[arin-ppml] Privacy of ARIN registry data (was: Re: Reclamation of Number Resources)

[Adam Thompson]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: ARIN-PPML <arin-ppml-bounces at arin.net> On Behalf Of Ronald F.
> Guilmette
> Sent: July 18, 2022 8:05 AM
>
> In message <6D0E26DD-2B7D-49F3-9889-6B2D0CC41956 at arin.net>,
> John Curran <jcurran at arin.net> wrote:
[...]
> >Absent such a policy, what you seek would represent a fairly significant
> >departure from what are becoming commonly accepted principles for personal
> >data privacy and processing of personally identifiable information.
> 
> Baloney!  "Commonly accepted principles for personal data privacy and
> processing of personally identifiable information" ??  Where are you
> getting this from John?  Europe?  Just because THEY have chosen to
> shoot themselves in the foot with their newfound privacy fetish, that's
> no reason why we should.

Well... no reason other than Canadian privacy laws (in some, but not all, jurisdictions here), to which ARIN must also at least pay lip service if they want to continue operating and claiming legitimacy in Canada.  In fact, I believe at least California and Oregon now have privacy statutes, too.  Remember that ARIN serves a much larger audience than just you, in your state!  (For completeness, I have no idea what Caribbean privacy laws look like, beyond noting that there are many of them.)

> As I've already noted, the Europeans have brilliantly constructed for
> themselves a world in which none of their citizens can even know anymore
> if they are living nextdoor to a serial child rapist.
> 
> This is not the path that I want to go down.  Is this the path that YOU
> want to go down John?

Yes, yes, yes.  I absolutely DO want to go down that path.  If my neighbor WAS a criminal and HAS served their punishment and/or rehabilitation (whether I think it appropriate or not), then it's none of my business.  At least until/unless they re-offend.  That's the fundamental basis for every criminal justice system in the Western world, including yours since AFAIK you live in the USA.  Some jurisdictions seem to have lost their way on the rehabilitative aspect, but I continue to hope those are local & temporary aberrations.  If someone framed you for a crime you didn't commit, and you were convicted, and you served your sentence, would you not appreciate the right to privacy?  I've seen estimates that over 30% of inmates in some states are wrongly convicted (for some reason or other, I’m not saying they're all angels).

ARIN is entirely justified in, as a policy, *not* enabling lynch mobs or vigilante justice in general.  Vigilantism represents, and also contributes to, a breakdown of order in the governmental and structural mechanisms in society.  Have you realized that your emails resemble vigilantism more and more, with every accusation you publicly level?

Let me re-state that more specifically: your continuation of an extremely vocal one-man crusade to eliminate all manner of false pretense from the internet is not helping.  By constantly questioning and challenging it, you are eroding the very authority ARIN has to handle the problem.  You're dismantling, one microscopic bit at a time, the only entity with the authority to help you accomplish your goal!

If you want ARIN to be able to act more decisively, or to have expanded "jurisdiction", there are ways.  Difficult ways, but ultimately more effective.  Work with your state representative and your senator to get a real anti-SPAM law (with teeth!) created and passed.  Get the Dept. of Whatever-it-is to grant ICANN(?) the ability to assign ARIN additional investigative and punitive powers.  Even more importantly, get your ambassadors to <everywhere> to sign treaties regarding spam, that allow increased trans-border investigative powers.  
Then, within ARIN's existing scope and mandate, get on the AC and/or the board, where you have some say.  You saw how desperate ARIN was for candidates this year!  (In saying that, I acknowledge that the NomCom's behaviour is also broadly seen as problematic.)
Of course, somewhere in there, there's also the matter of funding for people to actually spend their days doing this, across multiple countries... I don't have any good ideas there, sorry.

That last point is why I think you're not getting the whole list chiming in support of your quest: we don't have the time or the money to care.  I am taking the (unpaid) time to beg you, please reconsider this path.  You're attacking the institution (ARIN) we all need to do our jobs.  And you're taking up my time reading your emails to see if this is one of the ones where you do have a good point (which you do, fairly often).  But with each strident, demanding email, you turn me more and more against your goals - I simply cannot afford to care about these problems as much as you do, and I quite resent the constant, incessant, unending efforts to make me - and every other person on the list - care /more/ than we can today.

-Adam