[arin-ppml] ARIN's Authority - One view (was: Re: LRSA concerns)

[John Curran]

On Aug 23, 2008, at 12:55 PM, Michael K. Smith wrote:
>
> 1) Extend the life of IPv4 - opinions vary, but most data seems to  
> suggest
> that even the best case scenario if all space was returned is that  
> it won't
> extend it by much (6 months, 1 year?)

The LRSA really doesn't do much for extension of the life of IPv4;
there's a clause which allows for fee reduction on return of some
percentage of resources, but I believe it's been infrequently taken
up to date.

> 2) Normalize WHOIS and in-addr.arpa information - I question whether  
> an LRSA
> or any other policy is really needed here.  As many have pointed  
> out, there
> is no commonality of the old records; some have invalid contact info  
> but are
> still valid, some have totally invalid info, some are routed and some
> aren't, etc.  With this many discrepancies, and with the historical
> reference presented by Bill and John, better policy would seem to be  
> a broad
> statement of "we want WHOIS and in-addr.arpa to be accurate" and  
> then build
> the tools to help with the process, and understand that there is  
> still going
> to be a lot of bad information.  Such is life.

There's little doubt that as part of signing the LRSA, the
records are put in a state of much higher integrity.  This
benefit, plus avoiding having ARIN's resources (paid for by
the membership) not used for those who don't participate in
the organization, are what I have heard most often cited as
benefits of this approach.

> I would like to see ARIN focus on the end-game of IPv4 and the  
> adoption of
> IPv6, both through policy and press.  I think all of the efforts to
> manipulate and control IPv4 space are, as Randy put it, just  
> rearranging the
> deck chairs on the Titanic, and presents a picture to the public  
> that there
> are ways to artificially extend the life of IPv4.

The only direct implication of the LRSA with respect to IPv4
depletion is each legacy holder who signs the LRSA is one less
block that is subject to being hijacked in the coming period
of IPv4 free pool depletion.  We can do a lot to refresh
contact information, but a current contractual agreement is
the best protection.

/John