[ncc-services-wg] RIPE tasks

Neil, all,

>You need to move faster then as the impression you give is
>that you are dragging your feet, and as they say where
>I come from - The Natives are Restless.

I have heard comments to the contrary. That's
not really the point though.

>Anyone who believes that these people have only just
>become involved in this industry are very short-sighted.
>These people +have+ always been involved in one way or
>another. Is it not a sign of our industries maturity that
>some involvement has changed - absolutely and personally
>speaking thats a good thing in the most part.

I'm not saying that. The point is that the Internet
is seen as being of economic importance. Including
the distribution of addresses. People who have not
known about us 15 years ago, and have ignored us 10
years ago, are becoming interested to run this activities
for themselves. On a national level, on a governmental
basis.

>And correctly the RIPE NCC and other organisation was setup
>to deal with issues like this. But the RIPE NCC was not
>setup to deal with spam or other "insert random activity here".

Absolutely agree.


> > We need to do more, to establish the RIPE NCC in the minds
> > of politicians, journalists, "the public" as a trustworthy
> > place you can turn to to gain insight in the operations of
> > the Internet.
>
>I'm not sure I agree and I think the RIPE NCC needs to do more
>to establish itself with its members first Alex!

That's what we hear, and what we are working towards.

>I'm not against a number of the RIPE's activities, in fact some
>of the work that has been done has been great, but it needs to have
>strong foundations and support from the RIPE NCC members and
>stakeholders and at the moment that isn't the case.

I fully agree with you, our activities need to be
supported by our members. We need to propose clearly,
in case we would start something new, with a clear
timeline, budget, *benefit for the members*.

>I'd hazard a guess that a vast majority of the members
>signed up so they can register IP addresses, AS numbers and get
>reverse DNS and if all the other stuff stopped tomorrow that they
>wouldn't even notice. In my view this is the critical part of the
>problem.

Indeed. My argument is that "the other stuff" is not seen
as important, but it actually is essential to keep the
"core activities" in the members' hands.

>There are a several other organisations that have been setup working
>with the public and the media to lobby specific points and actions.
>Yes the RIPE NCC needs to be involved but I do not believe for one
>moment it needs to be the leading in these activities and these
>activlties should be focused around the registration and internet
>numbering areas noted above.

Yes, this is more or less what I'm talking about. I'm not
talking about becoming a lobbying organisation. I'm talking
about making our (the community's, the members', the NCC's)
knowledge available in a much more focused, targetted way.
We need to make trusted data available, and be known
for that. Scarcity of IPv4 addresses is just one very
obvious, self-perpetuating myth that needs to be killed.

>  The general meeting
>of the RIPE NCC should be part of the RIPE meeting also.

Building on your wishes, this will happen this time around.

>I hear
>time and time again from alot of people that if the RIPE meeting
>was more focused and shorter then they would attend it more often.

I heard the same. Is it time then to request space on
the agenda to make a proposal and discuss it? I'm sure
Rob would be accommodating.

>I'd be interested to hear what plans you have to modernise the meetings.

The RIPE NCC is here (besides others) to organise
the RIPE meetings according to the community consensus.
If the outcome of that discussion is to have a three
day meeting, we can organise it that way.

cheers, Axel