[ppml] ARIN participation (was: Proposed Policy: IPv6 HD rati o)

[william(at)elan.net]

On Wed, 11 May 2005, Owen DeLong wrote:

> I remember in the latter half of 2003 when some folks from AfriNIC proposed
> policy 2003-15.  It provided for specific microassignments for Africa
> without relief for North America.  I took great offense, and, a long
> debate ensued.  I think I was public enemy number one for many of the
> African ISPs on the list for some time.  Later, I came to realize that
> they were unaware of proposal 2002-3 and the history of efforts for
> microassignment policy in ARIN.  At that point, we were able to come to
> mutual understanding and agreement.  Both 2002-3 and 2003-15 achieved
> consensus with broad support in North America  and Africa.  Now, 2003-15
> is about to be retired because of the success in getting AfriNIC up and
> running, largely due to the efforts of these bold individuals.
>
> Speak up.  It may not be comfortable, it may not be easy, but, in the end,
> speaking tends to work better than silence.  I suspect neither 2002-3 or
> 2003-15 would have achieved success without the understanding we achieved
> through that debate.

I don't know about that. My personal opinion (at the risk of becoming 
public enemy #1, which is hardly an unusual position for me) is that it
was  a mistake to make 2003-15 a policy when we knew that Afrinic would 
become a RIR within a year and when we knew that micro-assignment policy 
(for the SAME size assignments) was also part of ARIN's own agenda.

What I think should have been done is to let both proposals get discussed
but approve 2003-15 only if there was consensus for it but not a consensus
for 2002-3, i.e. AC should have blocked 2003-15 after the meeting having
seen that its functions are achieved though 2002-3. Otherwise we just 
waisted the effort of having a special policy for a region for one year
and I'm not entirely certain that its a good idea for ARIN to give a 
precedent like that by having a special policy for particular sub-region.

But oh well, this is all history now...
And BTW - congratulations to Afrinic for making it through!
(even when there are enemies like me and Owen lurking around :)

-- 
William Leibzon
Elan Networks
william at elan.net