[rpd] Some thoughts, and some actions required

[sm+afrinic at elandsys.com]

Hi Noah, Scott,
At 11:32 07-02-2016, Noah wrote:
>It should be illegal to the best of my knowledge considering the 
>fact that no member owns them.... and as far as i know, membership 
>only gives an entity access to the requested range for use...
>
>Violation of membership terms renders the same range unavailable for 
>use to the specific member..

I used the word "unknown" as the legal status is untested.

At 12:17 07-02-2016, Scott Leibrand wrote:
>Are there laws on the books in some (any?) African countries 
>requiring anyone to be the holder of record in AfriNIC Whois before 
>they may route space? I know something similar

I don't know as there is very little information available about the region.

>is required in some East Asian countries, but not in North America 
>or Europe. Without a law requiring you to do business according to 
>AfriNIC's registry, I don't believe it would be illegal to use 
>addresses registered to a consenting third party. However, doing so 
>makes it much more difficult for everyone involved, as they now have 
>to check with the party listed in Whois (or trust a LOA from that 
>party provided by their customer) instead of just checking Whois. It 
>is therefore much better for everyone involved if AfriNIC allows 
>parties to update the Whois registration to accurately reflect their 
>business arrangements. If they can be properly registered, most such 
>transactions will be registered as permanent "transfers", but Whois 
>can also be updated to reflect temporary "lease" type arrangements 
>using a SWIP/reassignment.

There is an assumption that it is better for everyone involved to 
play by the "rules".  Did anyone look into the details to see whether 
that is what is happening?

Regards,
S. Moonesamy