[arin-ppml] Set aside round deux

[Roger Marquis]

> Additionally, much of the space to be audited is legacy space where
> it is not entirely clear ARIN can do much about the situation after the
> audit anyway.

Can't deny there is not much ARIN can do currently, particularly not
given its inability make IPv6 more feasible or correct past excessively
large IPv4 allocations.   This is likely to change, however, when there
are no more IPv4 addresses to allocate and current netblock owners begin
milking their holdings for profit.  When that occurs the legal landscape
is likely to change as it did when ICANN proposed deregulating tld
domain names.  In that case the DOD stepped in.  In this case I would
also expect the FCC to step in.

> An auditor as you are describing shouldn't actually bring any opinions
> on IPv6 transition or any of the other factors to the table at all. To the
> extent possible, the auditor should be strictly looking at whether the
> address utilization is sufficiently efficient according to ARIN policy to
> justify the address space held and making a report of that fact or of
> the extent to which the organization in question is out of compliance
> with ARIN policy.

Agreed, and it is that policy i.e., recognizing utilization, which must
change.  In particular it must begin addressing large legacy allocations,
mergers and aquisitions, and abandoned netblocks.

> The next step would be for staff to institute voluntary or forced reclamation
> procedures as required under section 12 after the audit, if the organization
> is significantly out of compliance.

I'd be surprised if there will not be sufficient political capital for
forced reclamation.  The political fallout necessary for that will follow
address exhaustion and it will be shaped first by the press and then by
the government.  We have not yet seen a "60 Minutes" show muckraking the
large IPv4 squatters but, heads-up corporate marketing departments, you
will likely need to move to damage control mode when the press picks up
this story.  Nothing new here, just study the history of Enron,
CountryWide, BP and other one-time beneficiaries of excessive
deregulation and under-regulation for details.

> There really is not much that ARIN can do to change the way that IPv4
> exhaustion impacts us. It is too late. About the only thing that would
> help us through the IPv6 transition would be a massive educational
> program by ARIN, starting with sessions for New York stock market analysts
> who ask CEOs the tough questions when they present their quarterly
> results.

"There really is not much that ARIN can do" does seem to be the case,
today, except perhaps for planning a less disruptive transition to IPv6,
emphasis on the "disruptive".

Roger Marquis