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

[Ernest]

Alan Barrett wrote thus on 5/20/14, 1:53 PM:
> On Tue, 20 May 2014, Jean Robert Hountomey wrote:
>> 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 was withdrawn by the Author after AfriNIC advised that there was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.
> 
> Last time we discussed this, in 2012, the community thought that
> Whois cleanup should be a staff project, not a policy issue, and the
> Afrinic staff said that they were busy trying to clean up the database.
> 
> It would be nice to know what progress has been made since then.

Work on this activity started in April 2013 covering all AFRINIC
members (LIR and End-Users) registered up to December 2012. It is
important to note members registered from January 2013 had their
whois contact information already updated.

The activity was split into 3 phases:

• Phase 1: Records verification: (100% completed by May 2013).
• Phase 2: Initial contact: (100% completed by May 2013)
• Phase 3: Updating records and following up.

We are now at phase 3 (as of April 2014) where 74% of the members
contacted (694 out of 935) have been manually updated after 12
months of follow-up). We are still in active contact with the
remaining  241 out of 935 to get formal confirmation about the
accuracy of their whois (contact) data.

In total as at end of April 2014, 79% of our current members
portfolio are yet to confirm accuracy of their contact information
in AFRINIC Database against 21% whose confirmations are still pending.

We recall that during the AFRINIC-18 meeting in Lusaka in June 2013,
a policy proposal requiring members to keep their whois contact
information up-to-date was discussed, during which we recommended to
the author and the community that there is already an initiative
internally on the same matter, and that perhaps the proposal is not
needed unless that initiative is not successful. Consequently, the
author withdrew that proposal.

Questions from the floor at AFRINIC 19 on the advancement of the
update process were answered with a situational update. Considering
the time and effort being used by our Member Services Liaison to
work with members on this project, we have come to the conclusion
that the internal initiative has not recorded the success we were
hoping for, and recommended that the PDWG Chairs ask the author of
the previously withdrawn “AFRINIC WHOIS Database Clean-up” proposal
to re-introduce it to the community such that members are compelled
through policy to keep their whois contact information accurate and
up-to-date.

regards,
ernest.