[arin-ppml] DRAFT POLICY ARIN-2011-1: GLOBALLY COORDINATED TRANSFER POLICY (Legecy space)

[Benson Schliesser]

On Apr 11, 2011, at 1:16 PM, Bill Woodcock wrote:

> There is no international law that requires participation in the Internet.  We participate in the Internet because we want to.  Anyone who doesn't want to participate is welcome not to.  


You seem to conflate "Internet" with RFC 2050 or, less specifically, with adherence to IETF standards.  But I'd like to point out that compliance with IETF standards is voluntary.  See for example RFC 2418 or http://oreilly.com/catalog/opensources/book/ietf.html, and consider for instance that many networks implement competing standards (e.g. LDP vs RSVP-TE) or choose to not implement some standards (e.g. IP-only non-MPLS).

This is an important distinction to acknowledge, for somebody with fiduciary responsibility of an RIR.  We choose to adhere with RFC 2050 as a community, not because we are required to do so.  As a community, we can choose to evolve.

Cheers,
-Benson