Hi all, sending this through the LACRALO English list because the article is in English (please note it's actually an automatic translation from German.) Attached is an article that describes the gaming and brinkmanship taking place in RIR IP address allocation world. It started by hitting AFRINIC with a quite bogus lawsuit and the same actor is now attacking RIPE. In continuation of my participation on Monday (May 19) LACRALO monthly call, this should underline why we need to sharpen our awareness of address issues and contact all our local ISPs and in some (mostly smaller) countries also the ccTLD manager or others involved, to help preclude their being fooled by the arguments of the attacker. We as part of ALAC are charged with representing Internet final users in all ICANN issues, not only domain-name issues. And as equally happens with domain names, it can be argued that we are represented through the ISPs and those ccTLDs or NICs that handle addresses - but the same can be said from being represented in the GNSO and ccNSO. We need to act through this channel to support the non-profit, global service, multistakeholder model of governance, in this case under threat in the IP address space. The point threat source right now is an individual, but the environment is also populated by governments and large intergovernmental agencies ambitious since 30 years ago (at least!) to control IP addresses, using the argument that these are part of "Fundamental Numbering Plans" which in traditional telecommunications are globally coordinated in the ITU realm, and delegated to national telecoms authorities. As we well know the Internet doesn't work that way so go to the techies in your organizations, to the ISPs, to the representatives who attend ARIN, LACNIC, RIPE and maybe other RIR meetings, those in NANOG, LACNOG, etc. as well as the NRENs and make sure they play for the Internet we, literally, breathe. Yours, Alejandro Pisanty - TEXT follows: Can a single man bring down the system of IP address assignment in its three decades of form? Hong Kong IP address dealer Lu Heng now not only attacks the IP address supervisor Afrinic responsible for Africa, but also the RIPE responsible for Europe and warns of competition law lawsuits. Towards he, he stresses that he does not want to overthrow the RIR system, but wants to reform itself, calls itself "one of the greatest beneficiaries of the current RIR system". This system of Regional Internet Registries (RIR) was the one that earned millions of valuable IPv4 addresses to its cloud innovation company registered in the Seychelles. And it is this system against which he is now taking a massive step against, because it prohibits him from offering the few remaining IP addresses of Afrinic in other regions of the world – which, however, did not prevent Lu from doing so. The conflict with Lu has now plunged Afrinic into an existential crisis. Afrinic and the RIR system On the 22nd place The African Network Information Center (Afrinic) started its work in February 2005 as the fifth regional Internet address provider, also known as the Regional Internet Registry (RIR). RIRs manage, distribute and register Internet number resources (IPv4) and IPv6 address space and Autonomous System (AS) numbers) within their respective regions. The four sister organisations are the Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Centre (Lacnic) for Latin America, the American Registry for Internet Numbers (Arin) for North America, the Asia-Pacific Network Information Centre (Apnic) for Asia and the Réseaux IP Européen (RIPE) for Europe. Before Afrinic, RIPE was responsible for Africa. A scene from the RIPE general meeting on Wednesday in Lisbon shows how tense Lu's relationship is now also to the European RIPE. "I'm not threatened, I'm not threatening anyone, Hong Kong address dealer Lu Heng, CEO of Larus in front of his audience – and earning the laughter of the entire hall. Read also IPv4 and IPv6: What are the differences? tips+tricks No threat? Lu had previously chosen the RIPE members present: either they should add number portability for IP address blocks to the new policy document of global IP address administrators or to prepare for antitrust and competition law complaints "which could cost tens of millions of dollars." In a legal analysis, Loyens & Loeff had stated that the current restrictions on the handling of address resources issued by the RIPE violated "anti-aggrandateish provisions and the prohibition of abuse of market dominance," says Lu. Read also RIPE meeting: IP addresses as booty Specifically, the exclusive right to award IP addresses within a region is problematic, the RIRs have virtually divided the global market. In addition, restrictions or exclusion of number portability are impaired by means of restrictions or the exclusion of number portability. On request, Lu confirms that he has not yet submitted a formal complaint to the Dutch or European competition authorities. "However, we reserve the right to do so and make it dependent on our further legal examination." Competition Law and IP Addresses It is true that the antitrust ban under Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the prohibition of the abuse of a dominant position under Article 102 TFEU could be relevant in principle. This was confirmed by the telecommunications right lawyer Andreas Neumann, lawyer at the Bonn law firm Koch & Neumann, on request. However, this does not mean that "the criticised behaviour (regional division of the markets and the lack of portability) is unlawful," explains Neumann. Read also IPv6 in front of an abstract network APNIC chief scientist: IPv6 introduction probably obsolete iX Magazine If restrictions contribute to technical or economic progress, if companies only impose restrictions on the parties, do not affect the "essential part" of the corresponding "goods" and in the end also consumers also participate in the resulting profit, there is currently no violation. Neumann estimates that the RIPE estimates that there are certain explanations for the regional