[AfriNIC-rpd] Proposal: Out of region sales of IPv4 space

Thu Feb 10 11:36:10 UTC 2011

Hi Douglas,

While I understand your objections and I was expecting opposition like this,
I need to point out certain things.

IP Space is already commercialized, irrespective of the words we use to
couch it.  Currently if you refer to the AfriNIC fee schedule, there is a
membership fee based on the amount of IP space allocated to you as a member,
you are in effect, paying for IP space.  If it was purely a matter of you
paying a fixed membership fee per year a.) AfriNIC would not be sustainable
b.) There would be no tie back to the amount of space you had, and it
wouldn¹t be a case of you PAYING for IP space.  The moment there is a
relation in the fee structure to the amount of space you are allocated, the
space is commercialized.

Now, if we consider this, I am simply proposing that we allow membership of
AfriNIC by foreign entities and extend the fee structure, in a way that
benefits Africans rather than allows the rest of the world to find ways to
take the space with zero benefit to the African people.

Yes, we ³prohibit² sale of space to foreign entities, but I believe we are
deluding ourselves if we believe that that policy will actually hold any
water when people are desperate for space.  For all the debate that has gone
on, if a foreign entity registers a shelf company that is a 100% African
entity (and you can register shelf companies for next to nothing), and that
shelf company then applies to AfriNIC for IP space and an ASN and
membership, there is almost nothing we can do to prevent it.  The discussion
about monitoring where space is used, if it is utilized off continent or on
continent also has so many flaws.  How exactly are you going to tell the
geographic area that space is being announced in?  I have yet to see a solid
proposal about how to policy this.

The fact is, a policy that cannot be enforced in my opinion is of little
value, and are we really proposing that we create an AfriNIC police force to
stop this space?  With what money and what human resource?  All I am saying
is that we should find a way to benefit from what I believe is inevitable.

Andrew

On 2011/02/10 1:20 PM, "Douglas Onyango" <ondouglas at yahoo.com> wrote:

> - Your Policy alludes to selling of IP resources....you can only sale what you
> own. AfriNIC is a custodian of Address space - don't see how they can do this.
> - Most of the Global policies being developed around this issue point in the
> direction of asking RIR's to return space to the IANA pool. If an RIR is
> allowed to monetize it's resources, other RIR's would definitely follow suit
> and this initiative which is for the common good will fail.
> 
> - Your summary alludes to disregarding the will of the AfriNIC community, i
> can't find a nice way to say this, but it is not possible. Address space is
> managed by policies made by the community - Their will must be respected - or
> it will cease to be Open, Transparent, Bottom up...name it.
> 
> - The current Softlanding Policy prevents address space from being given to
> non- AfriNIC organizations, you policy doesn't mention or provide a way to
> work around this policy - so in adopting this policy we shall be breaking
> another.
> 
> I do not support this policy.
> 
> Regards,
> Douglas Onyango | +256(0712)981329
> Life is the educators practical joke in which you spend the first half
> learning, and the second half learning that everything you learned in the
> first was wrong.
> 
> --- On Thu, 2/10/11, Andrew Alston <aa at tenet.ac.za> wrote:
>> 
>> From: Andrew Alston <aa at tenet.ac.za>
>> Subject: [AfriNIC-rpd] Proposal: Out of region sales of IPv4 space
>> To: "AfriNIC List" <rpd at afrinic.net>
>> Date: Thursday, February 10, 2011, 1:39 PM
>> 
>> Proposal: Out of region sales of IPv4 space Hi All,
>> 
>> I would like to propose the following policy.
>> 
>> 1.0 Summary of the motivation behind this policy:
>> 
>> With IANA already developing policies for the transfer of space between RIR¹s
>> and with the depletion of IPv4 space in other regions approaching faster and
>> faster every day, there is a high likelyhood that the rest of the world will
>> turn to the unused African allocations for more IPv4 space.  With AfriNIC
>> having enough space to last what amounts to a couple of years, there is
>> sufficient space to allow for sale of a portion of this space outside of the
>> African region.  This will help prevent the situation where foreign entities
>> are trying to grab the space through illicit means, and regulate the
>> distribution of the space while providing some benefit back to the African
>> community.  This policy will also allow for further revenue streams into
>> AfriNIC, which can be used for the active promotion and development of IPv6.
>> Further more, the policy will prevent a situation where we are sitting with
>> large blocks of unused IPv4 space long after such space becomes useable, due
>> to the rest of the world having migrated to IPv6.
>> 
>> 2.0 The proposal:
>> 
>> On the date of depletion of IPv4 resources within either the
>> RIPE/APNIC/LACNIC/ARIN regions, AfriNIC will make available space out of a
>> single unallocated /8 for sale to foreign entities.
>> 
>> 2.1  Such space will be sold at a premium price, currently for the purposes
>> of this proposal at LIR rate + 100% in order to allow for growth in AfriNIC
>> revenue streams
>> 2.2 The foreign entities applying for this space will have to meet all
>> standard AfriNIC space allocation requirements
>> 2.3 No more than one /8 out of the available AfriNIC space will be made
>> available for this purpose.
>> 
>> 3.0 Summary
>> 
>> While this policy may seem like a potential way to allow the rest of the
>> world to pillage the African resources, it can be argued that the space will
>> be used by foreign entities irrespective of the will of the African
>> community.  This policy merely allows the African community to, in some small
>> way, benefit from the resources we have available.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>  
>> 
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> 

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