[arin-ppml] ARIN releases new version of the Legacy Registration

[Jeremy H. Griffith]

On Sat, 6 Sep 2008 21:39:15 -0400, John Curran <jcurran at istaff.org> 
wrote:

>It is understandable to be discouraged by the LRSA changes
>made to date, *if* you start from the belief that there is
>no successor registry with the duty of administration of
>these numbering resources in the region.  

That's not where I start from.  I start from the belief that 
a "successor" is necessarily bound to respect the acts of its
"predecessors", which issued the legacy resources under terms
that were very different from those now being offered:

*  No possibility of return on an involuntary basis.
   This was essential to encourage us to do the work
   that led to the current Internet.

*  No fees, even though essentially the same services
   for which fees are now deemed appropriate were in
   existence at that time.

Is ARIN going to respect the terms of our previous contract,
or not?  (The contract does not have to be written to be a
contract, as I hope you know.)  So far, all I see on offer
is take-away, and the reason we are to sign is so that we
do not experience something worse later, presumably also at
ARIN's hands, or at the hands of *its* successor.  There's
a name for that form of encouragement: "extortion".  I am
sure that is not your intent, but that is the precise legal
term for the legacy RSA process as I see it unfolding here.

No offense intended.  Just calling a spade a spade,
and not a ... diamond.  ;-)

>Others see a different starting point and hence are encouraged 
>by the progress.

Well, if you begin with the idea that all legacy resources
should be expropriated, then yes, it is progress.  But if
you want us to join voluntarily, not under vague threats, 
you need to do better.  Mind you, I *want* to join... but
it would be irresponsible of me to do so under the present 
terms.

If I seem a bit testy, I am.  I've been here following the
process for about a year and a half now, and seen amazing
displays of greed, bad faith, categorical insults, and
vitriol, not all directed against legacy assignees (there
seems plenty to go around for all).  I've also seen good,
dedicated, community-minded folks doing their very best to
solve hard problems, and I applaud them.  I just hope that
the second group has more traction than the first.

--JHG <jhg at omsys.com>