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

[Milton L Mueller]

> Thank your for your courteous response. 

[Milton L Mueller] There is really less disagreement here than meets the eye.

> I think this is where a bit of
> my disconnect lies with the concept being promulgated. The movie theater
> chair is a finite location in a finite space. This does not necessary
> hold true for an IP Address.  An IP address may be a finite location but
> it can exist in a potentially INFINITE number of spaces.  ANY number of
> people can potentially occupy that chair as long as they do so within
> their own context. Indeed, as long as the context is understood, you and
> I can BOTH sit in the same chair without conflict. That's why you could

[Milton L Mueller] Sure, every economically valuable resource has what economists call different "technical characteristics." So the particular form taken by scarcity in movie theater seats is different from that taken by IP addresses. But the theater seat is also not as scarce as it may seem, because if you occupy the seat at 3 pm to see Toy Story I can occupy it again at 5 pm for the next showing, and Owen can sit in the same seat for the 7 pm showing. And maybe if demand gets intense the theater owner invests a bunch of $$ and adds seats to the hall, or buys special seats that adapt to the size of the people in them and thus make room for more seats. Yeah, it is possible to overcome resource conflicts in any number of creative ways.

> It's only when you ask the question, "Who's sitting in that chair?"
> without being able to reference the context of the question that the
> potential for conflict exists. The answer, of course, depends upon who
> you choose to use as a reference. ARIN (and the other RIR's) are ONE
> source for a reference and the de facto one that MOST operators tend to
> utilize to answer MOST queries. It is important to note that nothing
> actually compels any given operator to use ARIN for every or ANY given
> query and some occasionally don't.  ARIN only is able to act as the de
> facto reference for such queries because it provides a high degree of
> utility for most operators to generally choose to do so. 

[Milton L Mueller] Right. Exactly! I think we are on the right track here. 

> If ARIN, for
> some reason, ceased to provide such a high degree of utility.... if for
> example it operated in a fashion contrary to what most operators
> considered useful, it would cease to have influence as reference source.
 
[Milton L Mueller] Yep. And believe it or not, that is basically the same point I was trying to make with respect to ARIN trying to use its control of the registry database in a way that is perceived to be (or is in fact) contrary to the interests of a coalition of legacy holders, operators who want to communicate with them, brokers, and others. Really, that was all I was pointing out. If ARIN wants to be the authoritative, universal reference it can't play fast and loose with the power that comes with people using it for that purpose.

Perhaps the only point where we differ is that I believe it is advisable for ARIN and other RIRs to concentrate almost exclusively on the registry function and pave the way for competition and diversity in post-allocation services, which means that they should be open to figuring out a way to interact with other registrars, and that means being totally devoted to actually listing who uniquely holds an address block and not making that listing contingent upon maintaining control of various things or conformity to ancillary policies.  

You ask two important questions:

1. 
> Can ARIN be compelled to update databases which it OWNS in a manner
> contrary to what it perceives as the interests of the constituency which
> it serves?

[Milton L Mueller] Do you really mean 'can' it be? If so, yes, with appropriate changes in U.S. law or ICANN rules, ARIN _can_ be so compelled. But I don't think anyone here is advocating that ARIN should be compelled to do so by some external force. I think people are saying - within this process - that it would be good policy to do so, and that ARIN _should_ adopt such a policy. And they are warning that ARIN might get itself, or the internet, in trouble if it tries to tie such listings arbitrarily to other things. 

2. 
> Can a vast array of private operators be compelled to utilize ARIN as an
> authoritative reference for queries that they find fundamentally against
> their interests to resolve in that manner?  Including operators in
> jurisdictions that may not even recognize the legal existence of the
> authority seeking to compel them?

[Milton L Mueller] Absolutely not. The question answers itself. 
 
> Unless the answer to both those questions is "YES", I'm not sure how the
> property-rights model could usefully apply to IP Addresses.

[Milton L Mueller] Huh? The property rights model already is applicable and operational wherever there are transfer policies in force. It is a way to facilitate the transfer of addresses in response to market conditions. All we are debating, really, is whether legacy holders who make trades outside of ARIN's process, or who insist on remaining at arms-length to ARIN, will be recognized in its listing. Actually we are not even debating that, we are debating the definition of legacy resources. It is a mistake to make this a debate about the applicability of the property rights model. That battle is over! 

> I don't often find myself agreeing with Owen on alot of issues, but in
> this case what he's saying makes alot of sense to me. ARIN, pending
> contractual agreements it's made, should have the right to update it's
> own listings according to it's own policies. If it starts updating it's

[Milton L Mueller] Again, I thought we were debating what ARIN policy should be, not whether ARIN should follow its own policies. Correct me if I am wrong. 

Put differently, you don't justify the rejection of a proposed ARIN policy by reiterating that ARIN has the right to follow its own policies. The real debate is about what the policy should be! As long as people are working within the ARIN process to change the policy, they are recognizing that ARIN's actions are guided by its own policies. 

--MM