ICANN waves hands in protest at AFRINIC election arrangement

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has called for changes to the roster of officials appointed to oversee the forthcoming election at the African Network Information Centre (AFRINIC), the latest twist in a conflict that stretches back years and has left the African regional internet registry in limbo …

[Pascal Monett]

"not a hostile takeover or power grab"

No, of course not. Lu Peng is based in Hong Kong. It's not like this is China attempting to extend its influence in Africa.

Oh, wait . . .

[Peter2]

Re: "not a hostile takeover or power grab"

It's fairly obvious what this is about from the link.

Cloud Innovation basically bought a block of IPv4 addresses in Africa for use in Africa, and then used them in China. They were told to stop doing this or face termination of their license agreement. They didn't stop, and instead launched lawfare tactics to prevent AFRINIC from doing it's job and has kept them in limbo for at least the last 5 years. This is also telling:-

03 September 2021: Cloud Innovation applied for an Order authorising it to proceed with the “saisie conservatoire” of all the 6.9 million IPv4 unused addresses presently held by AFRINIC. That application was set-aside on 07 September 2021.

Somebody is obviously very short of IPv4 addresses.

[Brian 3]

ICANN of all orgs complaining about conflict of interests?!?! I remember HUGE conflicts of interests with them a number of times. If they think it's wrong why don't they return all their wages and admit their wrongs to a judge????