Draft Policy 2008-7: Identify Invalid WHOIS POC’s

[Member Services]

SUBJECT: Draft Policy 2008-7: Identify Invalid WHOIS POC’s

Draft Policy 2008-7
Identify Invalid WHOIS POC’s

The following draft policy text is being posted for feedback and
discussion on the Public Policy Mailing List (PPML).

After the October 2008 Public Policy Meeting the ARIN Advisory Council
(AC) decided that 2008-7 required more work. The text below was
developed by the AC with help from the proposal originators. The AC was
required to submit text to ARIN for staff and legal assessment prior to
selecting it as a draft policy. The assessment, along with the text that
was assessed, is located below the draft policy.

On 20 March 2009 the ARIN Advisory Council (AC) selected Draft Policy
2008-7: Identify Invalid WHOIS POC’s (formally known as WHOIS Integrity
Policy Proposal) for adoption discussion on the PPML and at the upcoming
Public Policy Meeting.

Draft Policy 2008-7 is below and can be found at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/2008_7.html

We encourage you to discuss Draft Policy 2008-7 on PPML prior to the
ARIN XXIII Public Policy Meeting. Both the discussion on the PPML and at
the Public Policy Meeting will be used by the ARIN Advisory Council to
determine the community consensus regarding adopting this as policy.

The ARIN Policy Development Process can be found at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/pdp.html

All of the Draft Policies under discussion can be found at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/index.html

Regards,

Member Services
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)


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Draft Policy 2008-7
Identify Invalid WHOIS POC’s

Date: 23 March 2009

Policy Statement:

During ARINs annual WHOIS POC validation, an e-mail will be sent to
every POC in the WHOIS database. Each POC will have a maximum of 60 days
to respond with an affirmative that their WHOIS contact information is
correct and complete. Unresponsive POC email addresses shall be marked
as such in the database. If ARIN staff deems a POC to be completely and
permanently abandoned or otherwise illegitimate, the record shall be
deleted. ARIN will maintain, and make readily available to the
community, a current list of address-blocks with no valid POC; this data
will be subject to the current bulk WHOIS policy.

Timetable for implementation: Immediate


#####

ARIN Staff Assessment

2008-7

Title:  Identify Invalid WHOIS POC's (formerly known as WHOIS Integrity
Policy Proposal)

Revision Submitted: 07 March 2008

2nd Revision Submitted: 12 Feb 2009

Date of Assessment:  24 Feb 2009

The assessment of this text includes comments from ARIN staff and the
ARIN General Counsel. It contains analysis of procedural, legal, and
resource concerns regarding the implementation of this text as it is
currently stated. Any changes to the language may necessitate further
analysis by staff and Counsel.

I.  Understanding

ARIN staff understands that this will institute an annual
re-registration of all POCs registered in WHOIS.  POCs who do not
respond within 60 days will be marked in the database as "un-responsive"
and if staff deems them to be invalid for any reason, may remove them
from WHOIS.  In addition, staff will maintain a list of all address
blocks with no valid POCs and will make this data available to any
organization using the bulk whois policy criteria.

II.  Issues and Concerns

  A.  ARIN Staff Comments:

    * Resource records marked as “unresponsive” or those with no POCs at
      all could become the targets of hijackers who, in the past have
      tended to look for address blocks that contain obsolete or stale data.
    *  An annual re-registration of all POCs (~223,000 currently) will
      likely result in a vast increase in workload, particularly with
      the follow up work and research involved when a POC does not reply
      within 60 days.  This could result in a slow down in registration
      response and processing times.



    * This policy refers to the Bulk Whois policy rather than stating
      the actual criteria under which an organization will be allowed to
      request the list of all address blocks with no valid POCs.  It
      would be better policy text to state the specific criteria,
      including the requirement to sign an AUP, within this policy itself.



  B.  ARIN General Counsel

    * It is possible those delisted will threaten or file litigation to
      be relisted. However, a properly promulgated policy does not pose
      antirust or other legal concerns.



III. Resource Impact

The resource impact of implementing this policy is viewed as
significant. Barring any unforeseen resource requirements, it is
estimated that this policy could take up to 18 person months to fully
implement from the date of ratification of the policy by the ARIN Board
of Trustees.  It may require the following:

    * Staff training
    * Development of new internal process and procedures and
      modification to existing ones
    * Creation of an automated system to track notifications, updates,
      and current status of the POC notification. Provide allowances for
      manual intervention and follow-up by staff.  Engineering estimates
      that it could take up to 18 person months for the creation and
      implementation of this system. In addition, this could impact
      ARIN’s current project deployment schedule.
    * Increased workload could result in the need for additional staff



Text assessed:

2008-7: Identify Invalid WHOIS POC's (formally known as WHOIS Integrity
Policy Proposal)

Revised text is as follows:

During ARINs annual WHOIS POC validation, an e-mail will be sent to
every POC in the WHOIS database. Each POC will have a maximum of 60 days
to respond with an affirmative that their WHOIS contact information is
correct and complete. Unresponsive POC email addresses shall be marked
as such in the database. If ARIN staff deems a POC to be completely and
permanently abandoned or otherwise illegitimate, the record shall be
deleted. ARIN will maintain, and make readily available to the
community, a current list of address-blocks with no valid POC; this data
will be subject to the current bulk WHOIS policy.