[ppml] Policy Proposals 2007-18 and -23

[michael.dillon at bt.com]

> > No, this is basically split the pie UNFAIRLY using some complex 
> > formula which nobody can understand.

> You haven't asked for any clarifications, so either you are 
> blindly rejecting it because it is different from current 
> policy, or for no reason at all acting as a nay-sayer.

Or else I, like you, find the formula complex and difficult to
understand in its entirety. Judging by the message that you just posted
which makes a small adjustment in the formula, you also have trouble
fully understanding it. And now you have added more complexity by
modifying the triggering events and calculations.

Even if ARIN passes this, that version has to remain substantially
unchanged and be passed in the other 5 RIRs. If, by chance you have
rigged the formula so that it is worse for North America and better for
other regions, they have several months to study it and understand it
and pass it unchanged so as to lock us into our stupidity. Or, if it is
worse for other regions, they will not pass it, so why should we even
bother starting this ball rolling.

In any case, the bottom line is that you just changed the formula so
that gives ARIN members, what, a day or so to figure this out before
passing it?

> I do not understand how that is not "fair", or how you 
> interpret this to not be fair. Perhaps you could explain how 
> you perceive this as unfair?

It is unfair because it is an arbitrary formula which you are fiddling
with up to the last minute. It replaces the proven method of allocating
IP resources based on proven technical need.

Fair would be for all the RIRs to pool any substantial free chunks of
IPv4 space from their regional allocations and jointly manage it so that
it goes to whoever in the world needs it, when they can demonstrate
technical need. This would avoid the games with shell companies in
Africa that your proposal will lead to.

This whole policy process is deeply flawed because it encourages shallow
thinking like your variation on a variation of a bad idea, to take
center stage and does not dig out the creative thinking that could lead
to a really workable solution.

What we really need is an all-party working group (all RIR working
group) that brainstorms various approaches and produces a report
describing how they could be implemented and what the implications are
of each proposal, both pro and con. That way everybody could go into the
decision making process with all the cards on the table.

--Michael Dillon