ARIN is not/is too/is not/is too... blah.

[Jim Fleming]

On Saturday, March 29, 1997 7:50 AM, Mark J Elkins[SMTP:mje at mje99.posix.co.za] wrote:
@ On Mar 29,  7:22pm, "David R. Conrad" wrote:
@ } >Comparing APNIC and RIPE to the current US model is not fair or
@ } >accurate.
@ } 
@ } True.  Where APNIC and RIPE members have direct input into how their
@ } registries are operated, American (and South African) ISPs are subject
@ } to the political winds of the US government.  Where APNIC and RIPE
@ } members control how resources are expended, American (and South
@ } African) ISPs must abide by a commercial company's decisions as
@ } (theoretically) moderated by the NSF.  Where APNIC and RIPE members
@ } take responsibility for the administration of the resource on which
@ } they depend, American (and South African) ISPs rely on the US
@ } government to play mommy.
@ }-- End of excerpt from "David R. Conrad"
@ 
@ I'm from South Africa.  The fact that we are so tied to the USA upsets
@ me.  I also administer the 'co.za' domain - probably the largest domain
@ in Africa - with (as of writing) 5607 registered names.
@ 
@ Many folk have stated that Africa should have its own NIC.  It would
@ make most sense that DNS, ASN and IP Allocation came from one place.
@ Adopting the line of 'slow startup' - I approached the InterNIC for a
@ single superblock of Class C addresses - to start attending with some
@ of the local address problems - and have currently been refused.
@ 

Who did you talk to or contact ?
Did you contact the NSF ?

@ I'm not planning on running all this myself - but it would be unfair
@ to expect any organisation to suddently have the full required
@ infrastructure to run everything that a full blown NIC probably should
@ have.  Sure there are a number of people talking about getting this
@ going - but thats all - just talking.  The AfricanNIC has to start
@ somehow - and a slow start is the Internet Way.
@ 

You have to start somewhere. People who already
have all of the "nic" infrastructure are not going to
give you much help building yours, because they
want to try to control the industry.

Your task is large but it is not impossible.
There are many activities that you might want to
consider as you proceed. Here is a short list:

	1. Get the buy-in from 4 or 5 ISPs that have
		existing facilities to handle the basics
		and pick a name and banner to rally
		around.

	2. Get the buy-in of your elected officials
		and have them contact the U.S. State Department
		and the National Science Foundation.

	3. Deploy a confederation of TRUE Root Name Servers
		similar to the eDNS confederation (http://www.edns.net)

	4. Develop a Registration Authority (RA) to help cultivate
		the growth of TLD Registries.

	5. Develop one or more TLD Registries to develop some
		of the infrastructure and business community awareness
		needed to support the Internet Registry industry in
		an area.

	6. Help with IPv4 ecology and reclamation efforts and plan
		to take over the management of an existing /8
		once you have enough infrastructure in place.

@ So whom do I petition?
@ 
@ Oh - my personal interests range as far as Central Africa - Zaire -
@ etc...  This is not just a local South African only thing.
@ 

Just as your range is a wide area of Africa,
the topics the Registry Industry touches
cover the gamut. It is important to develop
and demonstrate the infrastructure needed
to handle domain names, IP addresses, etc.

As more and more products and services
are added to the Registry Industry, the
companies that you help to develop will
be the natural candidates to provide the
region with the Internet Infrastructure
management that is needed to grow
the region in an organized way.

--
Jim Fleming
Unir Corporation
http://www.Unir.Corp

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