[arin-ppml] ARIN-prop-172 Additional definition for NRPM Section 2 - Legacy Resources

[Milton L Mueller]

> -----Original Message-----
> 
> So just out of curiosity, and certainly not proposing this, would do you expect
> the outcome would be if the community passed a policy that stated that
> ARIN would no longer maintain registrations in its databases for registrants
> with which no contract exists?
> 
> Bill

You are asking what will happen if ARIN chooses to play chicken by trying to use its control of the authoritative registry to impose its policies on legacy holders. 

Good question.

It depends on what the legacy holders do.

One possible, and likely, outcome is that they will turn to an alternative registry(ies) that ISPs come to see as a peer of ARIN because of the number of address resources registered within them. In that case ARIN would quickly cave and begin listing those "maverick" resources as well, in order to maintain a universal Whois and prevent a stronger migration to the other registry, which would no doubt list everyone. Contrary to Vixie, I do not see any major technical problem in coordinating separately maintained Whois's. It is the same registrar- registry separation model that is now used in the DNS.

Another possible outcome is that the legacy holders will be intimidated and start signing LRSAs in order to retain their listing. 

Right now, we avoid the game of chicken by sitting in a halfway house between these two extremes. 

Politically, it reminds me of US policy toward Taiwan and China. We recognize the PRC and don't recognize the independence of Taiwan, but Taiwan is an ally and if China tries to take it over by force, the US might intervene militarily. But we are not promising Taiwan will will intervene and we are not telling China whether we will intervene or not. Whoever makes the first move triggers the game of chicken.