Highlight of the Day: Policy Day
Wednesday kicked off with the AIS'16 Policy Day. With a packed session and lots of policy proposals to discuss, the PDWG co-Chair Seun Ojedeji welcomed the attendees and gave an overview of the AFRINIC community policy development process and the day's agenda.
First Session
The session began with policy updates from each of the other four RIRs:
- APNIC - Vivek Nigam
- ARIN - Kevin Blumberg
- LACNIC - Oscar Robles
- RIPE NCC - Marco Schmidt
The next session of the day saw the PDWG Co-Chair elections. Only one candidate, Sami Hassan Omer Salih, stood for election. As no objections from the community were voiced, Sami assumed the position of the PDWG co-Chair alongside Seun for the remainder of the session.Congratulations Sami and welcome to the AFRINIC PDWG!
Second Session
After the break, the community gathered to continue their discussions on the two 'soft landing' policy proposals currently under discussion:
Discussion focused on the need to acquire an IPv6 block before requesting IPv4 space, rationale behind the set maximum IPv4 block issuable during the exhaustion phase and the need too reserve space for Critical Internet Infrastructure. There was was considerable support and a bit of random opposition, sending the proposal back to the list for further discussions.
Discussion focused on the fact that the proposal appears to be a “Crash Landing” rather than “Soft Landing” proposal as its main focus is to accelerate the consumption of IPv4 space rather than delay it. It was mainly opposed rather than supported and hence goes back to the mailing list for further discussion.
Third Session
The first session of the afternoon focused on the following three policy proposals:
Discussion focused on the fact that IPv4 should not be allowed to leave the continent, since much of the infrastructure and internet consumption on the continent is still in infancy, and given the rest of the developed world has been resistant to deploying IPv6 affirms that IPv4 is still here for the long haul. The proposal was sent back to list for further discussion.
Discussion focused on the need and importance of audits, and that these should be put in place by AFRINIC to enable proper monitoring of compliance with policies. There were concerns about exposing members’ confidential information during those audits, and the possible workload these audits may put on staff. Also mentioned is the need for community to provide more guidance on implementation and enforcement.
The proposal was supported by everyone as written.
Fourth Session
The final session of the day, the Open Policy Hour focused on:
- A consensus-building document that contains guidelines for co-chairs to determine consensus on policy proposals in-line with the PDP.
- The need to draw the line between duties of the elections committee and nominations committee during election proceedings.
- Authors of proposals need to sometimes collaborate when proposals have common parts.
- Dewole Ajao was elected as PDWG Co-Chair to complete Seun Ojedeji’s remaining tenure after Seun stepped down.
Gala Dinner Thursday Night
The AIS'16/AFRINIC-24 Gala Dinner takes place on 9th June from 19:00 - 21:00 at the Botswana Craft. Generously sponsored by ITPT Networks and LARUS, the Gala Dinner promises to be a night to remember, with local culture, music, food, dancing and more. Traditional dress is encouraged!