[db-wg] Change of Country entries in the database

Hi,

On Thu, Oct 23, 2003 at 10:17:09AM +0200, Christoph Mohr wrote:

[...]

> Please don't make it optional! With that reason you can abolish all other
> mandatory attributes (like descr, tech-c, admin-c) as well. 

I can see good reasons for making admin-c and tech-c optional in
some (not all) inetnum objects. Doing so might actually make the
database more useful. But that's a little OT here.

> There will always
> be lazy people who don't want their data to be as correct as others want. But
> with Daniel's words: "99.9% accurate info is better than 0% info."

I think we need to define what is correct and why it is correct. Why
should the information be included in the database?

Is the database there to support technical operations on the
Internet? If so, including contact information is appropriate. This
contact information can include details of a persons habitual
location, official location, position, telephone number, e-mail
address, etc...

Is the database there to provide registration information on the
organisations holding Internet numbering resources (AS numbers and
and IP address space)? I think so and I think that the proposed
Organisation object will make a good contribution to this. It will
have space for address information that can include details of the
country the organisation is based in.

Is the database there to provide information about which countries 
a network is located in? If so, why? Who uses the information? What 
do they do with it? Does Joe User with a /28 for his SOHO network, 
have an obligation to provide them with that information?

If the country attribute remains mandatory then how should its
values be interpreted? Should be be see as "This is the country my
network is based in" or should they be seen as "This is the country
my head office is based in"? How can the person receiving the data
in response to a query know the intention of the person who
registered the data? 

Without a definition of why the country attribute is there and how
it is meant to be used it is not really possible to actually
determine what "correct" is. 

Best regards,

-- 
leo vegoda
RIPE NCC
Registration Services Manager