Level 3's IRR Database

["Andrew Alston" <aa () tenet ac za>]

Hi All,

I've just noticed that Level 3 is allowing people to register space in its IRR database that A.) is not assigned to the 
people registering it and B.) is not assigned via/to Level 3.

So, I have two queries

A.) Are only customers of Level 3 allowed to use this database
B.) Can someone from Level 3 please clarify if there are any plans to lock this down slightly

At this point, it would seem that if you are a customer of level 3's, you can register any space you feel like in 
there, and announce anything you feel like once the filters propagate, which in my opinion completely nullifies the 
point of IRR in the first place.

Though I think this also raises the question about IRR databases in general.  Would it not be far more sane to have 
each RIR run a single instance each which talk to each other, which can be verified against IP address assignments, and 
scrap the distributed IRR systems that allow for issues like this to occur?

(In the mean time I've emailed the relevant people to try and get the entries falsely registered in that database 
removed, and will wait and see if I get a response).


Andrew Alston
TENET - Chief Technology Officer
Phone: +27 21 763 7181