South Africa

[Michael Dillon]

On Mon, 10 Mar 1997, Brian Macdougall wrote:

> >Irregardless of whether you *feel* that ARIN is *selling*
> >IP address space, this is not the case. They are charging fees
> >for registry services. Please resolve yourself to this fact.

> They are also charging what may be a manageable fee in USA, but is out of
> the question in a non-NIC country like South Africa.... US$2500 for a class
> C is beyond our reach, and will make a substantial dent in our
> profitability...

No it won't, because you will not ever have to pay US$2500. If you need 
another /24 you just get it from your upstream provider. 

> We also understand that the IPv4 system is subject to change soonish, and
> steps need to be taken to make this as comfortable to manage as possible,
> but the USA is (as usual) dictating to the rest of the planet how it WILL
> be done.

Are you talking about SACK and FACK? Why do you say that the USA is
dictating this to anybody? If South African universities want to be
involved in this kind of research, nobody is stopping them. Quite frankly,
I don't care what country works on improving IPv4 just so long as somebody
keeps studying it in the wild and improving it.

> I find this abuse of moral responsibilty reprehensible - give us
> an option (even in the short term) to create a nuetral registration body
> for the African continent to relieve ARIN of the *onorous* task of
> supporting our little backwater.

Some might consider your message to be an abuse of moral responsibility
considering that you have not done your research. The option for an
AfricNIC has existed for quite some time. As soon as a group of people
from African countries can agree to work together to support such a NIC
and service all countries on the continent, it can be done.

> The same would follow for all non-USA territories, where no thought has
> been given to the affordability or responsibility for THEIR networks.

http://www.ripe.net   http://www.apnic.net


Michael Dillon                   -               Internet & ISP Consulting
Memra Software Inc.              -                  Fax: +1-250-546-3049
http://www.memra.com             -               E-mail: michael at memra.com