[arin-ppml] simple question about money

[Howard, W. Lee]

> Yes, any attempt to separate "resource policy" and "pricing 
> policy" just can't work. This is like saying that the price 
> of oil is unrelated to energy resources policy.

Integers aren't oil.  Even if they were analogous, I'm not
convinced energy policy is related to the price of oil, or
that it should be in any significant way.

> I am sure we 
> are all familiar with basic laws of supply and demand. How 
> things are priced affects how much is consumed, incentives to 
> conserve, what are viable substitutes, etc. 

We do not have a market.  ARIN is a not-for-profit trying to
recover its costs.  We can change that, but it requires the
membership to tell us they want a different system, which is
why that discussion should happen on arin-discuss.

Lest you feel disenfranchised, you may become an ARIN member
without having to justify an address allocation:
http://www.arin.net/membership/index.html

Also, there is a policy proposal under discussion that may
be relevant: http://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/2008_2.html


> There are many pricing structures that would cover the costs 
> of the registry. But how those costs are distributed across 
> different classes of address users can vary greatly, and each 

Yes, it's an imperfect model. 

If we want to assess our fixed costs and our transaction costs,
we could spend a few hundred thousand dollars in consulting and
develop a more finely-tuned system.  


> It seems to me that the two biggest policy issues facing RIRs 
> today are address transfers (in effect, the creation of a 
> much-needed private secondary market to move scarce v4 
> addresses from underutilized allocations/assignments to those 
> who need them more) and the costs or fees associated with 
> granting assignments or allocations. 

I encourage you to get more involved!

You can voice support for or opposition to a current proposal,
on this very list (PPML at arin.net).  For instance:
http://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/2008_2.html

You can propose something else:
+ Send email to PPML at arin.net with your idea to get informal
feedback.
+ Send email to one of the Advisory Council members to get 
assistance submitting a formal proposal.
	http://www.arin.net/about_us/ac.html
+ Formally propose an alternative, by sending a completed 
Policy Proposal Template
(http://www.arin.net/policy/irpep_template.html)
to policy at arin.net, as described in the Internet Resource
Policy Evaluation Process (http://www.arin.net/policy/irpep.html)

You can attend a free public policy meeting and voice your support
for or opposition to a proposal: 
http://www.arin.net/meetings/index.html
You can attend the Open Policy Hour just before a policy meeting
and get informal feedback on your idea (watch for announcements
as we approach the next meeting). 


Of course, all of these options are open to everyone. It's a
very open policy process.

Lee