[anti-abuse-wg] Definition of Abuse

ox <andre at ox.co.za> wrote:

>> Yes, by all means, let's take a violation of contractual terms between
>> two private parties and turn it into a law enforcement matter.  And
>
>I am not sure what you mean, maybe you can explain it to me better?

I'm not sure what it is that you're not sure about.

I've made three simple points, none of which should really be all that
difficult to understand.  These three points are as follows:

     1)  In practice, law enforcement *can't* deal with these things.
         They don't have the resources or, in general, the technical
         competence to even understand them.  (See link below.)

     2)  In practice, in those rare instances when law enforcement stupidly
         injects itself into civil contractual disputes, claiming that
         they have criminal jurisdiction, they usually do so in a ham-fisted
         way that does more harm than good.  (See link below.)

     3)  Even RIPE NCC legal staff recognize that it would be the height
         of silly absurdity for them to call in the Dutch police, or
         Interpol whenever they get snookered by some clever Russian or
         Egyptian, which happens these days with disturbing regularity
         due to the fact that RIPE NCC never actually checks anybody's bona
         fides themselves until *after* some schmo like me raises a stink,
         by which time it's too late, the number resources have already
         been allocated, the overt criminality has already begun, and RIPE's
         own rules require a laborious, lengthy, tedious, and exceptionally
         time-consuming multi-month process just for them to be able to
         take back what they should never have handed out in the first place.

         In effect, RIPE NCC is walking around with a billboard-sized sign
         on its back saying "CHEAT ME!" and criminals from all over the world,
         eager to make an illegal buck, are only too happy to oblige them.

The following two links support the first two points above:

      1)  http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-36731694
      2)  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz

Regarding point #3, I've suggested... although perhaps not clearly enough...
that if you have trouble understanding it, you should do some simple research,
i.e.:

    a)  Ask RIPE NCC Legal yourself how many times they have taken a contract
        breach and gone to law enforcement and filed a criminal complaint
        on account of that.  (Hint:  Never.... because they are not stupid,
        and because they understand points #1 and #2 above.)

    b)  Ask RIPE NCC Legal yourself how they were magically able to verify
        the bona fides of ORG-IL351-RIPE aka "Icenetworks Ltd." aka
        "OrangeWebsite.Com", even though there is simply is no way for
        _any_ mere mortal to verify either the existance of, or, conversely,
        the non-existance of _any_ Belize company, let alone verifying
        which human individuals are or are not empowered to enter into
        legally binding contracts on behalf of such a company.

If they give you an answer to that last one, please do let me know.
Whatever it is, it is quite likely to be either (a) facinating or (b)
laughable, or perhaps (c) both facinating -and- laughable.


Regards,
rfg