[Apologies for duplicate emails] Dear colleagues, There has been discussion on various mailing lists regarding the status of the RIPE Database Proxy Service. Before I address the issues that arose, I'd like to give you some background information on the service itself that may help with the discussions. Technical Background -------------------- To prevent the automatic harvesting of personal information (real names, email addresses, phone numbers) from the RIPE Database, there are PERSON and ROLE object query limits defined in the RIPE Database Acceptable Use Policy. This is set at 1,000 PERSON or ROLE objects per IP address per day. Queries that result in more than 1,000 objects with personal data being returned result in that IP address being blocked from carrying out queries for that day. Users of the RIPE Database have unlimited access to Network Information Centre (NIC)-related objects. They can use the -r flag in order to filter out personal objects and query NIC objects without any limitations. The RIPE Database Proxy Service allows websites to provide a third party interface to the RIPE Database. Without the proxy service, the third parties would quickly run into the limits set on RIPE Database queries. With the proxy service, we whitelist the third party IP address and ask them to pass their user's IP address to us, so limits are only set on the user's IP address, not the third party's. There is no technical way to ensure that the user IP addresses passed to us by the third party are valid. Potentially, third party users of the proxy service could harvest all personal data in the RIPE Database (approximately 2 million objects) in a matter of hours. To ensure that the RIPE NCC's Terms and Conditions are followed, we require a contract between the third party and the RIPE NCC. Users of the Proxy Service -------------------------- In the past ten years, the RIPE NCC has had 31 requests for the proxy service and over the past year, there have been only four active users of the service. Of these four, one is already a RIPE NCC member. NIC Information --------------- All NIC information is still available without access to the proxy service. In the normal presentation of whois data, there is a redirect system that allows users with a normal whois client to deal directly with the RIPE Database whois service. There is no need for a proxy service in this scenario. The proxy service is only necessary if the data needs to be presented in alternative forms, such as on a third party's website. The limits imposed on RIPE Database queries only apply to personal data. Users can always access NIC data in any form they like if they are happy not to receive personal data. On 6 March 2012, the RIPE NCC proposed to change the default behaviour of the query system to instead return only "ALLOWED" results if a user had reached their daily personal data query limit, but there was disagreement over this on the mailing list so the change was not implemented. The proposal is available at: http://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/db-wg/2012-March/003885.html Legal Considerations -------------------- The RIPE NCC operates under European Data Protection laws, so to avoid risk in this area we insist on having a contract with third parties who wish to use the proxy service. The RIPE NCC and its Executive Board believes that the proxy service should become a member service because it tightens the contractual relationship between the RIPE NCC and third parties. Currently, no such agreement that meets the EU Data Protection legislation is in place between the RIPE NCC and the proxy service users. In order to tighten the contractual relationship between the RIPE NCC and the Proxy service users, taking into account the recent approval of the Charging Scheme 2013 that caused a simplification of the contractual agreements between the RIPE NCC and its service users, the RIPE NCC offered to conclude the membership agreement for continuation of the service. Next Steps? ------------ The Executive Board approved changes to the draft version of the Activity Plan and Budget 2013, and the RIPE NCC published the final version on 13 December 2012: http://www.ripe.net/internet-coordination/news/announcements/ripe-ncc-activi... We do apologise, however, that the changes regarding the proxy service were not more explicitly communicated to the members and the RIPE community in advance of the final publication of the Activity Plan. The RIPE NCC asks that non-RIPE NCC member proxy service users become members but we propose to waive their membership fee until the discussion of the RIPE NCC Charging Scheme 2014 takes place. This will give the membership and community the opportunity to discuss the best way forward for the proxy service in the coming months while ensuring a strong contractual bond between the RIPE NCC and users of this service. In the meantime, there will be no changes to the proxy service and no loss of functionality for the community. The RIPE NCC and its Executive Board will return to its members with proposals for ways to ensure that their wishes are met with regard to service developments while allowing the RIPE NCC to be operate efficiently and responsively. If you have any comments on this issue, please direct them to the RIPE NCC Services Working Group mailing list <ncc-services-wg@ripe.net>. Best regards, Axel Pawlik Managing Director RIPE NCC