Refunds???

> > > Is ARIN willing to take back the block and refund the fee paid?
> 
> And since the public registry has already incurred the cost of allocating
> the netblock, I don't think there should be refunds. 

That's generally my feeling.

One alternative, albeit a very troublesome one, is that the ISPs which
prevent the grant from being effectively being used should be required, as
a condition of their respective ARIN grant, to pay the costs.

Yes, I know that that is very, very ugly, but ARIN *could* impose such a
condition on its grants.  There is no reason it could not do so except its
own choice not to do so.  And since that choice isn't in the proposed
charter document on the web site, and since there is no BoT in place, such
a decision could not yet have made. 

There are massive grounds here for potential litigation.  If ARIN is going
to hold to the "non refund" policy then there should be an extremely clear
warning to the potential grantees, before they pay any money, of the
dangers of ISPs refusing routing and that the fees paid are for
the cost of labor of services rendered.

(Overall, I think ARIN is would probably be on pretty good ground with a
"no refund" policy, as long as it is articulated well, customers are given
good notice beforehand, and that the reasons behind the policy are well
documented. [The postings on this thread could possibly constitute part of
such documentation.].  I'm not so sure that the ISPs who "protect
themselves" by routing filters will be able to have such a safe ride.) 

		--karl--