[Community-Discuss] Blog: A Comprehensive audit of the AFRINIC WHOIS Database

[Ronald F. Guilmette]

In message <0b787eda-9288-d290-4ae5-282a38295cf8 at gmail.com>, 
Sunday Folayan <sfolayan at gmail.com> wrote:


>It is important to quickly address why legacy holders should continue to 

>get **ANY** service from AFRINIC without any form of contract, 

>agreement, relationship or association.


I suggest that AFRINIC legal counsel should meet and confer with ARIN
legal counsel regarding this question/issue before any action, drastic
or otherwise, is undertaken unilaterally by AFRINIC, e.g. to disenfranchise
the legitimate and legal legacy holders.

It is beyond doubt that ARIN has more experience with respect to the
whole matter of legacy blocks and their legal status, and the rights
of their respective registrants, than does AFRINIC.  ARIN has been
dealing with this thorny legal problem for many years before AFRINIC
ever had to grapple with the attendant set of issues.

In the case of ARIN, it was decided long ago that the most legally tenable
course of action was to NOT disturb the legacy blocks or their registrants
in any way.  I am certain that representatives of ARIN can explain in more
detail and in more specifics why this was the ultimate outcome of their
deliberations.  (Hint:  At least some legacy holders threatened to sue 
ARIN if ARIN messed with their stuff or forced them to sign contracts
that they didn't much feel like signing.)

My own feeling is is that legacy blocks and their registrants should be
charged an annual fee of one Mauritian Shilling per block as payment for
maintaining their associated WHOIS record, their associated reverse DNS
delegation, and their associated RPKI key.  This could be done either
with or without a formal written contract.

In the absence of such annual payment being received, by AFRINIC for
any given legacy block, AFRINC could and should effectively reclaim the
block and add it to the free pool, after some appropriate quarantine
period of course.

Such a policy would serve to clear out all of the flotsam and jetsum
of the truly abandoned legacy blocks, returning those to productive use.


Regards,
rfg