[arin-ppml] Legacy Space authority

Brian Johnson wrote:
> Before ARIN was allocating IP space, who was doing it. Was it ICANN? If
> so, can't ICANN delegate their authority to the RIRs to handle these
> allocations?

the end user view:

 o first, dr. jon postel did both names and numbers informally

 o then he did them under government contract to isi and it became
   the iana

 o then sri nic did them under government contract, mostly done by ann
   westine [cooper]

 o then it was rebid, and saic won it and it became network solutions,
   mark and scott in a basement with a 56kb line.  they quickly learned
   about scaling. :)  this became verisign/netsol.

 o then the numbers were broken out and given to the rirs operating
   under the iana, one at a time as they were formed.  arin was formed
   in '97.

 o it remains a simple hierarchy today, iana, rirs, isps/lirs, end sites
   today, with some tensions, some anomalies (see 'nir'), and a lot of
   bs.  it is monitored by people in suits riding in black helicopters,
   and mailing list trolls.  the former are not known to eat.  do not
   feed the latter.

randy