[arin-ppml] ARIN-prop-133: No Volunteer Services on Behalf of Unaffiliated Address Blocks

[Benson Schliesser]

Hi, John.

This is a complicated question.  I will offer my personal view* of the current situation, acknowledging that I don' t know everything and that the situation is evolving.  Your feedback on this would be appreciated.

On Feb 14, 2011, at 3:19 PM, John Curran wrote:
> On Feb 14, 2011, at 1:30 PM, Benson Schliesser wrote:
>> 
>> I think you understand the effect of the text, yes.  But my answer is a bit more nuanced:
>> 
>> Policy proposal 133, in section 13.2, would have ARIN recognize assignments that take place beyond ARIN's scope.  In other words, the act of ARIN recognizing the new legitimate address holder is not what creates the assignment; the assignment would have already taken place and ARIN would simply be recognizing that fact.  
> 
> Interesting conjecture.  To the extent that policies of the 
> ICANN and/or IANA were preclude such transfers, do you also 
> propose that these assignments take place beyond their scope?


No, I do not propose that any recognizable Internet address assignments take place beyond the scope of IANA, and I would expect ARIN to comply with IANA policy unless doing so is prohibited by law.  (In other words, compliance with the law supersedes compliance with IANA policy, and IANA policy supersedes ARIN policy.)

My rationale for this statement is as follows: The IANA function is provided by ICANN under contract with the NTIA/DoC, having taken over responsibility from DoD etc.  As such, in the US at least, the IANA has some delegated authority that ARIN does not have.  ARIN is subject to that authority, whether or not a formal relationship (i.e. contract) exists between ARIN and IANA.

As a side note:  I recognize that IANA's standing, described above, has implications for the policy that ARIN implements.  As such, for example, removal of a justified need policy might require work in the IETF and IANA before it can be implemented by ARIN.  However, this does not imply that ARIN must enforce IANA policy beyond ARIN's own scope of authority.  For instance, ARIN doesn't enforce IANA policy in another RIR's region, nor would ARIN be expected to enforce IANA policy for unaffiliated addresses.

Cheers,
-Benson

* - Full Disclosure, which applies to everything I write or say unless indicated otherwise: I am employed by Cisco Systems, but my statements and opinions are mine alone and do not represent my employer or any other entity.