[arin-ppml] support for 2014-1 (out of region use)

[Milton L Mueller]

Bill, 
What's missing from your argument is a reason why regional exclusivity in the allocation of address blocks is a desirable thing. In other words, when you accuse trans-regional networks of "doing things wrong" I challenge you to support that charge with any basis in ARIN policy that makes what they were doing unambiguously wrong.  

Historically, RIRs were not created to enforce regional or territorial exclusivity on a huge number of interconnected networks that are often transregional. They were created to ease access to the allocation process and to facilitate local participation in policy making. If I am distributing widgets and I set up a regional distribution center in Northern Virginia and another in Syracuse, the purpose is to make it easier for people in NoVA and Syracuse to get addresses - NOT to prevent someone who has a network in both places or in other parts of the country from getting widgets from either place. 

To be sure, the creation of regional allocation structures creates selfish incentives on the part of certain people in regions who want to protect their access to resources to the exclusion of people in other regions who might need them as much or more, but I do not see any support for that incentive in either the letter or the spirit of ARIN policy. 

--MM

-----Original Message-----
From: wherrin at gmail.com [mailto:wherrin at gmail.com] On Behalf Of William Herrin
Sent: Friday, February 7, 2014 7:01 PM
To: Bill Darte
Cc: Milton L Mueller; ARIN PPML (ppml at arin.net)
Subject: Re: [arin-ppml] support for 2014-1 (out of region use)

On Fri, Feb 7, 2014 at 6:08 PM, Bill Darte <billdarte at gmail.com> wrote:
> Bill said..."ARIN prohibits any use of ARIN-assigned number resources 
> which
> is:
>
> (A) wholly and unambiguously within another RIR's region and
> (B) more than incidental to an ARIN-region infrastructure."
>
> I think much of our earlier (and unsuccessful) effort was to codify 
> what 'incidental' meant and a metric which was suitable for 
> recognizing the threshold....

Hi Bill,

Incidental means... incidental. Small. A minor or negligible part of the whole. The plain English understanding is satisfactory; it doesn't need to be further codified.

If there's any realistic doubt as to whether a registrant's total out-region use of ARIN addresses is merely incidental to their in-region infrastructure then it almost certainly is incidental. This is consistent with how ARIN staff interpret the rest of the NRPM. And if you're not sure whether your use is incidental, it's an excellent time to move to the near side of the gray zone.

The debate to define "incidental" was unsuccessful because it was absurd. I was flabbergasted by the suggestion that an 80% out-region use ("plurality" in region) could be merely incidental. That anyone could advance such a notion beggars belief.

Also, bear in mind that "incidental" is part B. Part A lets you put addresses on your ptp link from Seattle to Tokyo. It lets you put addresses on the cruise ship. It lets you put addresses on that LEO satellite orbiting every two hours. You don't fall in to part B until your 10,000 employee US-based company wants to network its 50-person offices in Tokyo, Paris and Cairo. Or the thousand-person office in London to which ARIN should say, "Whoa! Time you talked to RIPE."

Regards,
Bill Herrin



--
William D. Herrin ................ herrin at dirtside.com  bill at herrin.us
3005 Crane Dr. ...................... Web: <http://bill.herrin.us/> Falls Church, VA 22042-3004