[arin-ppml] On the history of early number registrations, ARIN, and ARIN's role in the administration of the Internet number registry

[John Curran]

Folks -

I have some good news and some bad news…  The good news is that the history of the Internet number registry system is actually fairly well-known – for instance, we know the parties that were involved and have many examples of the emails that were sent when number resources were issued – whether it was done by SRI, GSI, NSI as InterNIC, NSI directly, etc.  (This shouldn’t be unexpected, since NSI transferred the personnel, systems, and records from IP number registry to ARIN at the time of our formation.)

The bad news is that such communications were written to be expeditious in the administration of the registry, as opposed to being written with legal clarity.  As a simple example of that fact, consider that the term "IP address block” – the "thing" being issued – was actually not defined in any of these communications.   As a result of the nature of these early communications, there’s enough ambiguity to support differences in opinion over the nature of the legacy address assignments in the registry.

However, there are a few points in the history of the registry that are quite clear, and these include:


  1.  ARIN was formed for the purpose of administration of the registry in North America and took over that responsibility at the time of our formation – including the transfer of the registry database to ARIN at USG direction.
  2.  ARIN’s administration of the registry is be performed in accordance with our community-developed policies – and we are aware of no obligations that prevent ARIN from doing so for all number resources in the registry, including legacy resources.
  3.  Those with legacy number resources are encouraged to participate in the open policy process so as to have a voice in the policies by which they are managed – such participation doesn’t require any agreement with ARIN and is actually a significant part of why ARIN was formed - “Creation of ARIN will give the users of IP numbers (mostly Internet service providers, corporations and other large institutions) a voice in the policies by which they are managed and allocated within the North American region.”  <https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=102819>

This is why organizations with legacy number resources are encouraged to participate in ARIN’s policy development process – ARIN was specifically formed so that they would have a voice in the policies used in the management of those number resources, and hence why ARIN routinely reiterates that legacy number resources are indeed subject to ARIN's registry policies.  (The community can certainly make policies that exclude legacy number resources or affect them in a different manner, but again, that is for the community to decide…)

Thanks!
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers



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