[AfriNIC-rpd] Policy Proposal: End user classification for Universities

[Andrew Alston]

I have to wonder here if this is actually the right debate now that I sit
and think through it very carefully.

Perhaps this debate stems from a more deep seated problem, and that is,
that we need a very clear definition of what an LIR actually is.  If this
is done on a case by case basis to determine if an institution, be it a
university or otherwise, is an LIR, the definition of such needs to be
extremely clear.

As stated, we received a very clear email earlier before that policy was
submitted stating that we had been classified as an LIR, including a ticket
number, sent from hostmaster, and we reacted based on what we assumed was
therefore official communication of position.  If this was NOT the
position, I am EXTREMELY glad of that fact and I look forward to hearing
what the actual position is so that we can continue this debate.

In the mean time, as stated at the start of this email, perhaps its time
for us to start documenting the definition of an LIR.  And I would propose
the following wording:

LIR: An entity receiving resources from a regional internet registry and
assigning such resources to other entities with a separate legal existence.

This would clarify the issue immensely, since it means that departments and
faculties within the same organization are considered as part of the main
organization since they have no separate legal existence.

If the community is prepared to adopt this definition, then perhaps any
such policy as the one proposed would become unnecessary.

Any thoughts on this?

Andrew

On Thu, Jun 28, 2012 at 9:18 PM, Guy Antony Halse <G.halse at ru.ac.za> wrote:

> Hi
>
> On Thu 2012-06-28 (22:49), Arthur Carindal wrote:
> > I advocate that you wait patiently until we finish working on your
> request
> > prior to debate on AFRINIC's position.  As per the process AFRNIC
> supports
> > all of its decisions with policy when responding officially to a member's
> > request.
>
> I think that this is a sensible suggestion and a reasonable request.
>
> However, this matter is of interest to a number of South African public
> higher educational institutions (and quite likely those in other African
> countries too).  Universities, by their very nature, tend to be comparably
> large organisations and run very large networks.  They're also considerably
> different to traditional businesses, be they ISPs or otherwise, and their
> governance structures vary widely from country to country.  Thus anything
> that starts drawing a distinction between LIR and end-entity based on the
> size of the requested address space or perceived structure of the academic
> environment will be of interest and concern to most universities.
>
> For this reason, can I ask that AfriNIC (or, failing that, the institution
> concerned) make the final decision on this request, together with the
> reasoning behind it, available.  (The request is already mostly public.)
> Doing that would go a long way to establishing whether or not this debate
> is
> even necessary.
>
> - Guy
> --
> Systems Manager, IT Division, Rhodes University, Grahamstown, South Africa
> Email: G.Halse at ru.ac.za   Web: http://mombe.org/  IRC: rm-rf at irc.atrum.org
> *** ANSI Standard Disclaimer ***                                   J.A.P.H
>
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