[ARIN-consult] Consultation on ARIN Fees

[Adam Thompson]

On 2021-07-21 16:15, William Herrin wrote:
> Unless you're planning to change ARIN's quarter-century practice of
> risk aversion toward letting cases proceed to the point where a court
> sets a precedent about the shape of the pre-ARIN registrants' rights?
> I know Owen remembers how far ARIN bent in Microsoft/Nortel to reach
> an agreement, any agreement, rather than let the court set precedent
> with respect to what it could do with Nortel's legacy registration.

I would like to point out that in this regard, I do not believe ARIN is 
accurately representing its members' interests.  Perhaps the megacorps 
that dominate this industry like every other do enjoy the current 
status, but I know both I, and many other smaller registrants I've 
spoken over the years, would much prefer that jurisprudence exists, even 
if it's unfavourable.

Losing flexibility is a problem, but living in fear is also a problem, 
and not knowing the real legal status of things like "can legacy 
registrants claim any rights over IP addresses" is (i.e. not just what 
the [L]RSA says), is also a problem.  Contracts are not law, and do not 
have the force of law, until tested.

-Adam