[members-discuss] Spam from Cyprian Nica / IP Broker Limited (Re: Inquiry regarding availability for subnet x.x.x.0 - y.y.y.255

Hi Nick,

This behaviour is a violation of the RIPE Database Terms and Conditions,
in particular the provision that you mentioned. We do take this
seriously, as our members trust us with their data and expect us to
intervene if it is misused. We will follow up with Ciprian offline.

However, this is not a violation of the Recognised IPv4 Transfer Broker
Agreement. According to the agreement "The Broker shall adhere to the
relevant RIPE Policies and RIPE NCC procedural documents…” The RIPE
Database Terms and Conditions are neither of these.

You can see the template agreement here:
https://www.ripe.net/manage-ips-and-asns/resource-transfers-and-mergers/transfers/brokers/RecognisedIPv4BrokerAgreement.doc

Kind regards,

Athina Fragkouli
Head of Legal
RIPE NCC



On 10/10/16 17:31, Nick Hilliard wrote:
> Cyprian,
> 
> Thank you for confirming that you used RIPE Database information for
> direct marketing purposes.
> 
> RIPE NCC: can you confirm whether or not using RIPE Database information
> for direct marketing purposes is a violation of the Recognised IPv4
> Transfer Broker Agreement?
> 
> Nick
>> Ciprian Nica <mailto:office at ip-broker.uk>
>> 10 October 2016 at 16:25
>> Yes, I have used the specific contact details for the specific block.
>> How can anyone get in contact with the user of a specific block of IPs
>> if not by using the contact details listed for that block ? 
>>
>> I didn't deny that, I only said that I didn't dig for a bunch of
>> e-mails to send a spam advertising some service or product. I
>> specifically contacted the listed persons for each specific block that
>> I've found to be unused.
>>
>> Once again I apologize if sending you a single e-mail for a specific
>> block that is not in use really causes so much trouble.
>>
>>
>>
>> Nick Hilliard <mailto:nick at netability.ie>
>> 10 October 2016 at 16:20
>> Cyprian,
>>
>> You used a specific email address that has only ever been used by me
>> in the RIPE database.  If you have used it, and particularly if you
>> have used it in association with a specific range of RIPE NCC-assigned
>> ipv4 addresses, it means that this information has been pulled either
>> directly or indirectly from the RIPE database.
>>
>> Nick
>>
>> Ciprian Nica <mailto:office at ip-broker.uk>
>> 10 October 2016 at 16:12
>> Hi Nick,
>>
>> First of all, I have not used the ripe database contact info to send
>> marketing, advertising or anything to promote a service or product.
>>
>> I apologize to anyone that was disturbed by my e-mail. I have tried
>> not to send any duplicates and limited as much as possible any
>> discomfort. I'm not doing this on a regular basis and probably you've
>> never got an e-mail from me before.
>>
>> There are 43 million IP addresses which are allocated in RIPE region
>> and are not announced in the global BGP table. Of course there are
>> some which are not announced on purpose and to those I apologize
>> again. But there are many IP addresses which are not in use and the
>> only way to get in touch with the users is by contacting them using
>> obviously publicly available contact information.
>>
>> I have e-mailed contacts for specific subnets that were checked to be
>> not advertised. How else should we get the IPs to the market ? There's
>> no tool provided by RIPE or any other solution to push this huge
>> amount to the market. Maybe some are concerned that bringing up the
>> unused space will lower the prices. Well, I am not supporting those
>> who sit on huge amount of IPs and seek prices in the 10+ EUR range. I
>> really hope IPv6 will move quicker and in a couple of years no IPv4
>> will have value so while there is still some demand, we're doing our
>> best to find the supply, to dig it up to the surface.
>>
>> So, once again at this moment there are over 43 million IPs in the
>> RIPE region only that are not advertised in the BGP table. The total
>> amount of IPs transferred over the past 4 years in the RIPE region is
>> ~27 million.
>>
>> I apologize if my method was too extreme and have upset some people
>> but I promise not to bother you again. Most likely there are people
>> who just sit on the resources and don't care about other's needs. We
>> can't seem to be able to lift their butts off them.
>>
>> Have a nice week,
>> Ciprian
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Nick Hilliard <mailto:nick at netability.ie>
>> 10 October 2016 at 15:20
>> I've received several copies of the template email below about several
>> different address ranges, all sent to email addresses culled from the
>> RIPE Database.  They all appear to originate from Cyprian Nica / IP
>> Broker Ltd.
>>
>> In order to be listed as an IP broker on the RIPE web site, it is
>> necessary to sign the "Recognised IPv4 Transfer Broker Agreement".  This
>> includes the following text:
>>
>>> The Broker shall adhere to the relevant RIPE Policies and RIPE NCC
>>> procedural documents, [...]
>>
>> The RIPE Database T&Cs include the following text:
>>
>>> Users may not use the RIPE Database or the data contained therein for
>>> advertising, direct marketing, marketing research or similar purposes.
>>
>> Could the RIPE NCC kindly confirm whether or not spamming contact email
>> address gleaned from the RIPE DB is a violation of the Recognised IPv4
>> Transfer Broker Agreement?
>>
>> If this isn't a violation, could the Board consider specifically adding
>> an anti-spamming term into the IP Broker T&Cs listing?
>>
>> Nick
>>
>> Ciprian Nica wrote:
>>> Dear Sirs,
>>>
>>> My name is Ciprian Nica and I'm the CEO of IP Broker Ltd, one of the
>>> first IPv4 Address brokers in the RIPE region. I am contacting you
>>> regarding the block of 256 IPv4 addresses (from x.x.x.0  to
>>> 'y.y.y.255') which according to our data seems to be not in use as
>>> they are not announced in the global BGP table.
>>>
>>> If you no longer need these IP addresses then it is a good moment to
>>> sell them. The global IPv6 deployment rate is around 15% while in USA
>>> is around 30% so in a couple of years IPv4 might become worthless
>>> again.
>>>
>>> Of course that besides the subnet mentioned above there might be some
>>> other blocks that you might not need. Please let us know all the
>>> blocks of IP addresses that you no longer need and we will do our
>>> best to sell them in a fast and secure way.
>>
>>> Thank you,
>>> Ciprian Nica
>>> CEO
>>> IP Broker Limited
>>> t: +44 20 339 339 91
>>>
>>
>>
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