The RIPE Chair Team Reports - February 2025

Since our the last update, we had some time to reflect and to make plans for the next few months. One tangible outcome of our collaborative way of working and also a resource for sustaining our collaboration in the future is the RIPE Document Store where we document our processes, policies, guidelines. As an ongoing activity, we are working with the RIPE NCC to improve the information presented, reviewing categories, representation, metadata, etc.

RIPE governance

On 30 January, we announced a Last Call for the document describing the relationship between the RIPE community and the RIPE NCC. So far, the feedback has been positive. If you have any last comments please let us know directly or on the RIPE mailing list.

For now, this marks the last of a series of RIPE Governance documents describing various facets of the RIPE community, how the community operates, how we make decisions, and so on.

This documentation will make it easier for existing but also for future participants to get work done and at the same time will make the way we do things clearer to other communities and stakeholders.

RIPE Policies

In close cooperation with the RIPE NCC and the Address Policy WG chairs, we started an activity to look at our RIPE policies: How can we make them more accessible and easier to find on the website? Is there a way to consolidate some of them - e.g., by moving definitions and other generic information to one place so that the policy documents can focus on the actual policies? This might then make it easier for community members to identify gaps and to propose adjustments or new policies.

This activity might also include a reflection on how policies are implemented by the RIPE NCC. Have realities changed? Are we still following the original intent of the policies?

Address Policy WG seeks co-chair

The Address Policy working group is looking for another co-chair to join the current co-chairs Leo Vegoda and Alex Le Heux. Nominations are accepted until 15 March. You can find more information in this mail announcement.

RIPE Meetings

Preparations for the upcoming RIPE meetings are going very well. The RIPE NCC has a solid events team in place, processes have been streamlined, and we are delighted that locations and venues have been secured for the next two years.

With a number of new members on the RIPE Code of Conduct Team, the RIPE NCC arranged another training for the team so they are even better prepared to support our community.

Industry events

RPKI webinar: ICANN organised a webinar to discuss the state of RPKI. After looking at some incidents that demonstrated the need for increased routing security, the speaker Fredrik Korsbäck looked at more recent developments and the increased implementation of RPKI today. In closing, Fredrik said that "the community together made this happen, because they realised it benefitted them all even though many of them are competitors".

WSIS+20 webinar: The IGF Austria together with EuroDIG organised an online session to prepare for the discussions around WSIS+20 this year where the future of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) will be discussed. Participants came mostly from the technical community, but there were also attendees from other stakeholders such as governments. One important piece of advice given by a government representative was not to try to come with one proposal or speak with one voice, but to prepare many proposals that bring across the same message. This also needs to include statements from non-European countries. The regional and national IGFs can play an important role in preparing this, possibly supported by EuroDIG. Another important aspect is to stress the success stories that came out of the IGF. In that context, please note a document published by the DNS Research Foundation last year: Net Effects - An evidence-led exploration of IGF impact.

Student engagement: I was asked to present the RIPE community and the RIR system to a group of German students who are involved in a fellowship programme supported by the German Development Agency GIZ. This event was set up to describe various organisations such as network operators groups, Regional Internet Registries, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and ICANN and the essential work each of them are doing to maintain and support the technical infrastructure of the Internet.

Upcoming Events

Roundtable: On 19 February I will be at the Government Roundtable meeting in Brussels where government representatives will have an opportunity to talk to the RIPE NCC and other community members. The WG chairs of the RIPE Cooperation WG will also be present.

DNS Hackathon: Niall will participate in the DNS Hackathon scheduled for March in Stockholm.