On 14 Apr 2022, at 11:07 PM, Jo Rhett 
<g...@jorhett.com<mailto:g...@jorhett.com>> wrote:

As a matter of point, you make this same argument yourself:


  1.  ARIN was formed for the purpose of administration of the registry in 
North America and took over that responsibility at the time of our formation – 
including the transfer of the registry database to ARIN at USG direction.
  2.  ARIN’s administration of the registry is be performed in accordance with 
our community-developed policies – and we are aware of no obligations that 
prevent ARIN from doing so for all number resources in the registry, including 
legacy resources.

Absolutely, provable true on both points.

I know you want to play nice and encourage participation, so you soft-pedal 
your statements. But please acknowledge the truth--there is no basis in law for 
someone to fail to recognize your authority and perform what was expected of 
them at the time of assignment, which ABSOLUTELY DID include respecting changes 
in policy over time.

To be perfectly clear - yes, there is a little doubt that ARIN can operate the 
registry in accordance with its bylaws as a membership organization and in 
conformance with the registration agreements that we’ve entered into with 
ARIN’s customers – and that includes making changes to fees, services and 
policies of the registry.

However, that is not the complete picture, since those who requested and 
received address assignments before ARIN’s formation may indeed have an 
“agreement” of sorts with a predecessor registry and that may included terms 
implied and/or understood.  Frankly, this a fairly challenging argument due to 
the nature of prior registry operators (as contracted parties to the US 
government) but it cannot be excluded.

So, no, it is not just a desire “to play nice” that motivates my statements: 
there’s potentially both ethical and legal issues if one goes to operate in a 
manner that might be viewed contrary to past commitments.  As the successor 
registry operator, ARIN inherits all of the ambiguity of these earliest 
“agreements” and we continue to honor the intent as we can best derive it – 
hence why legacy resource holders continue to receive essentially the same 
services in place at the time of ARIN’s formation (publication in Whois, 
reverse DNS services, ability to update their registration, etc.) without fee 
or explicit contract.   To the extent that there are to be changes to registry 
operations for legacy resource holders, it would be best if they were the 
result of community-developed policy, and legacy resource holders who have 
concerns about the potential for their registry services are encouraged to 
participate in the open policy development process.

Thanks,
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers



_______________________________________________
ARIN-PPML
You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to
the ARIN Public Policy Mailing List (ARIN-PPML@arin.net).
Unsubscribe or manage your mailing list subscription at:
https://lists.arin.net/mailman/listinfo/arin-ppml
Please contact i...@arin.net if you experience any issues.

Reply via email to