[Community-Discuss] Kill the Messenger

[Alioune Traore]

Mr Guilmette, 

The Governance committee is acting upon complaints that were logged online 

https://afrinic.net/govcom/request#GC2020.04

https://afrinic.net/govcom/request#GC2020.05. Besides, there was a blog post about it from AFRINIC 

https://afrinic.net/20200903-code-of-conduct

 


Dr Ing. Alioune Badara TRAORE 

Membre du conseil de l'AMRTP en charge des TIC

Président FEMAT

Directeur Technique du CNOSM

Ceinture Noire 7ème DAN
Arbitre Olympique de Taekwondo 
+223 6678 58 31
 

    Le mardi 27 octobre 2020 à 10:58:18 UTC, Ronald F. Guilmette <rfg at tristatelogic.com> a écrit :  
 
 I am in reciept this evening, California time, of a rather formal looking
letter, on AFRINIC letterhead, sent to me by Guylaine Laiyra <guylaine@
afrinic.net>, acting in her capacity as secretariat of the AFRINIC
Governance Committee.

The letter informs me that the Governance Committee has been requested,
by some unspecified party, to investigate a possible breach of the AFRINIC
Code of Conduct committed by myself, on Aug 20, 2020 at 00:42:39 UTC.

The letter goes on to request "a wrtten explanation of {my} conduct"
and invites me to "give a reason why the AFRINIC Code of Conduct should
not be enforced against {me}."

To the extent that I am willing to offer any such, this email will have
to suffice as my response.

The admirable brevity of the letter I recieved is exceeded only by its
abundant ambiguity.  Who has made this request for retribution?  The
letter does not say.  The letter thus fails one of the most fundamental
tests of civilized jurisdrudence -- the right of the accused to face
his accuser.

This leaves me to wonder who has taken offense.  Was it Mr. Cohen, the
very individual who is currently engaged in legal warfare against this
very institution, AFRINIC?  Was it Eddy Kayihura or some member of the
Board, who may have taken exception to the fact that I have pointed out
their collective lackadaisical approach to this entire colossal and
currently still ongoing scandal of the stolen IP space?

Apparently, I am not entitled to know who is accusing me of an offense.

Nor, it seems, am I entitled to know which specific section of the AFRINIC
Code of Conduct I have purportedly violated.  (And this is more than a
little Kafkaesque.  All I am told is that I shall be put on trial for my
offenses, and I am then left to my own devices to figure out what those
might be.)

In an effort to puzzle out what offense I have comitted, I have sought out
some enlightenment via the web.  I have thus found the following recitation
of the AFRINIC Code of Conduct:

  https://afrinic.net/code

    We ask that all AFRINIC community participants:

    I. Treat others with politeness and respect.

    II. Avoid behaviour or remarks that give offence or discriminate based
        on gender, sexual orientation, religion, race or ethnic origin,
        language, or other perceived social, cultural, or personal differences. 

    III. Personal attacks or otherwise defamatory or discriminatory comments
        will not be tolerated.

    IV. If you disagree with somebody, please state your opinion calmly and
        politely.

    V.  Respect the agenda: Please keep your remarks on-topic for the relevant
        part of the meeting.

    VI. Respect the timekeeping: Please keep your remarks reasonably short,
        and if the session leader closes the microphones before you have
        had chance to speak, then please return to your seat.

    VII. Respect language differences, translators, and remote participants:
        Please speak slowly and clearly, and please use the microphones.

    VIII. Act in the best interests of the AFRINIC community at all times. 

Before I even attempt to guess which of the above I am accused of violating,
I cannot help but comment on the priority ordering on the above.  Shouldn't
that last item really be first?  It would seem that at least one person on
the community-discuss mailing list doesn't think so.  But shouldn't the
best interests of the AFRINIC community, on some occasions at least, take
precedence over the enforcement of what I will just call the "happy talk"
rules?  Is clear and brutal honesty about what has gone on, and what is
really continuing to go on, within AFRINIC, all to be set aside and never
openly discussed, like some ugly or demented aunt or uncle, just because
it may make some people uncomfortable?

I have invested, without any compensation whatsoever, an enormous amount of
time and energy, selflessly serving what I believe are the best interests
of the AFRINIC community.  And I continue to do so, even in the face of
long odds and enormous resistance.  If not for me and my diligent hard work,
over a period of literally years, Ernest Byaruhanga would still be employed
at AFRINIC and would still be stealing from the AFRINIC community, with
no one the wiser to his ongoing pilfering.  And, it seems, some folks, at
least, would have preferred that outcome.

