[db-wg] abuse-c: proposal

Co-authors: Randy Bush, Niall O'Reilly

Proposal for Adding Abuse Contact to inet*num: Objects in RIPE Database

Requirement:

Net users who perceive abuse from some net source wish to contact some
service which has officially agreed to deal with the abuse.  Currently,
they seem to scan the inet*num: objects and send mail

to any or all contacts

in that object, including strange things such as the email address in
the changed: attribute.

This need seems to be clearly applicable to the inetnum: and inet6num:
objects, so those objects are addressed by this proposal.  Should there
be similar needs in other object types, it is anticipated that the
abuse-c: attribute would be added

to those objects as appropriate.

Two things are needed:

   o The inetnum: and inet6num: objects are enhanced with an optional
     attribute "abuse-c:".  The value of the attribute is a nic-handle:
     which must refer to an extant person: or role: object.  There may be
     zero or more abuse-c: attributes in an inet*num: object.

	The value of the abuse-c: attribute MAY be extended by appending a hint
	string.  This is expected to be useful to organizations who wish to
	advertise more than one abuse contact, and to give guidance as to which
	of these is the appropriate notification target in particular 
circumstances.

	In case a hint string is specified, it MUST be discarded when forming
	inverse keys.

     Therefore, the syntax of the inetnum: object would become

     inetnum:       [mandatory]  [single]     [primary/lookup key]
     netname:       [mandatory]  [single]     [lookup key]
     descr:         [mandatory]  [multiple]   [ ]
     country:       [mandatory]  [multiple]   [ ]
     admin-c:       [mandatory]  [multiple]   [inverse key]
     tech-c:        [mandatory]  [multiple]   [inverse key]
     abuse-c:       [optional]   [multiple]   [inverse key]
     rev-srv:       [optional]   [multiple]   [inverse key]
     status:        [mandatory]  [single]     [ ]
     remarks:       [optional]   [multiple]   [ ]
     notify:        [optional]   [multiple]   [inverse key]
     mnt-by:        [mandatory]  [multiple]   [inverse key]
     mnt-lower:     [optional]   [multiple]   [inverse key]
     mnt-routes:    [optional]   [multiple]   [inverse key]
     mnt-irt:       [optional]   [multiple]   [inverse key]
     changed:       [mandatory]  [multiple]   [ ]
     source:        [mandatory]  [single]     [ ]

   o Document and Publish that the abuse-c: contact is the one and only
     contact that should be used to report spam and other forms of
     abuse.  This documentation should be made prominently available so
     that manual seekers and creators of automated reporting tools will
     all clearly know that the abuse-c: is the one and only place at
     which abuse should be reported, and that other contacts in the
     objects should not be abused.

	The documentation should make it clear that automated reporting
	tools MAY always ignore the hint string, but SHOULD search the
	advertised abuse-c: attributes to find a hint string that matches
	the circumstances of the abuse to be reported.

	The hint string specified SHOULD be taken from a limited vocabulary.
	This vocabulary SHOULD be reviewed from time to time.  It contains
	initially the following terms, treated as case-insensitive, and
	with the indicated semantics:

		''			Always notify this contact
		'Spam'		Notify this contact for spam abuse ONLY
		'Security'	Notify this contact for DDoS and intrusion abuse ONLY

  -- End --