[db-wg] announcement of unreferenced person cleanup mechanism

[apologies for duplicate messages]

Introduction
------------

The primary function of the person records in the RIPE Whois
Database is to document the contact people for IP address space,
Autonomous System Numbers, or routing-related records.  While all
the data in the RIPE Database can be viewed publicly, unnecessary
public dispersal of the information may cause infringement privacy
rights of individuals.

Periodic automatic deletion of person objects that are not referenced
as a contact will help to reduce the amount of private data and
free the resources consumed by them.

This cleanup was discussed on the Database Working Group mailing
list, and previously presented as part of the development plans. More
information can be found at:

http://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail-archives/db-wg/2002/msg00096.html


Clean-up Process
----------------

The proposed operation of periodically removing unreferenced person
objects will consist of three steps:

1. Periodically counting the references to person objects.

2. Warning the owners of objects by e-mail if they are unreferenced
   for more than 60 days.

3. Deleting the object automatically if it is still unreferenced 30
   days after the warning.

The warning will be sent to the e-mail addresses in the "mnt- by:"
or the "e-mail:" attributes of person objects.

- If the person object is maintained, each maintainer will be
  notified as follows:

     - If there are "mnt-nfy:" attributes, the e-mail addresses
       listed there will be mailed.

     - Or, the e-mail addresses in the "e-mail:" fields of the
       "admin-c:" and "tech-c:" entries of the maintainers will
       be mailed.

- If the person object is not maintained, and there are "e-mail:"
  attributes in the object, those e-mail addresses will be mailed.

Due to the initial high amount of unreferenced person objects,
the time intervals mentioned above will not be observed for all
person objects. In order to eliminate possible service outages,
a limited amount of warnings will be mailed and a limited amount
of person objects will be deleted every day.


Timeline
--------

On Tuesday, 29 April, 2003, the first e-mails will be sent
notifying the appropriate parties about person objects that have
been unreferenced for more than 60 days.  The first deletions will
occur 30 days later, on Thursday, 29 May, 2003.  The process will be
an on-going service, and objects that become and remain unreferenced
will be treated in the same manner in the future.

--
Can Bican
DB Group
RIPE NCC