[arin-ppml] Microsoft receives court approval for transfer as agreed with ARIN

[Michel Py]

John,

> If more than a handful actually feel that way to the point of
> participating, then the policies are easily enough to change.
> We have even made it so that remote participants in the Public
> Policy meetings can readily ask questions and be counted in
> the show of support for a given draft policy.

Based on what data? You're taking the problem backwards. There is a
widespread feeling that the non-public agreement between ARIN and
Microsoft has some issues with the current policies. It is clear that
the parties did not feel the need to talk to ARIN before the deal was
done. How do you expect someone to write a draft policy based on
suspicion, not on facts?

A precedent has been created. A court of law has ruled that legacy
prefixes were sellable assets (at least, in a bankruptcy context).
Unless ARIN plans to appeal the ruling (seems difficult to me), it is
necessary to implement new policies that take the new reality into
account. Part of designing these new policies requires a better
understanding of the problems that the current policies posed to the
current situation, which in turn requires a better understanding of what
legacy holders are willing to negotiate in return of staying within the
ARIN framework and what will trigger them to bypass ARIN.

Unless some details are provided, I predict that no significant change
to policies will be made in time for the next large, public trade
occurs, which will put you in the hot seat again and that time you won't
be able to say that you did not see it coming.

Michel.