[ARIN-consult] Consultation on ARIN Fees

[John Curran]

On 22 Jul 2021, at 11:04 AM, arin-consult at arin.net<mailto:arin-consult at arin.net> wrote:

From: Owen DeLong <owen at delong.com<mailto:owen at delong.com>>
Subject: Re: [ARIN-consult] Consultation on ARIN Fees
Date: 22 July 2021 at 11:04:29 AM EDT
To: Adam Thompson <athompso at athompso.net<mailto:athompso at athompso.net>>
Cc: William Herrin <bill at herrin.us<mailto:bill at herrin.us>>, <arin-consult at arin.net<mailto:arin-consult at arin.net>>

Sure, but lots of people repeatedly talk about ARIN (and other RIRs) as if their policy is law.

I think it is important for the community to remember and be aware fo the true status and the
actual power structure rather than assume that the RIRs are some form of governmental
authority.

Indeed.  ARIN is simply an instantiation the community’s desire for mutual coordination of Internet number resources. Such coordination could be done via other means – e.g. call up every other provider to see what’s in use, and then assign yourself whatever is free – but such an approach becomes logistically challenging when number of the parties is large, hence a more centralized “registry” approach.

I don’t want governmental authority in charge of numbering (which would most likely take
the form of an ITU takeover of the process), but I do want people to be aware of the
true balance of power in that if an RIR oversteps its role as a registry too far or becomes
too egregious in its actions, the community of those who control routers is utterly and
completely free to replace it and there is precious little that ICANN or the RIRs would
be able to do about it.

The predicate of your statement  (the existence of a consensus among f a significantly large portion of the community who control the routers) would presumably be equally capable of obtaining control of the RIR in question and directly addressing the relevant issues – such an approach being far more predictable and having a higher chance of success than “pushing the reset button” on the entire model...

I do not think things have reached that point and I am not advocating forking the internet
at this time, but I also don’t think it is a good idea to let misunderstandings of this true
nature stand, either.

I’m unclear what “misunderstanding” you’re responding to - Adam himself said: "ARIN and the entire NRO system is hardly unique, or even special, in this regard. We follow the RIR model because it's easier to do that than to fork the entire internet.” – suggesting nearly the very same point.

In any case, this entire thread has run far fast the point of being germane to discussion of ARIN suggestions and consultations, and I’d suggest we now return the mailing list to that purpose so that we don’t lose those who subscribe under that assumption.

Thanks!
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers

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