[arin-ppml] Borders sells their /16 block

[John Curran]

On Dec 6, 2011, at 7:39 PM, Benson Schliesser wrote:

> That's fair.  But without elaborating on the legal strategy itself, can you answer the second part of my question?
> 
> (For reference, it was: Does ARIN (staff and counsel) feel that "the potential legal aspects" are optimally dealt with by existing mechanisms, e.g. as opposed to alternative policy and/or procedures?)


It is not possible to know if anything is 'optimal' when dealing with
unknown threats, but current policies and procedures appear sufficient;
i.e. there is no policy or process changes that are _critical_ to ARIN's
success.  Note that each draft policy has a staff and legal review, and 
in cases where the legal footing of ARIN would be improved, it is noted.

For example, with respect to Draft Policy 2011-12 (Set Transfer Need to
24 Months), ARIN General Counsel noted: "ARIN counsel strongly supports
the immediate extension of assessed need from 12 to 24 months for proposed 
transfers.  It is clear the longer time period will appropriately facilitate 
legally simpler transactions by those who are seeking to follow ARIN's 
policies."

Thus, despite our current legal position being sufficient, 2011-12 is case 
adoption of a policy change would move us closer to "optimally dealing with" 
potential situations.  One would have to look at the staff and legal review 
for each draft policy to determine if there were other cases like this one.

FYI,
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
ARIN