Please excuse me for this rather naive question, but I really don't know the answer. (And in the present context, I would very much like to know.)
Do the contracts that various entities, including but not limited to LiRs, sign with RIPE, in exchange for being issued RIPE number reources, include any sort of a stipulation or condition that the parties agree not to deliberately and with malice aforethought announce routes either (a) using AS numbers which have not been issued to them by one of the five Regional Internet Registries and/or (b) covering IP address space that has not been formally issued to them, or to any of their legitimate customers by one of the five Regional Internet Registries? I guess that another way of expressing this question would be: Do RIPE contracts allow anyone to announce whatever the hell they want, willy nilly, and with no concern whatsoever for the formal allocation process? I wouldn't ask, but it appears that certain RIPE members do not feel particularly constrained to avoid announcing routes to IP address space that they are clearly and deliberately stealing from other parties. Is this the accepted norm in the RIPE region? Is such behavior it contractually permissible, within the RIPE region?
