[db-wg] [Ext] Re: NWI-10 Definition of Country

Arash,

Arash Naderpour wrote:

> What you name it as "meaningless values" are not meaningless to 
> the organizations that they are using it.

How do we know that all, or even most, users of the data infer the same meanings? Has the RIPE NCC or anyone else ever measured what people understand this value to mean and the operational purposes to which it is put?

> When you request a new allocation from NCC you will be asked to 
> "specify the country which the allocation will be announced", and 
> based on your selection the country code will be set for both the 
> inet(6)numns and allocation entry in the delegation file. This is the 
> way that the country code is added in first place in delegation file.

This was not always the case. Furthermore, allocations are not necessarily announced as single aggregate or from a single country. It is entirely possible for an allocation to be announced from multiple countries, or to be split into smaller blocks that are announced from different countries. The stats file is just about good enough to give some idea of the distribution of Internet Number Resources in different countries in a statistically useful way. But using the country code information in it to make operational decisions seems to be placing weight on both the meaning and accuracy of the data that is probably not justifiable.

Kind regards,

Leo Vegoda