[ncc-services-wg] GeekTools Whois Proxy and RIPE/RIPE-NCC

Hi,

>>> This seems odd.  I can't seem to find any mention of charging for bulk
>>> whois access in the RIPE NCC AGM or the PDP.
>> 
>> the ncc _seems_ to have taken upon itself, with no public mandate or
>> bottom up process, to incrementally make the nic a members only
>> organization.  as the nics are here to serve the internet, this is a
>> major change.  if the ncc is not here to serve the internet, then we may
>> need to rethink how we handle internet coordination.
>> 
>> somemthing smells very broken here.  maybe we are just misinformed.
> 
> Yeah, that does sound broken. Let's hope that it is indeed miscommunication.


Looking at http://www.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-558 (the activity plan for 2013) the RIPE Database Proxy Service is indeed listed as a member-only service, and the members approved of that activity plan. So the NCC and the NCC board can't be blamed for this. The members (and yes: that includes me) should be careful what they vote for...

IMHO the proxy service should have never been included in the member-only-services list, and I suspect that many members didn't realize the impact of approving this change in the activity plane.

Another point is whether the NCC members are the ones to decide such a change. It is their money that funds the RIPE NCC whois service, but it is not their data...

- Sander