distribution and any restrictions on portability. "It could potentially simplify the management of IP addresses, make them more error-prone and speed up." If Internet service providers on the wholesale market only receive addresses at the RIPE, a lack of portability is probably to be criticized. Portability not excluded However, IP addresses in the RIPE region are portable, RIPE CEO Hans Petter Holen held Lu at the general meeting at the RIPE meeting in Lisbon. Transfers within the region are part of the registry's day-to-day business. Anyone who gets directly at the RIPE provider-independent address space can drag it over to an ISP of his choice – as can be moved to mobile numbers. Only those who receive their addresses from an ISP – one speaks of provider Aggregatable Address Space – cannot take them with you. No Inter-RIR transfers at Afrinic "If you want, you can move between the RIRs with its IP addresses," Holen explained in Lisbon. There are certain conditions, "but we are already quite close to it," he said. By the way, portability in the style of classic phone number porting exists via domains that users register for their own purposes. Read also Interview: The RIPE NCC for withdrawing IP addresses c't magazine Of the five RIRs, four allow the moves known as inter-RIR transfers. Only Afrinic does not provide for this in the same way for the time being. After all, the continent has the smallest inventory of IPv4 addresses. However, his claim is precisely about moving away from one RIR to another, or any, even outside the existing RIR, or any, outside the existing RIR. No real self-regulation It was simply explained by the Hong Kong resident, who also holds a whole range of IPv4 address blocks in the RIPE region (around a total of a /16, that is 65,000 IP addresses). In the future, they should be able to do with their addresses what they think is right. The rights of the members must be recognised. Lu promotes within the RIPE region and candidates have already entered the race for the board elections of APNIC and Afrinic, which are assigned to the Number Resource Society (NRS) by Afrinic – an organization that is close to Lu Heng. Such ownership claims on IP addresses would be a break with the previous understanding of the award of address. Upon request, Holen explains to heise online: "IP addresses are not property. This is clearly stated in the RIPE standard contract." In the relevant section, it shall be clear that the registration may not acquire ownership rights to them and any resource that the RIPE collects can be registered again by another party. The community gave itself the rules for this. Read also IPv6 instead of IPv4: Don't want or can't be able to? iX Magazine So does Lu want to undermine this system altogether? In several answers to heise, he denies this and writes that the current system of the RIRs is "no genuine self-regulation model". Rather, the five RIRs functioned as "monopolies controlled by a limited number of people." Even with an autocracy, he most recently compared the previous administration of Afrinic. "Your question suggests," said Lus' answer to a written request from heise, "I was looking forward to the collapse of the RIR system." On the contrary, he wants to "revive". "We are in favour of reform, not replacement and want rights such as portability, fair access and correct procedures to be ensured, to strengthen and avoid regulatory assaults." Takeover of Afrinic The African Union's Smart Africa initiative prefers to refrain from renewing Lu's performance, as documents from a meeting in April on the Afrinic crisis show. The addressee dealer has already proceeded excessively against Afrinic in order to defend its more than six million IPv4 addresses (almost as spent on all companies in Kenya). From internal Afrinic documents: Lu Heng's companies Cloud Innovation is one of the largest owners of address space in Africa. In several allocations, the company has brought around 6.3 million of the valuable IPv4 addresses at Afrinic. Only four countries on the continent have more address space than a single company. The percentages refer to the share of the individual IP address registries in the approximately 4.3 billion IPv4 addresses, which exist overall. (Picture: Afrinic) The registry for Africa was temporarily blocked by the court proceedings. Currently, the IP address manager is virtually headless for the entire African continent without a board of directors and CEO. In the case of the forced manager now appointed by the court for the 23. June scheduled election matters: Does the faction gain, which stand up for ownership of IP addresses or candidates who stick to the previous model of self-government? Almost consumed: Overview of the remaining IPv4 capacities among the Regional Internet Registries, measured in /8-IPv4 address blocks. Approximately 17 million addresses are included in each block. (Picture: Afrinic) If the "property" faction were to win, the South African eZines The Cape Independent threatens to redirect the region's remaining IPv4 addresses to the East Asian market to the East Asian market to good prices for the address trader, as well as the "permanent privatisation of one of the building blocks that is fundamental to Africa's Internet". The Cape Independent had since disappeared from the net because Lu had proceeded legally against the small paper, as were against many others. The Cape Independent also warns that for the Hong Kong entrepreneur, his business interest is primarily at the forefront – despite all his assurances. "Heng has destroyed Afrinic with a strategy of scorched earth, by lawfare. Now he has launched a campaign to abolish the organization and its core tasks," writes author and editor Robert Duigan in the text that has now been re-accessible. Smart Africa also sends candidates According to information from heise online, Smart Africa has prepared itself for the real battle around the election. The alliance, which was established by the African Union and focused on Africa's IT development, brings a lot of weight into the balance. She