[ppml] Directory Services - section 3.4.3

[Michael.Dillon at btradianz.com]

> >     >            - Via CDROM to users who complete the bulk data form.

> This isn't vast overspecification. It's better described as a minimum 
> level of service delivery.

When you put a statement like that in policy then you
are implying that CD-ROM is the only acceptable media.
What happens if the data won't fit on one CD-ROM. Will
ARIN staff sit there swapping in CD-Rs, and then do
it all over again to verify that they are all readable?
If we simple say

-Via recordable media to users who have signed the bulk data AUP

Then we are not overspecifying the details. ARIN is still
free to offer the data on a DVD-R with 5 copies of the data
in different formats for $100 or on CD-R with your choice
of a single data format for $2,000 dollars. The extra fee
covers the time spent sitting and swapping disks. People can
ask ARIN to buy a USB 2.0 or Firewire drive, load the 5 formats
of the database and mail it to them. Or people can drive up
to the ARIN offices with a PC containing a DLT drive and
100baseT network card to do a high-speed SMB transfer of the 
data onto tape.

These are all details which are not specified in the policy
and which are not possible if the policy mentions CDROM. That
is why that phrase is OVERSPECIFICATION.

> Staff
> could probably figure out on their own if a CD-ROM made sense, but
> there's no harm in saying "else...CD-ROM".

Yes, there is harm in saying "else...CD-ROM". By doing that we
usurp the ability of ARIN staff to use their own judgement. 
We are micromanaging. Do you like your boss to tell you in 
detail how to do your daily tasks? Policy is like instructions
from the boss and good policy should not overspecify in the same
way that good managers should not micromanage.

--Michael Dillon