[ARIN-consult] Reminder on ARIN Consultation on RPKI/BGP

[John Curran]

On Feb 20, 2024, at 6:17 PM, Michael Richardson <mcr+ietf at sandelman.ca> wrote:
...
I understand that legacy holders do not get access to the ARIN trust anchors,
and so can't verify.  That's one direction of trust, and I think it's unfortunate.
I think that if they started to see benefit from RPKI, they might wonder why
they aren't involved, and consider joining.

Michael  –

Alas, the challenge is that there are legacy resource holders who have made a conscious decision
over the years that they are better off not entering into a registration services agreement with ARIN –
the same agreement that every other resource holder has & with the same terms and conditions –
and thus they decline to receive the full set of services as every other registry customer.   While it is
possible that the benefits of RPKI will impact their consideration of the matter, it’s not at all assured.

As for the reason why, we’ve heard it asserted by some legacy resource holders that they hold
unspecified and/or unproven rights to their number resource entries in the ARIN registry, and
furthermore that entry into an ARIN registration services agreement would impact those rights.
While ARIN has changed the registration agreement several times to reduce the probability of
any conflict, it is a realistic concern given the otherwise indeterminate nature of the assertions.

ARIN was formed to take on full responsibility for the Internet number registry that was previously
administered under USG direction, and to provide a clear voice to this community on how these
number resources are managed.  We have provided this community with the ability to elect its own
governing body for ARIN (the ARIN Board of Trustees) and that body has consistently held for over
25 years that that ARIN should provide legacy holders with the same basic registry services that they
were receiving at ARIN’s formation without cost or contract.  However, we have also heard consistent
community demand for equitable treatment of _all_ ARIN customers in terms of agreements and fees;
this should not be surprising given that the ARIN registry exists in service to the entire community.

The present situation is the result of balancing those two principled positions:  ARIN legacy resource
holders continue to receive basic registry services (and many member-funded enhancements such as
online registry management, DNSSEC support for reverse DNS zones, etc.) without contract or fee.
They also enjoy full participation in the policy development process, the ARIN consultation process, etc.

However, if they want to receive all of services that have been funded by the ARIN members – such as
authenticated IRR and RPKI – then they have to agree to the same registry terms as everyone else.
Doing so is quite simple, but does require being comfortable with being treated the same as every other
ARIN member – a problematic requirement for some given that they hold inherently inequitable beliefs
regarding their number resources in the ARIN registry.

Thanks,
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers




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