[ripe-list] RIPE Accountability Task Force Update at RIPE 75

On 19/10/2017 10:56, Alexander Isavnin wrote:
> Dear Nigel!
>
> May i clarify some things?
>
> Did i get right, that "RIPE NCC is secretariat for community" is a fairy tale, told to RIPE Meetings newcomers?
No, RIPE NCC is a membership association which carries out Network 
coordination activities on behalf of its membership and generally 
governed by policies formulated by the RIPE community.
>
> And relations of RIPE NCC to RIPE Community are just 4 letters E I P R in the name?
In practice no, as, except in extremely strange circumstances, the RIPE 
NCC conducts activities according to policies formulated by the  RIPE 
community.
>
> And Number Resources allocation in this region happens not on behalf of Community, but because of some kind of MoUs signed by Dutch association with American corporation owned by other American corporation?
Completely incorrect.
>
> And all those are official statements of the RIPE NCC Executive Board?
No they are statements made by me, wearing my Chairman hat. I'm happy to 
take off the hat and make the statements as Nigel Titley, Internet 
person at large, if it makes you happier.

What Jim and I were both trying to say, and obviously something got lost 
in translation, is that ever since the PDP's inception the NCC has 
carried out the policies as formulated by the RIPE Community, without 
exception, even when this has cost the RIPE NCC  membership considerable 
amounts of money. However, because we are bound by fiduciary duty (ie we 
mustn't do anything that's illegal under Dutch law) we *cannot* agree to 
do absolutely *anything* that might come out of the policy process. To 
take a ludicrous example, suppose the community asked us to sign an MOU 
with a Colombian drug cartel, something which under the PDP they could 
actually ask us to do, we would decline courteously.

Nigel
>
> Kind regards,
> Alexander Isavnin
>   
>>> There's probably no need to formalise the NCC-RIPE relationship with anything more than a sentence saying "The NCC (Board) will take account of the policies developed by RIPE whenever it deploys and operates services". ie The NCC listens to RIPE but isn't compelled to obey no matter what.
>> Jim beat me to it (they obviously get up earlier North of The Border).
>>
>> The NCC Board does of course take account of policies, and also comments
>> on them as part of the evaluation process that the NCC does during
>> policy development. In all cases up until now we have instructed the NCC
>> to follow policy. However, as board members we have certain fiduciary
>> duties which cannot be overridden by policy. Faced with a situation such
>> as Jim describes we have two choices: not implement the policy or resign
>> and hope that someone else agrees to carry the can.
>>
>> Nigel
>> Chairman RIPE NCC Board
>>
>>
>
> Sent via RIPE Forum -- https://www.ripe.net/participate/mail/forum
>