has drawn up a list of candidates who want to support the election to the eight-member board. As a pan-African organization, Smart Africa can boast candidates from all regions. This is important because six of the seats are to be assigned by region. Two government representatives (Chad and Ivory Coast), a business representative (Ecobank, Senegal) and a scientist from Nigeria, who was already a member of an Afrinic nomination committee for elections, are applying for the seat of West Africa. Three women go into the race for the seat of East Africa, from Kenya and Rwanda. There are two applicants for the seats of Central Africa (DRC and Congo) and Southern Africa (South Africa). Only for North Africa and the Indian Ocean, a single candidate is supported. Among other things, a representative of the Smart Africa alliance itself goes into the race for the non-regionally tied seats. All candidates will be between the 27th May and 6. June 2025 interviewed by the nomination committee, curiously composed of British lawyers. Apparently, the forced trustee appointed by the court in Mauritius wanted to play it safe this time. His predecessor was exposed to the accusation of particality in favour of cloud innovation after it became known that NRS CEO Paul Wollner also acted as his IT consultant. The British lawyers are unlikely to have any points of contact with Afrinic membership. NRS list In addition to calling for one of the candidates listed by Smart Africa, the initiative also explicitly warns of representatives who are supported by the NRS. The NRS is an appendage of Lu's company Cloud Innovation, according to a presentation from the crisis meeting in April. The NRS is about undermining Afrinic and bringing candidates who served Cloud Innovations interests. While candidates for the Smart Africa list come from a wide variety of network operators, companies, government representatives, NGOs and universities, at least three of the seven potential NRS candidates identified by Smart Africa have already been represented at previous RIPE meetings. A fourth, Paul Wollner, is CEO of NRS. A majority therefore has more or less close links to the organisation. Read also Your experiences are required: obstacles when switching from IPv4 to IPv6 iX Magazine NRS itself has not yet responded to a request from heise online to its candidates. However, the biographies of the candidates mentioned by Smart Africa are apparently already created on the NRS page, as a Google search shows. NRS is very clear than Smart Africa so far when it comes to the current election campaign. Ownership of IP addresses and the abolition of membership fees as campaign objectives are set out in numerous videos. In the end, it will also be about who can mobilise the Afrinic members distributed across the African continent. Afrinic and the forced administrators warn against possible irregularities as a precaution as a precaution. This was found in the recent failed 2022 election, in which, according to an affidavit by an Afrinic member, an employee of NRS is said to have tried to buy him from his voting rights. The Cape Independent has published passages from the statement. Cloud Innovation suddenly officially listed as "Afrinic company member" Apparently, Lu's company Cloud Independent has now secured a say about Afrinic's future with another trick. As Jan Vermeulen from the South African magazine MyBroadband reported on Friday, Cloud Innovation suddenly appears as a so-called "member" in the official company registration of Afrinic in Mauritius, in addition to four other members of the Afrinic Board, which are now no longer active due to the burst elections. Whether cloud innovation has secured a place at the board table before the election is completely unclear. Lu Heng's insurance against Vermeulen, it was a pure formality as a result of the court proceedings, and not a hostile takeover or a coup, many Afrnic members barely calmed down. One against (almost) all While Afrinics members are worried about the upcoming election, the RIPE members made Lus alerts for costly court proceedings with humor. Even in rejecting a sponsorship fee for the RIPE member meeting in Lisbon, Lu sees proof that the RIPE is contrary to competition. The declaration by the RIPE judiciary Athina Fragkouli, RIPE was not obliged by any rules to accept any sponsorship contribution, the members present in Lisbon acknowledged with a long applause. In the RIPE community, the Hong Kong native, who once studied in Groningen, does not have many followers. Could a single person actually bring down the RIR self-government? "The RIR system has been developed by the technical community over more than three decades, in open, transparent, bottom-up-oriented dialogues and policy development processes," says RIPE CEO Hans Petter Hol ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Alejandro Pisanty <apisanty@gmail.com> Date: Wed, May 21, 2025 at 7:18 PM Subject: Missing Link: Druck auf IP-Adressvergabestellen – einschüchtern, klagen und mehr | heise online To: Alejandro Pisanty <apisanty@gmail.com> https://www.heise.de/news/IP-Adressvergabestellen-unter-Beschuss-Einschuecht... - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dr. Alejandro Pisanty Facultad de Química UNAM Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico +525541444475 Blog: http://pisanty.blogspot.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pisanty Unete al grupo UNAM en LinkedIn, http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/22285/4A106C0C8614 Twitter: http://twitter.com/apisanty ---->> Unete a ISOC Mexico, http://www.isoc.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dr. Alejandro Pisanty Facultad de Química UNAM Av. Universidad 3000, 04510 Mexico DF Mexico +525541444475 Blog: http://pisanty.blogspot.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pisanty Unete al grupo UNAM en LinkedIn, http://www.linkedin.com/e/gis/22285/4A106C0C8614 Twitter: http://twitter.com/apisanty ---->> Unete a ISOC Mexico, http://www.isoc.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .