[db-wg] [Ext] Re: NWI-10 Definition of Country

Hi Arash,

Arash Naderpour wrote:

> Yes I know allocations and assignments can be announced from multiple 
> countries, but a member has this option to set the country code for 
> allocation and assignments based on their needs. If I can set my 
> allocation's country code in RIPE DB why I should not be able to have 
> the same value in delegation file for the same allocation? 
> 
> Having different values for country code in DB and delegation file for exact 
> same allocation will make more confusion and can break networks, 

I have no objection to resource holders being able to control how their resource is described (within reasonable constraints) in the RIPE Database or in the stats files. 

My concern is that there has never been any guidance from the RIPE community to network operators as to what these values mean. Because there has been no guidance, users of the data have inferred whatever meaning(s) they wish. This is relatively harmless when the only use is to measure the distribution of Internet Number Resources across the region in a purely statistical manner. But as you say, when people use these data to configure networks, it has an operational impact on other networks.

If the RIPE community maintains the "country:" attribute in inet(6)num objects but defines its meaning - and so changes it for some users of the data - it will inevitably create new and subtle errors for networks around the globe. For this reason, I think the most appropriate thing to do is remove this attribute after a suitable outreach campaign. Network operators who need geolocation data can then obtain well-defined data from one or more of the geolocation data providers.

Kind regards,

Leo Vegoda