An update on the AfriNIC situation

Fri Aug 27 22:13:20 UTC 2021

> On Aug 27, 2021, at 11:49 PM, Baldur Norddahl <baldur.norddahl at gmail.com> wrote:
> Let's pretend that I am talking about a completely different case.
> 
> A guy is profiting from leasing out addresses. This is clearly unfair as he lied to get them back then. However this means the addresses are actually in use _now_.

…by parties other than this hypothetical guy.  Some of whom may have legitimate (conformant with current RIR allocation policy) uses, and others might not.  And their conformance of use could be tested if the addresses were reclaimed to the RIR, and the actual users were to apply for them.  At which point this hypothetical guy, who’s adding no value, but merely extracting an “ill gotten gain” from his prior fraud, will be disintermediated, and the legitimate users will be better-served, because they’ll have a direct relationship with their RIR, under their own name, at a lower cost.

> How is this so different from what many many other parties have done?

Well, I hope not _many_ other parties.  I guess we’re not talking about “a completely different case” after all, then?  Bear in mind that this guy is in _no way_ part of the Internet ecosystem.  He is _solely_ extracting rent by renting something he stole from us, back to us.  If you’re saying, “Well, is that really so bad? This guy steals my car, but at least he’s willing to rent it back to me… doesn’t that happen all the time?”  No, not so much.

> I think we all know some huge ISPs that got much larger blocks than strictly needed, and which now are profiting directly or indirectly.

…from their business as ISPs.  They’re part of the Internet ecosystem, and even if they exaggerated their need to get addresses _early_, their use has been _conformant_ since whatever time the addresses were put into use.

> Yes I understand that the case is also about using blocks in a different region, but that too is something many others have done.

And whether that’s conformant or not depends upon the RIR policy, which is set differently in different regions.  Take addresses from AfriNIC, and you need to be prepared to comply with AfriNIC policy.

                                -Bill

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