[rpd] [Community-Discuss] Call for AFRINIC’s registry service migration to other RIRs

[Fernando Frediani]

There is one thing that is delaying a Inter-RIR Transfer Policy to pass 
and that is the desperate and blind wish of it at all costs and at any 
circumstances.

In the past years I have been in favor of RIRs to have it and so have 
been in favour at some point here in AfriNic (after Phase 2 started of 
course) during the discussion of one of the proposals. Suddenly a group 
of people that had not been seen before appear and start to support one 
of the proposals which was badly managed by previous Co-Chairs until the 
point it got a "editorial change" to add a significant new point that 
had never been discussed at the very last minute, something that is only 
interesting to very few actors in this business.

In the face of the recent findings concerning potential mismanagement of 
IPv4 resources by some members and the possibility that a lot of these 
resources to be definitely transferred to another RIR with almost no 
rules for need of justification and where they can be used for IP 
leasing or any other wrong stuff that doesn't bring any advantaged to 
African Internet ecosystem I am thinking if we should still be concerned 
about having a Inter-RIR Transfer Policy at this moment with all that in 
mind.

People claim that by not having a Inter-RIR Transfer Policy the region 
is harmed, but it doesn't seem that at this point. It seems to me the 
opposite: that by having a Inter-RIR Transfer Policy the region will 
more damaged than benefited with the risk of all these controversy 
resources being sent out of the region forever. For those who still 
believe it is essential to have such policy as soon as possible I can 
say to just conform with Intra-RIR possibilities and for new members 
there is still resources available in AfriNic under Phase 2 for them to 
start with.

For those who still believe Board can adopt policy by themselves 
unilaterally for "urgent and noble reasons" they can't. Community never 
gave this mandate for them.
And even for those who believe 11.4 of the Bylaws is valid do you really 
believe that rushing in that knowing it would have to be approved in the 
next PPM this would really pass ? Hardly ! Therefore that would only be 
an ad-hoc thing to serve those who are willing to transfer resources out 
of AfriNic, if they actually could because of time to implement it.

So just forget any Inter-RIR transfer for now.
As mentioned by Ronald F. Guilmette in another discussion: 
"Consideration of the Resource Transfer Policy can be and should be 
postponed until some later date when people are once again free to make 
rational,independent, and fully informed decisions."

Best regards
Fernando

On 03/08/2021 21:08, Owen DeLong via RPD wrote:

>

>

>> On Aug 1, 2021, at 14:57 , JORDI PALET MARTINEZ via RPD 

>> <rpd at afrinic.net <mailto:rpd at afrinic.net>> wrote:

>>

>> Hi Noah,

>> Your interpretation on this is wrong.

>> Read my detailed email a few days ago.

>> 11.4 Allows the Board to define any policy regarding Internet 

>> Resources that they believe is urgently needed.

>> This can be implemented ASAP the Board decides. The Board MUST also 

>> send the policy (11.5), as a policy proposal (because is the only way 

>> the PDWG works to reach consensus), to the PDWG for endorsement in 

>> the next meeting. If the PPM doesn’t endorse it, then the Policy will 

>> decay, but whatever happened meanwhile, will be “legal” in terms of 

>> the PDP.

>> Now the question here is:

>>

>>  1. From past experience in the other RIRs, implementing such

>>     Inter-RIR policy, takes a minimum of 6 months, probably even more

>>     (it took 12 months in other RIRs), because there is a need to

>>     coordinate all the RIR systems. AFRINIC can’t “force” other RIRs

>>     to change their own agendas and workflows to address all the

>>     changes “faster”. AFRINIC could be lucky and because all the

>>     other 4 RIRs already passed by this several times, may be the

>>     process is so much “adjusted” and fine tunned that it may be faster.

>>

>

> This won’t actually be the case. AFRINC would be the remaining 

> bottleneck here. Once the first two RIRs (ARIN and APNIC IIRC) had a 

> compatible inter-RIR policy, it took almost no time on the ARIN side 

> for RIPE to be added to the mix. There was some time taken for RIPE to 

> become ready for both APNIC and ARIN. Similarly, once LACNIC finally 

> adopted such policy, the delays were all (to the best of my knowledge) 

> on the LACNIC side of the equation. APNIC, RIPE, and ARIN were 

> essentially already prepared to process such transfers with LACNIC by 

> virtue of having the systems fully ironed out amongst themselves. 

> IIRC, LACNIC was also able to come on line relatively quickly because 

> the other three were able to help them through the process with 

> lessons learned and experiences gained from their own processes.

>

>> 1.

>>

>>

>>  2. I already suggested many times the Board to do that, when I saw

>>     that the consensus was not achievable. They ignored that. So I

>>     don’t think they want to pass this now, more when there are

>>     several proposals in discussion and could be discussed in a PPM

>>     in a couple of months from now, the AC reconstituted, and the

>>     appeals resolved, etc.

>>

>

> I suspect you may well be correct here about what the board wants, but 

> in either case, the fiduciary environment in which they operate at the 

> moment may well be different from when you suggested same. Their 

> desire or lack thereof may be subject to different considerations today.

>

>> 2.

>>

>>

>>  3. The Board can meanwhile, take measures so the implementation of a

>>     possible “system” for an Inter-RIR proposal is advanced, in hope

>>     that one way or the other a proposal reach consensus.

>>

>

> Actually, I’m not sure this is an action that the board can take… Such 

> action would be a purely operational matter taken on by staff. I 

> suppose the board could direct the CEO to direct staff, but this gets 

> into a level of operational micromanagement that is not normally 

> considered appropriate for a board. OTOH, I absolutely agree that Eddy 

> should recognize that such a policy is eventually going to become 

> inevitable in one form or another and that responsible preparation in 

> order to be able to expedite implementation once that becomes reality 

> is not a bad idea.

>

>> 3.

>>

>>

>>  4. All that said, I expect that if the Board decides to draft that

>>     proposal/policy, they make sure that there is a clear statement

>>     that ensures that before any transfer, there is a confirmation of

>>     the resources being transferred are following the existing

>>     conditions in the RSA, CPM, etc., otherwise.

>>

>

> Because such a requirement wouldn’t enable abuse of process in any 

> way, right?

>

> Sure. It’s not like AFRINIC has abused review processes before, right?

>

> Owen

>

>

>

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