[rpd] Policy Proposal: in-region vs out-of-region use of resources, and restrictions thereon

[Sami Ait Ali Oulahcen]

On 7/28/21 1:41 PM, Jaco Kroon wrote:

> Hi All,


Hi Jaco,


> 

> I believe that it's plain that AFRINIC was established for the benefit 

> of the African continent, this is even enshrined in the by-laws, as 

> detailed in section 3.4.  I believe sub-point (i) summarises it quite well:

> 

> /(i)to provide the service of allocating and registering Internet 

> resources for the purposes of enabling communications via open system 

> network protocols and to assist in the development and growth of the 

> Internet in the //*African*//region; [emphasis added]/

> 

> 

> I won't quote the rest of it here, but the rest of the section is 

> equally relevant (https://afrinic.net/bylaws#b20-3) and makes it plain 

> that everything AFRINIC does should be for the benefit of the African 

> continent (region).  Even the *membership* is based on this regional 

> affinity:

> 

> /MEMBERSHIP - 6.1//

> //Membership shall be open to://

> //(i) any Person [including non-natural persons eg companies] who is 

> *geographically based within*, and *providing services in the African 

> region*, and who is engaged in the use of, or business of providing, 

> open system protocol network services;/

> 

> That is - the member is based in the AFRINIC region.  This applies to 

> all three classes of members (Registered, Resource and Associate).

> 

> It is also implied here that the resources are for use within the 

> African continent.

> 

> Over the last while it's become apparent that many people are extremely 

> unhappy about the fact that Afrinic resources are being used 

> off-continent.  Based on the above I think it's a fair 

> assumption/expectation (as well as appropriate) that at least the 

> majority of issued resources should be used in-region (In particular 

> IPv4 resources).

> 

> I believe it to be appropriate at this time to state this as policy in 

> the CPM, and thereby to make the general sentiment I've seen plain as 

> day.  This should then apply to all issued resources retrospectively as 

> well.  Not only newly issued resources (which is currently already dealt 

> with from the soft landing policy).

> 


Nice initiative !


> I request from the community opinions on the following:

> 

> 1.  If you had to assign a percentage to out-of-region use, what 

> percentage of resources allocated from AFRINIC would be considered "fair 

> usage" for out of region use (I'm thinking "At least 50% of issued 

> resources should be used in-region", or then "less than 50% of resources 

> may be used out-of-region"); and

> 


I'd say 80%/20% for anything above a /16, 20% out-of-region is plenty to 
support connectivity back to Africa.


> 2.  Assuming that a policy gets passed to enforce some form of in-region 

> use - what would be an acceptable amount of time to provide members to 

> comply (I'm thinking either 6 or 12 months, definitely no longer than 18 

> unless someone can justify that sensibly) with respect to existing 

> resources?


I think it could take more, but that's just me.


> 

> You're welcome to differentiate between different types of resources 

> (for example, I don't think it makes sense to have to get a separate AS 

> number just because a company is multi-continent, so here as long as the 

> AS is also used in-region).  Space on v6 is of such a nature that I'm 

> inclined to say "who cares".


Agreed on both.


> 

> Currently the only restriction in the CPM regarding resource usage 

> relates to IPv4 during soft-landing 

> (https://afrinic.net/policy/manual#Soft-Landing relating specifically to 

> the last /8.  The fact that this can just be used in-region and then 

> move other existing resources out-of-region is of concern to me and this 

> is part of the "problem" I'd like to address in a policy update.

> 


Good luck.

Cheers !
Sami


> Kind Regards,

> Jaco Kroon

> 

> 

> _______________________________________________

> RPD mailing list

> RPD at afrinic.net

> https://lists.afrinic.net/mailman/listinfo/rpd

>