[arin-ppml] SWIPs & IPv6

[John Curran]

On Dec 3, 2009, at 3:13 PM, Chris Engel wrote:
> ...
> You, as Joe Public, really don't need to know WHO holds a particular address block....you just need to know what that address block is and how to go about reporting problems caused by it. You don't really need to know who that entity is to accomplish that...just where to report the issue. The point where you would need to know the actual identity of the block holder is likely the point at which law enforcment or the courts should be getting involved anyway.

Chris - There's several reasons that have been cited in the past for having to know the holder of a block, and while that includes the law enforcement angle, there's also abuse & copyright mitigation, operational attack response, and end-to-end network problem diagnosis.  I haven't been running a network personally in a few years, so I don't know the extent to which these are still valid but mention them for consideration.

Also, it's important to note that it is not going to be one contact that you need, as address allocation is hierarchical in nature.  So, if network contacts aren't publicly visible, what we're really saying that you get the contact for the master block, and ask them for the contact for their sub-delegation, then contact that entity to repeat as necessary until you get the contact for the end-user assignment.  This could indeed could be workable, but that likely depends on the timeliness that is needed in response.

Interesting issues to consider,
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
ARIN