NRO Response to ITU Comments on the Management of Internet Protocol (IP) Addresses

Dear Colleagues,

As part of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
process, a proposal has been made that could dramatically affect
the way Internet number resources are distributed and managed.

On 21 October 2004, the Director of ITU-TSB published a
memorandum, "ITU and Internet Governance" for public comment.
This memorandum includes a proposal to create a new IPv6
address space distribution process, based solely on national
authorities.  This could have a serious impact on RIPE NCC
Members, Internet operators and the global Internet community
at large.

The Number Resource Organization (NRO), on behalf of the
Regional Internet Registries, has prepared a public response
to the ITU memorandum detailing the flaws of the proposal
and the negative impact it would have on Internet operations.

A summary of this response is available at:
http://www.nro.net/documents/nro18.html

The full response is available at:
http://www.nro.net/documents/nro17.html

The original ITU memorandum is available at:
http://www.itu.int/ITU-T/tsb-director/itut-wsis/files/zhao-netgov01.doc

We urge our members and others in the Internet community to make
their views about this issue known. Without your support being
*visible* and *explicit* the bottom-up, consensus based model on
which the success of the Internet has been founded may be replaced
by the top-down bureaucracy of "Internet Governance".

To show your support:

- RIPE NCC Members: Log in to the LIR Portal and tick the support
box. If you do not have an LIR Portal account, please email your
expression of support to: contact at ripe.net

- Non-members: Please email to: im-support at ripe.net. An email
archive of expressions of support will be available at:
http://www.ripe.net/maillists/ncc-archives/im-support/

- ITU-TSB Members: Please also contact your ITU member state
representative to voice your concerns you might have.

Internet number resource distribution is fair and accessible to all.
Its policy development process is open and transparent.  It works.

Let us keep it that way.

Regards,

Axel Pawlik
Managing Director
RIPE NCC