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

[Benson Schliesser]

Hi, John.

On Feb 14, 2011, at 9:40 PM, John Curran wrote:
>  When ARIN was created, on its first day of operation, it had only 
>  "legacy allocations".
> ...
>  After the IANA function was contracted to ICANN by the US Dept of 
>  Commerce (the current contracting agency for these tasks), the RIRs 
>  and ICANN entered into an agreement whereby the RIRs would serve the
>  function of of ICANN's Address Supporting Organization, responsible 
>  for "global number resource policy development".

Thanks for this feedback.  I'm happy to report that my understanding of history is in-line with the events you have described.

However, I would be interested in your comments on the current relationship between ARIN and IANA/ICANN.  Specifically, I gather that the NRO has proposed a framework that was only partially acknowledged by IANA, and that IANA has asked for a legal contract that has never materialized.  Are there any actual commitments in-force?  Does anything guarantee that ARIN will continue to have a role in IANA policy creation, or even recognition by IANA?

> In your proposal,
>  you might consider some way to reconcile acknowledging ICANN/IANA's
>  policy authority while not acknowledging the NRO/RIR policy authority 
>  without contradicting the RIRs serving under agreement as ICANN's 
>  policy body for Internet number resources.  I believe that would 
>  significantly strengthen the policy proposal if that is your goal.

If I understand the root of your comment, it is that:  IANA has delegated responsibility* for IP number policy to the NRO.  Effectively this creates a circular dependency in which the IANA is comprised of the RIRs, and the RIRs are subject to IANA, etc.

Even if that is the case, I'm not sure I see how proposal 133 needs to be reconciled.  IANA still has some authority as an institution, even if the IANA policy is formulated by the RIRs (via NRO/ASO), and the policy proposal recognizes that authority in determining legitimate address holders etc.  Granted, we might compare the present situation to one asking themselves for permission...  But I don't understand how this leads to your suggestion.  Do I misunderstand, and/or can you clarify?

Thanks, and Cheers,
-Benson

* - Who can blame ICANN for delegating IANA responsibility, when they're so busy creating TLDs?  How can they possibly have time for IANA?  But that is a different topic, I suppose...


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