[arin-ppml] Legacy number resources in the ARIN region (was: Re: Inter-RIR transfer Policy reciprocity with Afrinic_Resource Transfer Policy proposal)

[Owen DeLong]

Permit me to provide some additional clarity…

As I understand it (and I’m sure ARIN staff will correct me if I am wrong)…

There is no such thing in ARIN as a “Legacy Resource”. There are “Legacy Registrations”. These are defined as registrations which were issued prior to the formation of ARIN and which have not been brought under an RSA with ARIN (or in some cases are under LRSA, though at that point, the legacy status of the registration becomes rather limited in nature).

When a resource is transferred, the previous registration ceases to exist and the resource is registered to a new recipient by ARIN (or the receiving RIR). At that time, in ARIN, that new registration is done with an RSA and ARIN does not create new “legacy” registrations.

Thus, the contractual vagaries that are inherent in legacy status of a registration no longer apply after a resource is transferred.

No spin, no politics, just the nature of the process.

As to policy treatment of legacy registrations, I cannot recall any difference in NRPM for legacy registrations. The same ARIN policies apply. However, ARIN policies have very few effects on resources outside of when they are being assigned, allocated, reassigned, reallocated, or transferred. As such, a legacy registration which is not changing hands likely isn’t generally impacted by ARIN policies, but the same is true of a non-legacy registration. Again, no politics, no spin, just the very nature of the NRPM.


Owen


> On Oct 12, 2020, at 12:55 PM, William Herrin <bill at herrin.us> wrote:
> 
> On Mon, Oct 12, 2020 at 11:35 AM John Curran <jcurran at arin.net> wrote:
>> On 12 Oct 2020, at 1:37 PM, JORDI PALET MARTINEZ <jordi.palet at consulintel.es> wrote:
>>> For example, I can’t imposse the condition to legacy resources transfered
>>> from AFRINIC to ARIN to lose the legacy status, because that’s against ARIN policy.
> 
> Hi Jordi,
> 
> There's a rather complex set of politics in play. For the cross-region
> transfer policies John offered good advice:
> 
>> ARIN wouldn’t find a policy proposal that required (or prohibited) “legacy status” treatment for transferred resources to be compatible
> 
> 
> That having been said, you should be aware that there's some political
> spin going on here. Let me offer an outside perspective.
> 
> ARIN's treatment of legacy resources boils down to: hands off. No
> money changes hands. ARIN does not attempt to forcibly reclaim legacy
> resources. ARIN acknowledges changes in contact information and DNS
> records. That's about it. The behavior has not been contractually
> normalized but it has been consistent for near a quarter century.
> 
> For transfers, the rule is that ARIN registrants _receive_ number
> resources under the standard RSA contract which applies the policies
> in the NRPM. Neither document makes much distinction between legacy
> and non-legacy resources and together they provide no mechanism by
> which the new registrant can have an address block treated in the same
> manner ARIN treats legacy number resources.
> 
> Where a recipient has sufficient legal standing to make trouble for
> ARIN, the rule is broken. For example, government entities in the U.S.
> are allowed to negotiate custom contracts with ARIN removing terms
> they find objectionable. Another example: in the Microsoft/Nortel
> matter ARIN negotiated an alternate contract with Microsoft rather
> than allow the bankruptcy court to proceed to rule on whether ARIN
> could be compelled to transfer a legacy registration without one.
> 
> This is why both requiring and prohibiting some form of legacy status
> would result in incompatible policies.
> 
> Regards,
> Bill Herrin
> 
> 
> -- 
> William Herrin
> bill at herrin.us
> https://bill.herrin.us/
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