<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Dear all,<div><br></div><div>First of all I think the discussion is getting real and start touching </div><div>on some fundamental questions that we need to address in our region and </div><div>which are the bottom-line for what we all seems to be looking for: </div><div>Internet (and maybe more generally ICT) development in Africa for a </div><div>sustainable socio-economical impact. </div><div><br></div><div>In the mean time I have spot on an important issue raised several time </div><div>in recent posts, which I would like us to get specific about and try </div><div>to, in one hand understand the issue and in other hand look at way to </div><div>address them efficiently. It is about IP address **regulation**.</div><div><br>On 2012-10-31, at 09:48 AM, Pierre Lotis NANKEP <<a href="mailto:lnankep@yahoo.fr">lnankep@yahoo.fr</a>> wrote:<br><br><blockquote type="cite">I also heard that we should regulate IP numbers and domain names at </blockquote><blockquote type="cite">national level. Well and good but how could this be done when IPs are </blockquote><blockquote type="cite">administered globally(iana/nro) and regionally through afrinic?</blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite">>>Please let us organise a Webinar on this topic... So some will </blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><font color="#000000">>></font>have the opportunity to make some présentation in details.<br></blockquote><div><br></div><div>Just before going further on this, AfriNIC has initiated a Government </div><div>Working Group open to Government Reps and Regulators with the goal to </div><div>proactively create a framework for discussion and dialogue at that level </div><div>on IP address and related issues. The working groups also have a mailing </div><div>list <a href="mailto:afgwg-discuss@afrinic.net">afgwg-discuss@afrinic.net</a> and several countries have already </div><div>appointed liaison to that working group (<a href="http://meeting.afrinic.net/afgwg">http://meeting.afrinic.net/afgwg</a>). </div><div>You can also use that forum to have this discussion with a wider Africa </div><div>regulators/governments audience.</div><div><br></div><div>Coming back to the point, Pierre N. and others on the list who have </div><div>expressed concern in that area, can you be a bit more specify? Pierre has </div><div>mentioned WHOIS services and data accuracy that need to be regulated. </div><div>Putting aside the scary word "regulation" here, I will agree that WHOIS </div><div>related issues are important to look at in our region. So in order to </div><div>move the discussion forward, what are the "regulation" measures that you </div><div>think government should take to solve the problem of accuracy? What are </div><div>regulators doing right now to encourage Network Operator in their </div><div>respective jurisdiction to properly register and update their IP addresses </div><div>usage in the public WHOIS database already provided by AFRINIC? Can that </div><div>already be a starting point? </div><div><br></div><div>In April this year we have received a Policy proposal "AfriNIC Whois </div><div>Database Clean-up" <a href="http://www.afrinic.net/en/library/policies/archive/699-afrinic-whois-database-clean-up-draft1">AFPUB-2012-GEN-001-DRAFT-01</a> (still under discussion)</div><div>which, if approved by the community, will trigger a process to cleanup </div><div>our IP address WHOIS database. That proposal in fact reinforced the fact </div><div>that the issue of WHOIS data accuracy is also of concern for operators </div><div>as well. How are regulators contributing to the debate and the elaboration </div><div>of such a policy? How can this be efficiently translated into the local </div><div>framework without creating unnecessary additional layer of bureaucracy </div><div>and/or complexity? Simply put, what is your take on the policy proposal? </div><div><br></div><div>I would encourage you and anyone interested to contribute to the </div><div>discussion that is happening on that specific policy for instance by </div><div>joining AFRINC RPD mailing list at <a href="mailto:rpd@afrinic.net">rpd@afrinic.net</a>]. More about our </div><div>open Policy development Process can be found at: </div><div><br></div><div><a href="http://www.afrinic.net/en/community/policy-development">http://www.afrinic.net/en/community/policy-development</a></div><div><br></div><div>Finally I would like to take on your suggestion to have a webminar session </div><div>on the topic. AFRINIC will be happy to provide the logistic for it. But in </div><div>order to plan it well, we will need to know how many people are interested </div><div>first.</div><div><br></div><div>Thank you.</div><div><br></div><div>- a.</div><div><br></div><br></div></body></html>