[lir-wg] Re: 50% increase in RIPE fees ? Since when ?

Hi,

On Tue, Nov 26, 2002 at 10:06:08AM -0000, Peter Galbavy wrote:
> I will take more care for next year. I will find the money and the time from
> a non-break even privately maintained legacy network to employ a full time
> lobbyist as well.

I don't think this is necessary.  From my experience, voicing things on
the lir-wg mailing list actually *does* have an effect - but it has to
be somewhat popular.  There was one voice (Stephen Burley) complaining 
about "money wasted on useless projects", but he did not get any support
from anyone else, while a number of people voiced "we think that these
things are indeed useful!", so nothing changed.

That *is* a problem with majority systems - someone will be dissatisfied
in the end.

> Maybe I sound bitter, but I know it was all there - just I have been used to
> others paying attention on my behalf.

Well - they did.  The mandate on the NCC was "make sure that LIRs are
properly trained so they can do their job well" (which costs quite some
money).  Usually this is mainly paid by the "new LIR fees" - which is 
a reasonable approach - but this year there were much less new LIRs
than planned in the budget, so there was a net loss.

I think it's reasonable that the NCC plans with higher fees to ensure that
they do not run the risk of going bankrupt - which would be a catastrophe -
or that they have to significantly reduce expenses like "training" - which
is something the LIR community has been explicitely asking for.

(Of course the "training" thing is just an example - but I still feel
they are doing a reasonable job, and the costs are still in the range
that they don't overload a commercial ISP's budget.  For a non-commercial
network and non-educational network, one has to face the question "is it 
necessary to be a LIR?")

Gert Doering
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