[ppml] Proposal for the creation of a working group.

[Thomas Narten]

Scott Leibrand <sleibrand at internap.com> writes:

> Raul,

> Another option for coordinating policy between the RIRs would be to
> simply submit the proposal to multiple RIRs and have each RIR run
> the proposal through their own public policy process. I think that's
> happening now, and has happened in the past with other policy
> proposals.

IMO, the process for getting globally-coordinated policies adopted
locally within each region has signficant flaws. For starters, in an
ideal world, it takes 2 cycles in each RIR to get something done. So
we are talking something like 18 months to 2 years in practice. Can
you say "miss the window of opportunity"?

I also believe many of the policies that are being discussed really
only make sense if done more globally. The fact is (as Raul said in
his initial note) that many of the policies just don't make sense if
done differently in different regions. The challenge is that address
policies in practice often have global impact (e.g., on route table
size, on long term consumption rates, etc.). Treating them as local
policies significantly misses the point. Or, if there are significant
differences in the details in practice, can lead to RIR shopping by
entities looking for address space with the best terms.

Speaking also as someone who has participated in globally-coordinated
policy development, it is really, really, really hard to pull it off
in practice. Consider the travel involved, for starters. (It is a fact
that the face-to-face meetings are an important part of the process,
and to be effective one needs to participate in those meetings.)

In my experience, the only way to get any significant (or contentious)
globally-coordinated policy adopted in practice requires the help of a
team of people (from multiple regions) to work together to help
coordinate the activities and to help folk understand the nuances of
how each individual RIR works. And to come up with specific proposals
that have a chance of being adopted by each region.

I think the basic proposal Raul is making is a recognition of the
challenges involved in getting significant policies adopted, and
should be given serious consideration.

Bottom line: how much time do the RIRs _really_ have to get any sort
of IPv4 end game policy adopted before it is too late to matter?

Thomas