Governance
Randy Bush honoured at RIPE 87 after calling RIRs a ‘monopoly’
The internet veteran Randy Bush unleashed a list of failings of the world’s Regional Internet Registries, before being handed an award by one of them.
Headline
The internet veteran Randy Bush unleashed a list of failings of the world’s Regional Internet Registries, before being handed an award by one of them.
Context
Internet veteran Randy Bush has been given the Rob Blokzijl Award for 2023 by RIPE, the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) for Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia, for making “a substantial and sustained contribution to the development of the Internet in the RIPE NCC Services region.” The award came just minutes after Bush, well-known for his outspoken views on Internet governance and operations, gave a speech lamenting various failings of the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) over the years, and called for changes to how RIRs operate.
Evidence
Pending intelligence enrichment.
Analysis
“The situation in AFRINIC is notorious, ARIN was far from perfect for years and APNIC was owned by a single man,” he said during one of the opening plenary sessions at RIPE 87, being held in Rome. Also read: Mobile data in Europe to triple by 2028 and big tech should pay the bill In his acceptance speech, Randy Bush paid tribute to Rob Blokzijl. In a speech that covered numerous points, he called out the world’s RIRs for wasting money and resources on things that were not serving their missions. “The Registries are a monopoly, so why spend all this money? Do we need fancy dinners in castles? Do we need to spend money on all this marketing? It’s a monopoly, people have no choice but to use them,” he said.
Key Points
- Randy Bush lists various failings of Regional Internet Registries
- Randy Bush pays tribute to Rob Blokzijl
Actions
Pending intelligence enrichment.
