IP addresses used to be governed locally by AUNIC (Australia Network Information Centre), which was run out of Telstra as a free service. AUNIC no longer has a role in allocation of IP addresses, its database being taken over by APNIC (Asia Pacific Network Information Centre) -- the Asia Pacific administrative body for IP addresses -- in May 2001.
-In the old days IP addresses were given out very liberally and there was not a lot of cross checking," APNIC's documentation manager Gerard Ross told ZDNet Australia. -These days it's different," he added, explaining that IP address holders are now charged fees for membership and have to provide a lot of organisational detail.
Ross conceded that since the AUNIC/APNIC crossover, there have been instances of competing claims for some addresses, although he pointed out that there had only been a handful of cases.
Although it acquired AUNIC's legacy database, APNIC has no historical relationship with transferred IP holders, Ross explained. -There's a bit of a potential mess with some of the old stuff...there have been a few disputes."
One potential dispute surrounds a Christian education association which claims it is the registered owner of a number of IP addresses used without its permission by T3 Direct, the company at the centre of Australia's recent spam stoush.
The Which Company, trading as T3 Direct, is suing anti-spam advocate Joseph McNichol for AU$43,750 for allegedly causing it to be blacklisted by the http://www.spews.org/ spam prevention Web site. Amongst its claim, it's seeking loss and damages of AU$14,000 for replacing blocked or compromised Internet Protocol (IP) numbers.
However, Steven Crockett, newly appointed IT manager at the Swan Christian Education Association, claims some of the IP addresses listed by T3 in its statement of claim against McNichol belong to itself and are being used for T3's purposes without its permission.
According to Crockett, about four years ago the Association applied for an entire block of 255 IP addresses in the 203.55.16 range and -plainly forgot about them". At the time, they were registered for the Association under the name of an individual who has since gone on to work for T3 Direct and who has -without our permission used our IP addresses for T3 Direct," Crockett alleges.
When ZDNet Australia did a search on APNIC's whois database, one of the said IP addresses was in fact registered to T3 Direct. However, a source close to the case claims these registration details have been altered recently.
According to Ross, registration is the important part of showing who has custodianship of IP addresses but once allocated, individuals can be nominated as the registered contact person for IP numbers. With passwords at their disposal, the registered contact is able to control registration details of IP addresses.
Possible scenarios, Ross suggested, are businesses which split and see one partner who has a password taking control of the IP addresses, and disgruntled employees -- who are the registered contact on the IP numbers -- using their password to change registration details.
"I've approached T3 Direct and demanded it immediately cease to use them," Crockett told ZDNet Australia. Crockett said he has also contacted Swiftel, T3 Direct's ISP, asking it to immediately cease service to these addresses, and APNIC requesting the immediate removal of the previous administrative contact from its records.
APNIC's Ross said its general approach to competing claims was to ask for as much documentation as possible, including statutory declarations explaining the situation. However, APNIC, he said, it had to take the database at -face value".
-Essentially our position is we cannot judge disputes," he said. -Only when they [an organisation] can clearly establish that the dispute has been resolved can we go amending the database in their favour."
Ross confirmed that APNIC had heard from Swan Christian Education Association and said the group had been sent an information pack of legal documentation this morning. -We're waiting now to get documentation back from them, and will look at it on its own merits."
-It's possible an initial set of documentation from them might not be enough," Ross added, saying the organisation would then have to dispute the issue.
Tan and Tan Solicitors declined to comment on behalf of T3 Direct.
