[arin-ppml] Against 2013-4

[John Osmon]

On Mon, Jun 03, 2013 at 02:51:01PM +0000, Milton L Mueller wrote:
[... needs based assessments have always been used...]

> No, I challenge this on a factual basis. The main legacy holders from
> the mid-1980s - MIT, GE, the military, etc. - were not subject to
> needs assessments as we use that term today. 
> If they were, you have to explain how MIT and a few others have ended
> up giving back large chunks, effectively admitting that they did not
> need them? If they did not need them, how did they get them? This is
> probably not a very fruitful argument in that it is not
> forward-looking, but I do want to make it clear that claims that "we
> have always done it this way" are just false. 

When (say) MIT asked for space, Class B was too small their needs and
Class A was the only larger size available.  They didn't request a /8,
they requested a netblock that fit their needs and got a Class A.  The
needs assessment at the time was simply different.  

Just because CIDR allowed us to dole out netblocks in a more
conservative fashion doesn't mean need wasn't a factor when early
adopters got large blocks.