[ICP2_review] Numbers should travel with people who use them

[Benjamin Mutemi]

IP addresses are not just numbers — they are anchors for real services.
Right now, if an organisation moves from one part of the world to another,
or even just changes upstream providers, they might not be allowed to keep
their addresses. AFRINIC doesn’t have any rules for inter-RIR transfers.
And none of the regions have any system for IPv6 transfers. So a company
could be perfectly legitimate — and yet be stuck.
People in the community often talk about “number portability”, like how you
keep your mobile number when switching operator. We simply want the same
baseline rule here: organisations must be able to keep their IP addresses
when they move.
To do that properly we think Article 4.1 should require that all the RIRs
support portability of IPv4 and IPv6 across providers and across regions.
Only genuine stewardship reasons — such as preventing registry fraud —
should block a transfer. And if a member thinks a new contract clause is
unfair — they must still be allowed to leave with their resources.
Procedures should be fair, written down clearly, and done on time — not
arbitrarily.
*Members should be able to trigger a review before total collapse*
At the moment the only formal escalation mentioned is an ICANN audit with a
huge threshold. That is not useful for smaller but serious governance
concerns.
So we suggest a new mechanism: if 5% of members — or 100 of them — sign a
petition, the NRO Executive Council would run a compliance review. The RIR
would have to cooperate. The results would be published. Additionally, if
significant shortcomings were discovered, NRO might suggest censure or that
the community use the RIR's own guidelines to think about removing certain
board members.
It enables the community to take action before a calamity strikes.
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