Why does my RIPE whois show someone else's abuse contact from 2003?

Manchester perspective: we see this with legacy PA space from the 90s. Entire /16s still pointing to BT addresses that became TalkTalk that became... nobody knows. The RIPE reclamation project is supposed to fix it but they're underfunded and under-staffed.

Bellaauc, if your ticket stalls, try the RIPE community mailing list ([email protected]). Public visibility sometimes unsticks things. I did this for a /21 in 2021 and had a human response in 48 hours versus 6 weeks on the ticket.

This thread is wild. Kowalski is the RIPE equivalent of those people who still have active AOL accounts.

Has anyone confirmed the phone number is actually Polish? +48 is Poland but could be spoofed or ported. If it's dead, that's another data point for the accuracy complaint.

Number is +48 22 prefix, Warsaw fixed line. Dead tone, not even voicemail. I called from my Auckland office at 10pm local to catch business hours—nothing.

Posted to ripe-list this morning. Already two replies from people with similar stories. One mentioned RIPE is "piloting automated abuse-c validation" but no timeline.

Also: I found Kowalski. He's on LinkedIn, last active 3 weeks ago. Works in IT procurement for a Polish logistics firm. Not dead, just... maintaining a 22-year-old email forward for sport?

This is the best thing I've read this week. Man has a hobby.

You should absolutely LinkedIn message him. "Hi, I noticed you're still listed as abuse contact for [ASN]. I'm the new holder, could we transfer the handle?" Worst case he ignores you. Best case you get a story for RIPE 89.

I maintain my position. Direct contact after initiating a data accuracy complaint creates ambiguity about your intent. RIPE could interpret it as you accepting the data is functional enough for correspondence, undermining the "inaccurate and outdated" claim.

Wait for RIPE's response. The LinkedIn discovery is useful intelligence, not an invitation to negotiate.

But bellaauc already say the email sometimes work, sometimes bounce. The forward is exist, just to wrong place. This is not same as dead contact, RIPE maybe say "still functional" and close ticket.

I am think larryjeong is correct, human contact first. Ask Kowalski are transfer or delete. If he say no, then GDPR angle. Thank you, thank you.

Update: RIPE responded to the ticket in 6 days, which is faster than I expected. They want:

1. Proof of current inetnum holder status (have)
2. Evidence the abuse-c is unreachable (have: bounces, dead phone, Yahoo Groups defunct)
3. Attempt to contact the listed abuse-c and documentation of no response (do not have)

So Fritz48 was right about the process, but RIPE itself wants me to contact Kowalski before they'll orphan the object. I'll do the LinkedIn message, document everything, and report back.

Also: I asked Kowalski if he knew about the forward. He read the message. No reply yet. Will update.