[anti-abuse-wg] survey ?

Hi,

On Fri, Mar 06, 2009 at 02:48:26PM +0000, Richard Cox wrote:
> Decisions are made by RIPE members who are mostly network operators.  

This is actually not completely correct.

RIPE NCC *members* (as in "paying members") decide on the yearly fees paid
to keep the RIPE NCC running, and on the way the RIPE NCC spends its
budget.  This is done in the formal annual general meeting (RIPE AGM).

Regarding policies and best practices, every interested party of the
Internet community can influence what's happening.  Which can be 
problematic at times (reaching consensus can be difficult if the
opinions differ too much), but it's definitely not tied to being
a paying member.

> The fees required for membership are
> beyond the means of (most) individual net users.  RIPE therefore acts
> in the interests of its members, who are mostly Network Operators,
> and not in the interests of end users unless they overlap.

Please do also note that "RIPE" is "all of us in the community".

If you are talking about the folks in Amsterdam that get paid to do 
secretariat jobs for the RIPE community: this is the RIPE NCC (and it's
important to be clear on the distinction).

Gert Doering
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