[anti-abuse-wg] WHOIS (AS204224)

On 04/11/2015 23:09, Ronald F. Guilmette wrote:
> In message <C01FCD42-551B-496F-AFFF-BF5561150580 at gmail.com>,
> Suresh Ramasubramanian <ops.lists at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Right now, most other lists that I see this thread start up on, there
>> are a few people who defend RIPE NCC - and a lot of people who dump on
>> it for this kind of thing.
>
> I like to think that I am neither defending nor dumping on either
> RIPE or RIPE NCC.  I'm still too busy being flummoxed and mystified
> to do either of those other things.
>
> As I've said, everyone who cares about the quality of their data...
> from Google Voice, to Craigslist, to UPS... has already been doing
> the obvious thing for years, i.e. checking it.  I'm still trying
> to get my arms around the idea that RIPE doesn't.  That's so last
> century.
>
> And anyway, this isn't a RIPE NCC thing.  It's a RIPE thing.  As I
> understand it, RIPE decides and RIPE NCC implements.  What am I missing?

Somewhat, but there is, and always has been, quite a lot of 
confusion/conflation between the RIPE Community and the RIPE NCC. Also, 
there have been instances when the NCC (of whom I'm an unabashed fan) 
have taken actions that the Community have felt should have had a policy 
behind them. Mostly it works and a lot of people work hard to make sure 
it continues to work, but as with a lot of relationships, there are 
frictions and confusions at times.

The NCC are responsible for the maintenance of the DB and who gets what 
resources, under the policies the Community have created. Of course the 
Community is a nebulous thing, the NCC are a company and are often 
the... I hesitate to use the word 'target' but I can't think of a better 
one. They (or it) are (or is) saying "We are not the Internet police."

In short, it's complicated. :)

However yes, policy is created by the Community and implemented by the 
NCC, but imo the NCC are likely to be the ones ultimately beaten up by 
people who do not like the policy and/or the way it may be implemented.

Brian