[arin-ppml] Policy Proposal 108: Eliminate the term license in the NRPM

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

Member Services wrote:
> ARIN received the following policy proposal and is posting it to the
> Public Policy Mailing List (PPML) in accordance with Policy Development
> Process.
> 
> This proposal is in the first stage of the Policy Development Process.
> ARIN staff will perform the Clarity and Understanding step. Staff does
> not evaluate the proposal at this time, their goal is to make sure that
> they understand the proposal and believe the community will as well.
> Staff will report their results to the ARIN Advisory Council (AC) within
> 10 days.
> 
> The AC will review the proposal at their next regularly scheduled
> meeting (if the period before the next regularly scheduled meeting is
> less than 10 days, then the period may be extended to the subsequent
> regularly scheduled meeting). The AC will decide how to utilize the
> proposal and announce the decision to the PPML.
> 
> In the meantime, the AC invites everyone to comment on the proposal on
> the PPML, particularly their support or non-support and the reasoning
> behind their opinion. Such participation contributes to a thorough
> vetting and provides important guidance to the AC in their deliberations.
> 
> Draft Policies and Proposals under discussion can be found at:
> https://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/index.html
> 
> The ARIN Policy Development Process can be found at:
> https://www.arin.net/policy/pdp.html
> 
> Mailing list subscription information can be found
> at: https://www.arin.net/mailing_lists/
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Member Services
> American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)
> 
> 
> ## * ##
> 
> 
> Policy Proposal 108: Eliminate the term license in the NRPM
> 
> Proposal Originator: David Farmer
> 
> Proposal Version: 1.0
> 
> Date: 2 February 2010
> 
> Proposal type: modify
> 
> Policy term: Permanent
> 
> Policy statement:
> 
> Delete section 6.4.1 and replace with a new section;
> 
> 1.1 Number resources are not property
> 
> To serve the interests of the Internet community as a whole, number
> resources are not property (real, personal, or intellectual). The
> allocation and assignment of IP addresses, ASNs, and other number
> resources are subject to the terms of the ARIN Registration Services
> Agreement, the policies in this document, and any amendments as may be
> made to either one.
> 
> Modify section 11.4 by removing “on a lease/license basis”, leaving the
> following;
> 
> 11.4 Resource Allocation Term and Renewal
> 
> The Numbering Resources are allocated for a period of one year. The
> allocation can be renewed on application to ARIN providing information
> as per Detail One. The identity and details of the applicant and the
> allocated Numbering Resources will be published under the conditions of
> ARIN's normal publication policy. At the end of the experiment,
> resources allocated under this policy will be returned to the available
> pool.
> 
> Rationale:
> 
> As part of the discussion of Policy Proposal #106 the issue of the use
> of the term “license” in section 6.4.1 and that it is not likely in
> harmony with the ARIN Registration Services Agreement was recognized.
> The AC feels that this issue is important enough to make it a separate
> Draft Policy that stands on its own.
> 
> This section could not be fixed by simple editorial changes and it
> requires a complete rewrite in order to fix the issues. It was further
> recognized that the concept that “Number resources are not property” is
> not exclusively an IPv6 issue and should be moved out of section 6, so
> that it is clear that it applies to all number resources.
> 
> Finally, the rest of the NRPM was searched for any additional uses of
> the term “license”. One additional use was found in section 11.4, in
> this case deleting it and a few other words surrounding it, fixes the
> issue without significantly changing the meaning of the section.
> 
> Timetable for implementation: Immediate
> 

We (my org) opposes this policy proposal.

We feel that changes of this nature  - namely a change that has a
stated goal of NOT modifying the intent of the NRPM, merely clarifying
it - are best made by counsel.

This policy proposal does not belong here.  If the proposers intent is
to eliminate "bad language" in the NRPM WITHOUT changing the meaning of
the NRPM, it is best accomplished via the Suggestion Box, through a 
request to have ARIN counsel review the document and make the edits,
then submit them to the membership via the policy proposal process.

If ARIN counsel decides the edits are unwarranted, then they will 
respond with why that is the case, and that will be that.

ARIN counsel has to use the NRPM when ARIN is sued court, that is
what they are paid to do.  They are paid by us (ARIN) to (among other
things) inform us of deficiencies in the NRPM that would imped their
ability to use the NRPM to do the job we are paying them.

Proposals of this type need to originate from ARIN counsel, not the
other way around.

If the submitter actually wishes to modify policy intent, then that is
a different thing.  But this proposal is being pitched specifically as
NOT a modification of policy intent.

Ted