[arin-ppml] Staff proposing policy.

[John Curran]

On Apr 28, 2011, at 11:22 AM, Leo Bicknell wrote:
> ...
> As a result staff can't come forward and say "here's an example of
> how things are broken", lay it all out, and let the community fix it.
> 
> Today what happens is staff generally holds in any advice they could
> give as a result, but from time to time will produce some public
> information in a "Experience Report"

Leo - We've tried to make the policy experience report much more
complete, and I believe that presently provides an adequate voice 
for the staff to note issues with currently adopted policy.

> To me the answer is simple.  ARIN Staff should be able to propose
> policy.  Note that doesn't mean there couldn't still be restrictions,
> I'm not advocating any staff be able to do it at any time.  I just
> think that if ARIN staff has found an area for improvement and they
> get internal agreement they should be able to drop a policy 
> in the process like any other community member advocating a change.
> 
> I think there would be very little chance of abuse, since the policy
> would go through the PDP, and still need community support and be
> evaluated by the AC.  However, it would allow the staff to stand
> up and say things like "we find regulation abcd is vague, and so
> we actually use standards 1, 2, or 3 and would like to replace abcd
> in policy with 1 2 and 3 so the policy is more clear."
> 
> To me it is a way to increase transparency by allowing staff to
> bring problems and direct suggestions to the table while not having
> to mess with NDA's and the potential publication of customer
> confidential data.

The Policy Experience report allows the staff to raise issues without
disclosure issues or directing advocating solutions.  My first preference
would be to allow staff to augment the report with a "preferred option"
in cases where the policy needs improvement and there is a consensus
internally about the preferred policy solution.

> Now, as far as I know there is nothing in the PDP that prevents staff
> from submitting proposals.  

Per <https://www.arin.net/policy/pdp.html> ARIN PDP, part 2, section 1:  
"Policy proposals may be submitted by anyone in the global Internet community
 except for members of the ARIN Board of Trustees or the ARIN staff."

> We don't need a policy proposal to make
> this happen.  All that needs to happen if the community wants this
> sort of action is for us to make it clear, so ARIN can change it's
> internal rules on how employees interact with the community.

Agreement on this point; if folks want the ARIN staff to provide direct
suggestion on policy changes based on staff insight, I would propose 
that such preferred solutions be added to the Policy Experience Report,
and that the report be made more frequently (quarterly) so that the 
community may consider this feedback and initiate proposals as desired.

Thanks!
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
ARIN