[ripe-list] Confidentiality, or that lack thereof

In message <YSabD/PVFudA1GIS at Space.Net>, 
Gert Doering <gert at space.net> wrote:

>On Tue, Aug 24, 2021 at 05:18:06PM -0700, Ronald F. Guilmette wrote:
>> There is no question in my mind that the former category of information MUST
>> be held in confidence by RIPE NCC.  The latter category, maybe not so much.
>
>I agree that otherwise easily attainable information ("chamber of commerce")
>does not need to be treated as "confidential".

Thank you for what seems to be general agreement with my position on this
question/issue.

Unfortunately, the term "easily obtainable" may be somewhat misleading in
this context.

There are many jurisdictions scattered around the world, that have elected
to go out of their way to NOT make even such simple things as corporate
registration documents available to the public, and there are at least
a few RIPE member organizations that claim to be incorporated in each of
these.... Belize, U.A.E., the British Virgin Islands, the Isle of Man,
and the Seychelles Islands, just to name a few.

It may come as a surprise to some, although not to me, that over time there
has appeared to be some correlation between some of these entities and what
some might call "bad behavior".  Indeed, at the present moment, multiple
legal disputes currently ongoing in the courts of Mauritius threaten to
put one of the world's five Regional Internet Registries, AFRINIC, out of
business, and these legal cases have been brought by multiple companies
that are purportedly incorporated in the Seychelles:

   https://www.internetgovernance.org/2021/08/19/a-fight-over-crumbs-the-afrinic-crisis/

Given the nature of the modern Internet, and its ever more central place
in the lives of ordinary people around the world, I personally feel that
the price of admission to this vast global and interconnected wealth-
generating machine should, at the very least, include making your basic
incorporation documents public.  It would be Good and Helpful, in my opinion,
if the five RIRs agreed with this simple and minimalist disclosure requirement.

>OTOH, maybe it's just the easiest approach to things - "keep *any* document
>submitted by the LIR as 'confidential'" - so there is no need for individual
>NCC employees to decide on the nature of a document...

I believe you are making this seem more complex that it really is.  I really
doubt that there are any staff members within RIPE NCC who are so blindingly
ignorant that they could not easily tell a corporate registration document
from a document showing user counts, equipment purchases, etc., of the kind
that has typically been required as part of a justification for IP space.
The latter is quite obviously "business confidential".  The former, not so
much.


Regards,
rfg