[rpd] AfriNIC RSA & policy improvement

[Andrew Alston]

Hi All,

I am going to add some comments to this and first need to state that I am
responding ENTIRELY in my personal capacity here, and not wearing a board
hat in any way shape or form. I apologise if this is a rather long email
and I fully understand a response of TLDR.

I have been thinking about the allegations made here by Vladimir, and I
believe I may have an understanding of what he is referring to, and as
such, Vladimir, please correct me or inform me if what I say below is
incorrect, because it is entirely possible that you may be referring to
something beyond what I have to say below.

During the RPD meeting, both myself, and others, all in their personal
capacity, made references to ways to boost AfriNIC¹s financial position,
and a hypothetical scenario was proposed that a certain amount of space
could be ³sold off² to international entities in order to boost the
financial afrinic position.  This is NOT a position that was advocated, it
was put forward as a hypothetical to emphasise a simple point, that
AfriNIC resources have significant value (currently by my calculations
around half a billion dollars on the secondary market), and the
illustration of that value comes in the fact that a single /8 on the
secondary market would have a value to AfriNIC of around $185 million at
current secondary market prices.

I also point out that if memory serves me correctly, this was not the only
hypothetical put forward, it was one of several.  I also point out that
being frank, open and honest about the value of IP addresses on the
secondary market does not necessarily mean that anyone promotes
involvement in the market, it merely means there is an acknowledgement
such a market exists and that such a market could have impact on us as a
community going forward.  We cannot deny economic fact, and cognisance of
the secondary market is necessary to mitigate the effects such a market
could have on our community going forward.  I say again though that such
discussions should not be construed as advocacy for the market, merely
acknowledgement so that you can mitigate.

Now, IF this is the discussion that Vladimir is drawing his conclusions
about IP brokering from, let me state certain things extremely clearly.

A.) No one that I could see advocated that this was the correct solution
to our low depletion rates - it was a hypothetical that could potentially
generate money for AfriNIC without having significant impact on the
continent considering that at our current depletion rates, we are looking
at 18 years before depletion (providing the depletion rates don¹t
accelerate)
B.) In the above hypothetical, no board member would have gained anything,
board members are non-renumerated and no matter how much cash AfriNIC
generates, board members will never see any of it.
C.) Again, speaking entirely in my personal capacity, I refer back to a
statement of the board made last year to the community.  By that
statement, the board does not, and will not get involved in IP allocations
and relies on the policies the community sets via the PDP.  In that
statement the board openly encouraged the community to pass policies that
prevented the exploitation of African resources by foreign entities.

One of the things I truly regret that I see in the community at the moment
is that individuals have to be so damn careful what they say, less it be
twisted and construed as something it is not.  The simple facts are,
AfriNIC has a LOT of space remaining, we NEED to find a way to accelerate
the depletion of that space, and do it in a way that benefits the
continent and the IT industry on the continent.  How to do this at the
moment eludes me, but I am confident that if the community DOES feel that
need, they will come up with sane ways to do it without the continent
losing out, and I am equally confident that it will be done via the policy
development process to which this community has remained committed
faithfully for 10 years.


Thanks 

Andrew Alston







On 7/2/15, 7:54 AM, "Vladimir Kangin" <v at kangin.org> wrote:

>Dear Noah,
>Dear Seun,
>Dear Boubakar,
>
>Yes, I'm emotional as what is going in AFRINIC definitely have nothing
>to do with policy and enforcement of policy equally to all members.
>
>What kind of evidence are you looking for? That was a verbal discussion
>but I guess I'll be able to find a witness if it would change anything.
>
>I would like to address our /22 application that is not moving forward
>and hostmasters keep us busy to supply them with shipment documents,
>customs clearance documents and reply 1 time a week in order to keep
>process slow moving.
>
>Our legal department now closely looking it to case as it cause
>substantial financial damage to IPTP Networks and we as a public
>organization have to reply to our shareholders in a formal way.
>
>On Wed, 2015-07-01 at 19:39 +0300, Noah wrote:
>> 
>> On 22 Jun 2015 06:03, "Vladimir Kangin" <v at kangin.org> wrote:
>> >
>> 
>> Vladimir,
>> 
>> >
>> > Some board members want to become an IP brokers and trade IP.. Isn't
>> > smart? You want to go though then pay money... sounds very good
>> business for them!
>> >
>> 
>> Your emotions aside...We hope the statement above is not some joke.
>> 
>> You have clearly been subjective in your lengthy email that depicts
>> your frustration with the resource allocation process this far but
>> making such insinuations/accusations is serious.
>> 
>> Do you have any proof because these are our board members we are
>> talking about?
>> 
>> >
>> > --
>> > Best regards,
>> > Vladimir Kangin
>> 
>> Noah
>> 
>> 
>
>-- 
>Best regards,
>Vladimir Kangin
>
>
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