[ARIN-Suggestions] Response to Suggestion 2012.3: ADD LANGUAGE TO STLS TOS/AUP

[ARIN]

ARIN has issued its final response to ACSP Suggestion 2012.3. The 
suggestion and response text are provided below. This suggestion remains 
is now closed and is available at:

https://www.arin.net/participate/acsp/suggestions/2012-3.html

Regards,

Communications and Member Services
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)

****
Suggestion: *

Add (and begin enforcing) the following language to the STLS TOS/AUP:

Any STLS participant (requestor, provider, or facilitator) found to be 
advertising their need/services/availability via unsolicited email 
validated by at least three complaints including copies of the email 
with full headers from three independent organizations shall have their 
use of STLS suspended and/or permanently revoked at the discretion of 
the ARIN CEO (suspension) or simple majority vote of the ARIN BoT 
(suspension or revocation).

For a period of at least 6 months after this is added to the TOS/AUP, a 
first offense shall result in a warning referencing this update to the 
TOS/AUP.

*Response:*

We have carefully reviewed your suggestion internally, and with ARIN 
Counsel, and have concluded the proposal, if adopted, would improperly 
overstep ARIN's authority to regulate content and communications. 
Specifically, the proposal seeks to place limits on STLS facilitators 
contacting community members based on complaints that could be 
subjective and not objective and readily provable. ARIN has no ability 
to readily determine or confirm whether an email message reported to it 
is unsolicited or not, or how the address was obtained, and would 
therefore have to take action based on the subjective judgment of the 
reporting party.

Any ARIN attempt to improperly limit these types of commercial 
communications is unlikely to be upheld based on the proposal you 
provided, and could even result in claims of ARIN legal liability for 
interfering with commercial speech. The subjective complaint criteria 
may also permit abuse: e.g. one facilitator complaining about another 
simply to limit their communications efforts. It might also convince 
brokers not to become STLS facilitators.

As you know, ARIN has prohibited the use of Whois for marketing purposes 
and will investigate violations thereof regardless of the forum. If you 
believe that Whois contact information is being used for marketing 
purposes, please contact us immediately. We will continue to review such 
matters aggressively, consistent with that policy.

As we gain more experience with such communications we will continue to 
consider whether existing practices to curb abuse need to be tweaked.

Suggestion 2012.3 is now closed.

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