[arin-ppml] ARIN 58 Table Topic - If the Waitlist didn’t exist, what would?

[Mike Burns]

Hi Bill,

Wish I was at that table!

As I mentioned, I too want rid of the wait list and have provided two methods which I consider superior. Well, at least one. Send recovered addresses to the 4.10 pool.

ARIN is not a charity; that would not be consonant with its purpose.

Moving the proceeds one step away does not eliminate the conflict. If the police direct ticket revenue to a foundation they created or selected, the incentive problem has not disappeared; it has merely been moved.

I do not support the blurring of incentives between institutional self-enrichment and enforcing the law equally. So why do this with ARIN, even at the one remove you propose?

I am not sure how justified need entered this conversation, but it is true that I think it worthless.
And I appreciate the spit-balling, and considering even hoary old ideas.

Regards,
Mike





-----Original Message-----
From: William Herrin <bill at herrin.us> 
Sent: Wednesday, October 28, 2026 12:55 PM
To: mike at iptrading.com
Cc: Eric C. Landgraf <echarlie at vt.edu>; arin-ppml at arin.net; Mike Burns <mike at sum.net>
Subject: Re: [arin-ppml] ARIN 58 Table Topic - If the Waitlist didn’t exist, what would?

On Wed, Oct 28, 2026 at 12:25 PM Mike Burns via ARIN-PPML <arin-ppml at arin.net> wrote:
> However, you asked why ARIN should not auction the addresses.
> To me, that gets down to ARIN’s institutional role. ARIN administers 
> the rules of this market: it determines eligibility, recognizes 
> transfers, maintains the authoritative registry, and controls how 
> recovered space is returned to circulation. If ARIN begins auctioning 
> that space for its own revenue, it becomes a market participant in a 
> market it also administers. That is an inherent conflict of roles that invites lawsuits.

Hi Mike,

This is one of the two biggest concerns I hear when the idea of getting rid of the wait list gets floated. It's like when police keep the revenue from speeding tickets: it distorts the allocation of law enforcement resources, weighing revenue against citizen safety.

What if ARIN didn't keep the revenue? What if ARIN never had the revenue in the first place?

ARIN has a small grants program that it uses to fund worthy academic and community projects that offer value to the registry process or address community. What if ARIN spun that program out to a separate
501c3 and instead of funding it with dollars, ARIN granted it recovered IPv4 addresses that the charity was authorized to sell on the market via the qualified facilitators?

The addresses continue to reach folks with demonstrated need. No free addresses distort the market. No revenue distorts ARIN's registry process.

Anyway, just spit-balling here.

Regards,
Bill Herrin