[anti-abuse-wg] RIPE WHOIS blocked

Apparently, somebody @ RIPE NCC thinks that I have been too curious of late.

How long should it take for this error to go away?

=============================================================================
% This is the RIPE Database query service.
% The objects are in RPSL format.
%
% The RIPE Database is subject to Terms and Conditions.
% See http://www.ripe.net/db/support/db-terms-conditions.pdf

%ERROR:201: access denied for 69.62.255.118
%
% Queries from your IP address have passed the daily limit of controlled objects.
% Access from your host has been temporarily denied.
% For more information, see
% http://www.ripe.net/data-tools/db/faq/faq-db/why-did-you-receive-the-error-201-access-denied

% This query was served by the RIPE Database Query Service version 1.76 (DB-2)
=============================================================================


I have already written to ripe-dbm at ripe.net asking about this and have
received no reply.

And anyway, can anyone here explain to me what the point is of limiting
WHOIS queries based on the source IP address?

As far as I can see, this only has the effect of slowing down or blocking
the work of legitimate researchers, such as myself.  Anybody who knows
anything about the Internet should know that an IP-address based throttling
system would be almost entirely ineffective against anyone who was seriously
determined to perform bulk harvesting of the RIPE data base via port 43
(or via port 80 for that matter).

It seems that I am being slowed down, blocked, and penalized for the sin
of having a static IP address, even while any other fool on the planet
who has a dynamically-assigned broadband IP, or even a dial-up line,
and who knows how to disconnect an reconnect can easily slurp all of
the RIPE data they want, with no real limits.

In what universe is this non-stupid?

More to the point, who is it, specifically, within RIPE NCC, that has
the authority to fix this?


Regards,
rfg


P.S.  More stupidity:  Based on the text at the URL provided in the
error mesage (see above) the goal of the rate limiting seems to be to
prevent harvesters from collecting too much "contact information".
OK.  Fine.  But the text on that web page also says that using the
-r option with the WHOIS queries will prevent such contact information
from being returned, thus eliminating the issue... or so one would
think.

But why then is it the case that once my IP address has hit its head
against this daily limit, I am not even allowed anymore to even make
any more ``safe'' queries with the -r option?  I am now locked out
completely.  Why?

Sigh.  I guess that I need to go and drag my old 96Kb modem down out
of the closet, dust it off, and get myself a free dial-up AOL account
so that I can work around all of this stupidity.