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

Sun May 18 14:29:39 UTC 2014

Hello Seun and All

1. What are some of the specific challenges facing AfriNIC that this policy
seeks to address other than the general problem of outdated POC NOT
responding to correspondences?

Is it challenges to communication of annual membership fees renewal
invoices?

Is it challenges of no response to ABUSE request information?

I believe the current specifics should be stated to see how best the policy
can be discussed / debated to tackle the issues.

2. I will like to see "may" in all the clauses changed to "shall" or "will"
to leave no room for ambiguity or misinterpretation. In other words to be
explicit as to action to be taken.

3. I believe policies when ratified are guidelines we all agree to. Let us
not leave anything to AfriNIC or staff of AfriNIC be it "at their
discretion" or "internal process" where these may become subjective to
flaws and personal interpretation or double standards. What are the current
methods of communication used to reach members? E-mail? Phone call? SMS?
Snail mail? Perhaps a policy in this direction to be referenced by all
other communication processes.

Again I site an example of a "90 day application expiry" as a so called
"internal process" which is contrary to what is defined in RSA and staff of
AfriNIC fail to communicate to applicant. This the applicant had to
threaten with legal address before changes to decision was made recently.

Let's endeavour to make standard Policies (thorough) that will leave little
decisions disguised as "AfriNIC staff discretion" or "internal process"
that can make interpretation of the policies biased.

Cheers

Kofi
On May 18, 2014 3:57 PM, "Seun Ojedeji" <seun.ojedeji at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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
>
> _______________________________________________
> rpd mailing list
> rpd at afrinic.net
> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo.cgi/rpd
>
>
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