Returning to the above list of offenses, I find it implausible that I have
in any way violated rules V, VI, or VII, since I hav been brief, to the
point, and have spoken slowly and clearly.  That leaves rules I, II, III,
and IV.  I shall here address each in turn.

Have I treated others with politness and respect?  Yes, to the extent that
they deserved any such.  I have stated, both here and elsewhere, the clear
reasons why at least one poster here on the community-discuss mailing list
deserves none, and least of all here.

Have I made remarks that may give offense?  Perhaps, but only to those
whose own conduct is richly and demonstratably deserving of such offense.
And I have provided and will continue to provide much of the evidence that
clarifies the relevant issues while laying the blame squarely where it
belongs.

Have I made personal attacks?  None that are in any sense more serious and
more threatening to the institution of AFRINIC than Mr. Cohen's current
legal attack.  Judged on the basis of the possible real-world implications,
nothing I have said is even comparable to what Mr. Cohen has actually done.
Not even in the same ballpark.  And yet even he is still permitted to give
voice to his slanders and lies right here on the community-discuss mailing
list, even as he continues to pursue legal action whose clear goal is to
utterly undermine AFRINIC's legal and ethical responsibilities.  If I am
guilty of the sin of crossing the street against the lights then isn't
Mr. Cohen guilty, both figuratively and literally of grand larceny by
comparison?  Yet I am the one being asked to defend my comments here.
In what parallel universe is this either sensible or fair?

I will have no more to say by way of response to the Governance Committee's
reauest to me to explain that which needed no explanation in the first
place.  I understand that, according to the rules, they are obliged to
make certian pro forma inquiries in response to any reports they receive,
even if they come from the likes of Mr. Cohen, and I cannot and will not
begrudge them for that.

If on the other hand, they are pursuing a hidden agenda of either Eddy or
the Board, i.e. to silence me by way of the gross over-enforcement of
patently ridiculous and petty procedural rules, then so be it.  In that
case, bring it on and let the community see that AFRINIC officials are
still unable to tolerate even modest and well-intentioned criticism, 
just like the previous well-documented incident in which various mailing
list posts were simply "disappeared" when they did not suit the agenda
of those in power at the time.

Either way I will not be so easily silenced, and it would be a mistake
to underestimate my tenacity.  In fact, in the end, it might be better
overall if the Governance Committee, despite my evident contributions
to the community, elected to be petty, and to harshly enforce the "happy
talk" rules against me.  There is certainly no shortage of other fora,
and other outlets for my research and opinions, and in some of those,
at least, unlike the AFRINIC community-discuss mailing list, I might
actually find less of the abject apathy, engendered no doubt by year
after year of crisis and scandal, than I find here on this mailing list.

Elsewhere people actually give a damn.  The articles that Jan Vermeulen
wrote last year about the thefts of AFRINIC IP space were picked up and
reinterpreted and/or republished as far away as the UK, Germany, and Japan.
Yet here, I can't even get an "Amen!" let alone any expression of thanks
for all of the work I've done and the hundreds of hours I have invested.

If, as seems to be the case, nobody who values their time even reads what
is written here, then it shall certainly be a kindness if the Governance
Committee does me the favor of insuring that I won't waste any more of
my time or electrons trying to persuade the peacefully slumbering audience
here of the value of being awake, or of knowing what the hell is really
going on, or who is actually responsible.


Regards,
Ron Guilmette


P.S.  Jan Vermeulen @ MyBoroadband.co.za continues to write and publish
about the ongoing mess that is AFRINIC, having penned another article on
the topic just this past weekend.  SPOILER ALERT:  The total amount of
stolen IPv4 space turned out to have been even larger that what Eddy or
the Board previously disclosed to the community via the mailing lists.

I am altogether confident that Mr. Vermeulen has more than enough material
for several more shocking installments in this ongoing saga.  On the off
chance that anyone here on the community-discuss mailing list really wants
to know all of the relevant facts, I do recommend that they keep an eye
out for further public disclosures on MyBoroadband.co.za, especially
given that your chances of getting the whole story here will approach
zero if, as now seems likely, I am unceremoniously ejected for the sin
of telling the truth plainly and without varnish.

For my own part, I have recently uncovered new and compelling historical
evidence, proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Cohen, Mr. Uerlings,
and/or their respective minions sub-leased a good deal of the stolen
AFRINIC IP space to one particular snowshoe spamming company located in
Southern California... a company that shall, for the moment remain nameless.
This, along with another such company located in Florida, were the clear
and unambiguous end recipients of much of the stolen AFRINIC address space.

All will be revealed in time, but apparently not here.

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