA Allocations was never the reason to document PA Assignments in the RIPE database. Its purpose is to document who to contact for administrative and technical issues concerning the IP addresses. Being able to use that data to verify that IP addresses are actually in use before allocating more was just a useful side effect.
>
> I therefore oppose this rationale. I know that organisations are lazy and only properly document assignments when they want the benefits for themselves (i.e. getting another allocation). I think there is a more important decision to make here: do we still want this level of documentation for operational purposes?

Again we are back to asking the question, "What is the purpose of the
RIPE Database in 2022?". I know this is like the elephant in the room.
I know most people look the other way every time I mention this topic.
BUT it is so fundamental to many discussions we are having. For
example, is the database still purely (or even primarily) only for
'operational purposes'? A term used so often that, like so many other
terms used in this industry, is not even defined anywhere. Is using
the content of the RIPE Database to stop the use of an IP address for
criminal  activity an 'operational purpose'. If someone is operating a
network using a block of IP addresses and abusing other users of the
internet, then surely knowing who is using that block of addresses and
being able to contact them has 'operational' value.

As Sander said, knowing how much of an allocation is in use was a side
effect of this policy. Knowing who is operating a network on a block
of addresses, and being able to contact them, is the real purpose of
this policy requirement to document assignments. If we allow LIRs to
choose what info to add to the database, those LIRs that knowingly
provide resources and services to abusive end users will obviously
choose not to document it. That may be used as a selling feature to
abusive end users, to obscure and delay their identification. Whilst
most LIRs take abuse seriously we all know there are some that don't.

I oppose this proposal.

cheers
denis
co-chair DB-WG

>
> If we don’t want/need this level of documentation anymore then sure, remove the mandatory PA assignment registration in the RIPE DB. But in that case rewrite the proposal to make that very explicit. Removing the requirement using the wrong arguments is misleading. Call it what it is.
>
> Cheers,
> Sander
>
>
> --
>
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