[arin-ppml] [EXT] Re: Open Petition for ARIN-prop-266: BGP Hijacking is an ARIN Policy Violation

[Ronald F. Guilmette]

In message <99F558CE-26B4-43AB-80D5-A092D1D33637 at delong.com>, 
Owen DeLong <owen at delong.com> wrote:

>4.	Because (lawyers) and (US politics), the ARIN TAL is not
>	freely available without agreement to a license which:
>	(1)	Prohibits redistribution without imposing the same
>		terms on each recipient
>	(2)	Requires you to indemnify ARIN and hold ARIN harmless
>		for any damages that result from your use of the TAL.
>5.	Lots of people don't like the contract and refuse to sign it.

Can you break it down for me a little further Owen.  What don't people like?

If I was to give you a chunk of "free" software that I had written, and if
I first asked you to sign a thing saying that you won't sue me if you use
it and something goes sideways, that doesn't, on the face of it, seem all
that terribly unreasonable.

Neither would it seem all that terribly unreasonable for me to ask you to
also agree not to give said software to anybody else who doesn't also agree
not to sue me if things go sideways.

We live in a litigeous society.  It's a shame, but that's the reality.  As
a result, you can't even give stuff away without protecting yourself.


Regards,
rfg