[arin-ppml] Revised - Draft Policy ARIN-2025-1: Clarify ISP and LIR Definitions and References to Address Ambiguity in NRPM Text

[Jon Lewis]

On Fri, 19 Sep 2025, David Farmer via ARIN-PPML wrote:

> Please explain what is confusing about the current usage of both LIR and ISP?
> The following Blog post from ARIN seems perfectly straightforward to me;
>  https://www.arin.net/blog/2023/02/28/ISP-or-end-user/
> 
> And the following page is about Requesting IP addresses.
> https://www.arin.net/resources/guide/request/
> 
> 
> They both seem to address the idea that LIR and ISP are effectively the same thing.

Just a week ago, I asked if someone could give examples of how an ARIN 
member could be an LIR and not be an ISP, and was told "there are ways".

The page referenced above is confusing, because it simultaneously says ISP 
= LIR and LIR != ISP.  If an LIR is "generally" an ISP, then that suggests 
there are circumstances in which an LIR is not an ISP.

>From the page:

  Let’s start by defining the elephant in the room: Local Internet Registry
  (LIR). In short, an LIR is an Internet Service Provider (ISP). As defined
  in ARIN’s Number Resource Policy Manual (NRPM):

  “A Local Internet Registry (LIR) is an IR that primarily assigns address
  space to the users of the network services that it provides. LIRs are
  generally Internet Service Providers (ISPs), whose customers are
  primarily end users and possibly other ISPs.”

  You may find that ARIN and many members of the community use ISP and LIR
  interchangeably in conversation. So, when someone says “ISP,” you can
  think of that as “ISP/LIR.”

So, which is it?  ISP and LIR are the same thing, or all ISPs with direct 
allocations can be LIRs (but don't have to be), but not all LIRs are ISPs?

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  Jon Lewis, MCP :)              |  I route
  Blue Stream Fiber, Sr. Neteng  |  therefore you are
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