419 Operations To Be Recognised By African Governments?

This is a stretch, but just a small one.

IANA awarded the 41.0.0.0/8 subnet to AfriNIC in April 2005.

It takes VERY little imagination to see the 41.9.0.0/16 being a subnet valued by someone. Maybe a Nigerian industrial ISP?

5/23/2006 14:46:09 whois -h whois.arin.net 41.9.0.0

OrgName: African Network Information Center
OrgID: AFRINIC
Address: 03B3 - 3rd Floor - Ebene Cyber Tower
Address: Cyber City
Address: Ebene
Address: Mauritius
City: Ebene
StateProv:
PostalCode: 0001
Country: MU

NetRange: 41.0.0.0 - 41.255.255.255
CIDR: 41.0.0.0/8
NetName: NET41
NetHandle: NET-41-0-0-0-1
Parent:
NetType: Allocated to AfriNIC
NameServer: NS1.AFRINIC.NET
NameServer: NS-SEC.RIPE.NET
NameServer: NS.LACNIC.NET
NameServer: TINNIE.ARIN.NET
Comment:
RegDate: 2005-04-12
Updated: 2005-07-12

OrgAbuseHandle: GENER11-ARIN
OrgAbuseName: Generic POC
OrgAbusePhone: +230 4666616
OrgAbuseEmail: abusepoc@afrinic.net

OrgTechHandle: GENER11-ARIN
OrgTechName: Generic POC
OrgTechPhone: +230 4666616
OrgTechEmail: abusepoc@afrinic.net

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2006-05-22 19:10
# Enter ? for additional hints on searching ARIN's WHOIS database.

There's no way that this is a mere coincidence. Blocks 36.0.0.0/8, 37.0.0.0/8, and 39.0.0.0/8 are all available. Don't believe me? Do a WhoIs lookup on "36.0.0.1". Use either

• All Net Tools SmartWhois
• DNS Stuff WHOIS Lookup

or any WhoIs type tool that you like. Check it.

Somebody in either AfriNIC or IANA has a wicked sense of humour.