ARIN-prop-134: Identification of Legitimate Address Holders

[ARIN]

ARIN received the following policy proposal and is posting it to the
Public Policy Mailing List (PPML) in accordance with the Policy
Development Process.

The ARIN Advisory Council (AC) will review the proposal at their next
regularly scheduled meeting (if the period before the next regularly
scheduled meeting is less than 10 days, then the period may be extended
to the subsequent regularly scheduled meeting). The AC will decide how
to utilize the proposal and announce the decision to the PPML.

The AC invites everyone to comment on the proposal on the PPML,
particularly their support or non-support and the reasoning
behind their opinion. Such participation contributes to a thorough
vetting and provides important guidance to the AC in their deliberations.

Draft Policies and Proposals under discussion can be found at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/index.html

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

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Regards,

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


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ARIN-prop-134: Identification of Legitimate Address Holders

Proposal Originator: Benson Schliesser

Proposal Version:  1

Date:  15 Feb 2011

Proposal type:  New

Policy term:  Permanent

Policy statement:

Add the following to the NRPM:

13.  Unaffiliated Address Blocks

13.x. Recognition of Legitimate Address Holders

ARIN will use the following criteria in order to determine whether an
organization is the legitimate address holder for a given IP address block.

13.x.1. Original Allocation Record

The original allocation records, such as those documented in RFC 1166
issued in July of 1990 or the InterNIC database received by ARIN from
Network Solutions in December of 1997, will be used as dispositive
proof, absent any contrary documentation such as those specified in
section 13.x.4 below, in determining whether an organization is the
legitimate address holder.

13.x.2 IANA Records of Legitimate Address Holders

In the event that the IANA has historical records, and/or current
records, showing the assignment or allocation of a given IP address
block to a specific organization, those records will be used as proof,
absent any contrary documentation, in determining whether an
organization is the legitimate address holder.

Further, in the event that this evidence conflicts with any evidence
from the original allocation records, or any contrary documentation such
as those specified in section 13.x.4 below, the evidence from the
original allocation record will take precedence.

13.x.3. Records Maintained on Behalf of the IANA

In the event that the IANA has delegated responsibility for the
management of an address block to another organization, including ARIN
or any other RIR, and that organization has historical and/or current
records showing the assignment or allocation of a given IP address block
to a specific organization, those records will be used as evidence in
determining whether an organization is the legitimate address holder.

Further, in the event that this evidence conflicts with any evidence
from the original allocation records, or any contrary documentation such
as those specified in section 13.x.4 below, the evidence from the
original allocation record will take precedence.

13.x.4. Formal Records Clarifying the Chain of Custody

In the event that formal records, such as public records or other formal
documents which can be authenticated or verified to include legal,
financial, and other organizational documentation, are provided to ARIN
by an organization seeking recognition of their status as the legitimate
address holder, then ARIN will consider the impact of these records as
potentially updating any evidence that may exist.  If these records
clearly document the assignment or allocation of a given IP address
block to a specific organization by direct assignment, and/or
organizational transitions such as mergers, acquisitions, business unit
restructuring, asset transfers, name changes, and so forth, absent
definitive documentation to the contrary, then these records will
determine whether an organization is the legitimate address holder.


Rationale

This proposal introduces policy that specifies how ARIN will go about
determining who a "legitimate" address holder is.  It is similar to
current procedure with 13.x.2 and 13.x.3, which specify the use of IANA
and RIR records.  It expands on the current procedures with 13.x.4,
allowing organizations to provide legal documentation of organizational
changes and/or the transfer of custody of a legacy address block.

Timetable for implementation:  Immediately