Number Resource Organization

Lacnic Community elects Jorge Villa to NRO NC / ASO AC

Adam Castle — 2013-05-13T09:44:53Z

Lacnic is pleased to announce the election of Jorge Villa to the Number Resource Organisation Number Council (NRO NC). Jorge will serve in the NRO NC as a representative of the Lacnic region until 31 December 2014. The position fell vacant after the departure of Alejandro Guzman.

NRO Executive Council appoints permanent NRO Executive Secretary

Marita Phelan — 2013-05-01T09:20:00Z

The NRO EC is pleased to announce that German Valdez has been appointed the Number Resource Organization (NRO) Executive Secretary.

RIRs’ input to the WTPF-13

Adam Castle — 2013-04-19T13:10:00Z

This document addresses some of the Draft Opinions discussed by the Informal Expert Group in preparation for the ITU World Telecommunication/ICT Policy Forum 2013 (WTPF-13).

RIPE NCC Response to Government Interest in an Arab RIR

Mihnea-Costin Grigore — 2013-02-25T10:30:00Z

Over the past weeks and following on from talks at last year's ITU WTSA and WCIT events, both AFRINIC and the RIPE NCC have been asked to participate in discussions concerning the possibility of establishing a new Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for the Arabic-speaking community.

In the spirit of open community discussion, both AFRINIC and the RIPE NCC feel that this should be brought to the attention of our members and community.

It is imperative to note that these discussions have not in any way been instigated by the management or staff of either AFRINIC or the RIPE NCC. The matter has been raised and promoted by representatives of certain governments in the Arab community.

The RIPE NCC is proud to serve the needs of our members in Arabic-speaking states, and we believe that the existing system can meet the needs of a growing membership in the Arab region.

As you are all aware, an RIR provides a range of services, including managing its service region’s Internet number resources (IPv4, IPv6 and ASNs), maintaining proper records of all registry activities in a publicly accessible database (the RIPE Database), as well as capacity building and training on use of these resources. RIRs also provide general support for regional Internet Infrastructure, and facilitate community discussion and engagement.

The RIPE NCC has been particularly excited to contribute to the development of forums such as the Middle East Network Operators Group (MENOG), the Middle East Peering Forum and the Arab Internet Governance Forum, and initiatives like the MENOG IPv6 Roadshow. Through these activities, we have supported the growth of the local industry and the development of an active professional community within the region, including a RIPE NCC representative office in Dubai.

RIRs are community-governed organisations. If the RIPE NCC membership and Internet community in the Arab region feels that there is a need to establish a new RIR, the RIPE NCC and AFRINIC will be happy to support this development appropriately. There are steps, via the open, bottom-up policy development process, to facilitate this. ICP-2, "Criteria for Establishment of New Regional Internet Registries", is a global policy, approved through consensus by the communities of all the existing RIRs, which sets out this process:
http://www.icann.org/en/news/in-focus/global-addressing/new-rirs-criteria

This, like all RIR policies, was a result of "bottom-up" policy development, based on the premise that those who use Internet number resources and have a stake in the Internet, including actors from civil society, business, the technical community, government and law enforcement agencies (LEAs), should take the lead in developing policies relating to the management of those resources.

"Top-down" policies developed without the participation of those who operate the Internet carry the risk of significant unintended consequences for the Internet and Internet users.

It is vital that the Internet technical community have a voice in deciding such an important issue. We encourage community members to raise any questions or issues on the RIPE Discussion list [ripe-list _at_ ripe _dot_ net], or to email the RIPE NCC directly. We are also happy to work with anyone who wishes to raise this issue in upcoming community forums such as MENOG 12 (5-14 March in Dubai) or RIPE 66 (13-17 May in Dublin, Ireland).

NRO pledges continued support for IGF

Adam Castle — 2013-02-25T10:10:00Z

The Number Resource Organization (NRO) has expressed its support for the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) and pledged to continue its financial and technical support.

NRO and ICANN comment on ITU Secretary General’s WTPF Report

Mihnea-Costin Grigore — 2013-02-20T12:55:00Z

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) and the Number Resource Organization (NRO) have written to the chair of the Informal Expert Group (IEG) of the World Telecommunication Policy Forum 2013 providing further comments on the International Telecommunication Union’s Secretary-General WTPF Report.

Andy Linton reappointed to the ASO Address Council

Mihnea-Costin Grigore — 2012-12-27T17:05:00Z

APNIC is pleased to announce that Andy Linton has been reappointed by the APNIC Executive Council as a member of the ASO Address Council for 2013. He will be representing the APNIC region for a one-year term starting 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2013

NRO Observations on WCIT-12 process

Marita Phelan — 2012-12-17T09:30:00Z

The Number Resource Organization, representing the world’s five Regional Internet address Registries, issues the following statement from Dubai, the site of the recent World Conference on International Telecommunications.

RIPE NCC Report on IGF 2012

Adam Castle — 2012-12-05T12:55:00Z

The seventh Internet Governance Forum took place in Baku, Azerbaijan from 6-9 November 2012, bringing together more than 1,600 people from 128 countries. The RIPE NCC participated in the event, working with fellow Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) and industry partners to develop the IGF program, organise workshops and contribute to discussions.

Reports and session transcripts have now been published on the IGF website for the three workshops that the RIPE NCC was involved in organising:

Workshop 99: Moving to IPv6: Challenges for Internet Governance (Organised by the Number Resource Organization (NRO))
Workshop 100: Internet Governance and RPKI (Organised by the NRO)
Workshop 117: Best Common Practices for Building Internet Capacity (Organised by RIPE NCC, AFRINIC and the Arab IGF)

The RIPE NCC also contributed to workshops on Internet Exchange Point development (Workshop 159), Developing a National/Regional Framework of Principles for Internet Governance (Workshop 170), and two sessions discussing output from the Arab IGF.

The main plenary session on Managing Critical Internet Resources (CIRs) considered issues surrounding the ICANN new gTLD program, Intergovernmentalism (focusing on the ITU, WCIT and the International Telecommunications Regulations) and IPv4 markets. Each of these discussions built on work done in earlier workshops, with APNIC Chief Scientist Geoff Huston representing the RIR community perspective on the panels. A transcript of this session is available on the IGF website.

Looking ahead, APNIC Director General Paul Wilson spoke to the Closing Ceremony, highlighting the ongoing concerns regarding IGF funding and the importance of maintaining the IGF as part of a broader, multi-stakeholder, bottom-up system of Internet governance. There were also calls from many participants for the IGF to take a more active role in defining and facilitating "Enhanced Cooperation", a key concept in Internet governance processes since the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in 2003.

The next IGF will be held in late 2013 in Indonesia. Paul Rendek will continue in his role as a member of the Multi-stakeholder Advisory Group (MAG), which will develop the themes and working methods for the event. There will also be opportunities for members of the general public to contribute feedback and ideas through Open Consultations, the first of which will take place at the UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 28 February 2013.

We welcome any questions or comments regarding the RIPE NCC's participation in IGF 2013 on the RIPE Cooperation Working Group mailing list.