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[rpd] New proposal - "AfriNIC Whois Database Update Process" (AFPUB-2014-GEN-001-DRAFT-01)

Andrew Alston Andrew.Alston at liquidtelecom.com
Sun May 18 12:15:29 UTC 2014


I for one have no real objection to this policy, however I’d like to see it expanded more to provide more detail on the annual cleanup process.  How is it proposed that this is done or is this entirely at the AfriNIC’s staff discretion?

I’d also like to see the policy expanded to put timelines on the cleanups that AfriNIC will conduct so that we aren’t in a constant state of cleanup.  The reality is that at the moment, getting AfriNIC to update records can take a LONG LONG time.  I point to the fact that I am still waiting for AfriNIC to complete work related to resource transfers (which really is nothing more than database updates), and it has been exactly 2 months and 1 day since that request was filed.

If it takes this long to complete basic resource transfers for 5 organisations, how long is it going to take to complete an “annual cleanup” of over 750 members?

Hence, I feel that where work is required on AfriNIC’s side, I’d like to see them held to specific timelines by policy.  If indeed point 3.1.1 is covered by the timelines in 3.2, then the over points are moot.

I’d also like to see a change in 3.2.4 from “may publish” to “will publish”.  I think if we’re going to down the road of publishing things like this, it should not be haphazard, and making it optional will result in exactly that.


Thanks

Andrew

From: Seun Ojedeji <seun.ojedeji at gmail.com<mailto:seun.ojedeji at gmail.com>>
Date: Sunday, May 18, 2014 at 1:54 PM
To: rpd <rpd at afrinic.net<mailto:rpd at afrinic.net>>
Subject: [rpd] New proposal - "AfriNIC Whois Database Update Process" (AFPUB-2014-GEN-001-DRAFT-01)


Dear members,

We have received a new policy - "AfriNIC Whois Database Update Process" (AFPUB-2014-GEN-001-DRAFT-01)

While this may not be on the agenda of the next public policy meeting, we encourage the community to discuss this on the list and at the upcoming face to face meeting. Public url to the "draft" policy will soon be made available. However the content is pasted below for comments and discussion from the PDWG/community.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Draft Policy name: AfriNIC Whois Database Update Process
Unique identifier: AFPUB-2014-GEN-001-DRAFT-01
Status: New
Submission Date 15 MAY 2014
Author:Jean Robert Hountomey

1.Summary of the Problem Being Addressed by this Policy Proposal

The African network infrastructure is growing with changes and extensions. This growth has brought changes in telecommunication and Internet infrastructure. With the emergence of new operators, mergers and acquisitions, the dynamism brought by the penetration of Internet technology has required organizational changes with job rotation. The need for accurate whois data has been in the news for years all over the world.

Inaccurate data is still present in the AfriNIC whois database because changes have occurred in organizations (point of contact, contact information etc.) and object owners have not updated their records. The result is a “No response” from “whois” contacts listed in the AfriNIC Database.

The goal of the proposal is setting a process towards ensuring that AfriNIC whois database is updated. A previous policy (AFPUB-2012-GEN-001-DRAFT-02 : AfriNIC Whois Database Clean-up ) was withdrawn by the Author after AfriNIC advised that there was already an internal process to handle the cleanup of whois data and do general contact update. However it has been noticed that objects in AfriNIC database are not accurate.

2. Summary of How this Proposal Addresses the Problem

This proposal asks AfriNIC to maintain accuracy through a periodical database clean up. Furthermore, at least
once a year or at the renewal of resources, AFRINIC staff should conduct a whois database information validation.

3. The Proposal

AfriNIC members are committed through the RSA to maintain their data and keep it accurate.  AfriNIC will then
maintain accuracy of whois information through periodical database clean up or update. AfriNIC will periodically ask object
owners in the Whois Database to actively check and update the accuracy of data in AfriNIC whois database.

3.1 Cleanup

3.1.1 - General Database Cleanup: At the ratification of this policy, AfriNIC staff will conduct a first cleanup by asking all POC present except those who received their objects in less than a year to confirm their POC information. We leave to AfriNIC staff the discretion to use any communication tool they find useful for this action.

3.1.2 - Annual Clean up: After the first cleanup, AfriNIC will conduct a cleanup once a year. We leave to AfriNIC's staff to define the period.

3.1.3 - At the request of additional resources or services, AfriNIC staff will ask the organization to update its records.

3.2. If a change is requested by another policy.

In case another AfriNIC policy made mandatory a change or introduce another object, the object owner is required to make this update.

3.2 Steps

3.2.1 - AfriNIC staff will ask members to confirm accuracy of their records in the Whois database in a month’s
timeframe when contacted by email.

 3.2.2 - After one month, AfriNIC Staff will use any communication tools at their discretion to contact
those who have not answered or those whose email has bounced back.

 3.2.3 - After another month of unresponsive response, the record will be marked invalid.

 3.2.4 - AfriNIC may publish publicly a report about number resources with invalid POC.

 3.2.5 - One year after the first contact initiation, if the data is still not accurate and the organization has failed to respond to the call to resolve the data inconsistency, AfriNIC may claim the number resources back.

4. Situation within other RIRs

- ARIN conducts an annual POC (point of contact) validation process:
 https://www.arin.net/resources/services/poc_validation.html
- At APNIC, there was a similar policy proposed that did not reach consensus and was withdrawn by the author.
 http://www.apnic.net/__data/assets/file/0006/22857/prop-084-v002.txt
- RIPE NCC
http://www.ripe.net/data-tools/support/clean-up-of-unreferenced-data
- LACNIC obligates the resources holders contractually throught their RSA and reviews whois data when resources are requested and updates accordingly


History

 *   02 Oct. 2012 - AFPUB-2012-GEN-001-DRAFT-02 was withdrawn by the Author.

Previous Versions

None

Kind Regards,

Seun Ojedeji, Emile Milandou
PDWG Co-Chairs

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