ARIN-prop-136 Services Opt-out Allowed for Unaffiliated Address Blocks

[ARIN]

ARIN-prop-136: Services Opt-out Allowed for Unaffiliated Address Blocks

ARIN acknowledges receipt of the policy proposal that can be found below.

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

Mailing list subscription information can be found
at: https://www.arin.net/mailing_lists/

Regards,

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


## * ##


ARIN-prop-136: Services Opt-out Allowed for Unaffiliated Address Blocks

Proposal Originator:  Benson Schliesser

Proposal Version:  1

Date:  23 Feb 2011

Proposal type:  New

Policy term:  Permanent

Policy statement:

Add the following to the NRPM:

13.  Unaffiliated Address Blocks

13.x. Opt-out Allowed

ARIN provides IP address registry services to all IP address holders in
the ARIN region, for all IP address resources that are not registered by
another RIR, regardless of whether any given address holder has entered
into a services agreement.  However, ARIN will cease providing any
registry services for specific IP address resources in the event that
the legitimate address holder of an unaffiliated address block, that is
an address block that is not covered by an ongoing services agreement,
chooses to opt-out of receiving any or all registry services from ARIN.

13.x.1. Requirements for Whois Opt-out

In order for an opt-out request for Whois directory services to be
valid, the legitimate address holder must agree to provide a replacement
directory service reflecting operationally accurate allocation and
assignment information for the specified IP number resources.  ARIN will
create generic placeholder entries in the ARIN Whois directory for all
IP number resources that are removed due to opt-out, and each
placeholder entry will include a reference and/or RWhois referral to the
replacement directory service.


Rationale:

This proposal does not seek to replace ARIN-prop-133 but is offered as
an exclusive alternative for consideration by the ARIN community, in
order to address concerns that it would unfairly harm legacy address
holders and/or cause unnecessary damage to the Whois database.

Policy Background:

This policy attempts to clarify the relationship that ARIN has with
legacy address holders.

Specifically, this policy recognizes that absent an agreement such as
the RSA or LRSA there is no formal relationship with legacy address
holders.  At present, however, ARIN continues to provide services to
these organizations.  This is done without compensation and potentially
in opposition to the legacy address holders' wishes.  As a result of
this behavior ARIN has created an illusion of implied authority that
exposes ARIN to unacceptable levels of liability, is hindering the
development of an open address market (driving it "underground"), and is
putting the operational stability of the Internet at risk.  As new
services such as RPKI are contemplated this situation becomes even more
critical.

This policy assumes the tacit consent of all address holders in the ARIN
region, to receive ARIN registry services and to be governed by ARIN
policy, but allows for legitimate address holders of unaffiliated
address blocks to explicitly opt-out of any and/or all services.  This
approach would allow ARIN to continue providing volunteer services to
any member of the legacy community as long as this service was not
contrary to their wishes.  Further, it would allow legacy address
holders to opt-out of some services such as Whois while continuing to
receive other services such as in-addr DNS reverse mapping.

In the event that a legacy address holder does opt-out of Whois
directory services under this policy, ARIN would require the address
holder to provide a replacement directory service and would continue to
provide a Whois pointer (such as a RWhois referral) to that service.  As
a result, the integrity of the distributed Whois database would remain
intact and be improved.

Timetable for implementation:  Immediately