> On Jul 15, 2021, at 15:19 , Noah <[email protected]> wrote:
> 
> Owen,
> 
> On Wed, 14 Jul 2021 at 13:56, Owen DeLong <[email protected] 
> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
> 
>  In general, I select clients who are generally ideologically aligned with me.
> 
>  And what is your so-called Ideology? besides making a living out of 
> consultancy?

That’s a complicated question, but I assure you that making a living out of 
consultancy actually isn’t part of that ideology. Making a living is a purely 
pragmatic matter. Had I been financially wiser in my youth, I would no longer 
be depending on fees for my services in order to survive. Alas, finance has 
never been my strong suit nor my primary motivator and as a result, I am still 
working for money rather than the other way around.

The best way to understand my ideology as regards number resource policy and 
how it has evolved over the years is to review my public record and my voting 
record on the ARIN AC.

> One exception is Cloud Innovation. 
> While I am not ideologically 100% in agreement with them and do not 
> necessarily favor the current state of policy which benefits them
> 
> So you consult for Cloud Innovation yet you are not 100% ideologically in 
> agreement with the very company you consult for????

Yes. Nobody is 100% ideologically in agreement with me, most likely. Many areas 
where I agree with Cloud Innovation. Some areas where I do not. Lu and I are 
open and honest with each other about where we agree and where we disagree and 
there is no expectation inherent in my contract that I will alter my views or 
express views that I don’t agree with, so we are able to make it work.

While I don’t necessarily like some of the ways in which Lu has gone about 
utilizing the address space he obtained from AFRINIC, a plain text reading of 
the governing documents (CPM, RSA, bylaws) leaves me no choice but to agree 
that his use is compliant with the applicable policies and that his company has 
acted in good faith and compliance with the rules as they are written. I am not 
personally entirely convinced that leasing is either good or bad for the 
community. However, I am convinced that the policies as currently written do 
not preclude it.

> And when you say "current state of policy benefits them" meaning (Cloud 
> Innovation), what do you exactly mean?

I mean the fact that the policy as written does not preclude leasing and does 
not prohibit (or even limit) out of region use except for registrations issued 
after the beginning of exhaustion phase 1 in the soft landing policy. I would 
have thought that self evident by now.

I am of mixed emotions on both of these issues. I am ambivalent at best on 
leasing. On out of region use, I would love to see a way to address it that 
didn’t come with collateral damage that would make the cure worse than the 
disease, but so far no such option has presented itself. The aborted attempt at 
such a policy some years ago in this community provided a pretty substantial 
review of just how thorny the issue is and how rapidly it devolves into corner 
cases that are difficult to address.

In the end, the community did not come to consensus to adopt such a policy and 
it was withdrawn by the author.

The community has never (to the best of my knowledge) made any effort to even 
consider a policy prohibiting leasing, even in light of recent events. One 
would think that the easiest way for the community to stop leasing, if they 
truly found it so objectionable, would be to prohibit it in policy, yet there 
is still not so much as a policy proposal submitted towards this end.

As such, it sounds to me like a few vociferous people wish to whine about 
ideology while refusing to take action to make the rules actually consistent 
with their supposed views.

At least when I take issue with a policy or other rule or even a proposal, I 
offer concrete alternatives (which admittedly in some cases is to simply claim 
the status quo is superior to the proposed alternative). Such is the case in my 
reaction to the boards Appeal Committee land grab. I offered very concrete 
suggestions for an alternative which could yield a properly independent 
appellate body.

The issues in this case are not whether I agree with Lu and what he is doing or 
not. The issues are whether or not AFRINIC as a body and the AFRINIC board and 
staff will comply with their own rules as written and as developed by the 
members and the community or whether they are free to run amok and create rules 
from whole cloth.

It is the importance of following the rules as written where my client Cloud 
Innovation and I are ideologically aligned and what I consider the most 
important aspect of this case. I really had high hopes that AFRINIC would take 
this more seriously when we tried to resolve it amicably before involving the 
courts, but I failed in my attempt to communicate this and alas, egos were 
bruised, respect was lost, and the situation degraded farther than I had ever 
thought possible.

I will also point out that Cloud Innovation is not my only client in the region 
and my clients are not the only ones potentially harmed by AFRINIC’s failure to 
follow its own rules here. Whether you agree with me or not, whether you like 
what I say or not, I have always tried to act in what I believe to be the best 
interests of the community and I will always continue to do so.


Owen

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