LAST CALL: Recommended Draft Policy ARIN-2013-4: RIR Principles

[ARIN]

The ARIN Advisory Council (AC) met on 11 October 2013 and decided to
send the following draft policy to last call:

   Recommended Draft Policy ARIN-2013-4: RIR Principles

The draft has been revised in accordance with changes that were 
presented at the ARIN Public Policy Consultation at NANOG 59 and at ARIN 
32. The Section Title was changed to "Principles and Goals of the 
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)," and an example was moved 
from the third paragraph of Stewardship to the comments section.

Feedback is encouraged during the last call period. All comments should
be provided to the Public Policy Mailing List. This last call will
expire on 30 October 2013. After last call the AC will conduct their
last call review.

The draft policy text is below and available at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/

The ARIN Policy Development Process is available at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/pdp.html

Regards,

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


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Recommended Draft Policy ARIN-2013-4
RIR Principles

Date: 16 October 2013

Policy Statement:

Section 0: Principles and Goals of the American Registry for Internet 
Numbers (ARIN)

0.1. Registration

The principle of registration guarantees the uniqueness of Internet 
number resources.

Provision of this public registry documenting Internet number resource 
allocation, reallocation, assignment, and reassignment is necessary:
a) to ensure uniqueness,
b) to provide a contact in case of operational/security problems,
c) to provide the transparency required to ensure that Internet number 
resources are efficiently utilized, and
d) to assist in IP allocation studies.

0.2. Conservation

The principle of conservation guarantees sustainability of the Internet 
through efficient utilization of unique number resources.

Due to the requirement for uniqueness, Internet number resources of each 
type are drawn from a common number space. Conservation of these common 
number spaces requires that Internet number resources be efficiently 
distributed to those organizations who have a technical need for them in 
support of operational networks.

0.3. Routability

The principle of routability guarantees that Internet number resources 
are managed in such a manner that they may be routed on the Internet in 
a scalable manner.

While routing scalability is necessary to ensure proper operation of 
Internet routing, allocation or assignment of Internet number resources 
by ARIN in no way guarantees that those addresses will be routed by any 
particular network operator.

0.4. Stewardship

The principle of stewardship guarantees the application of these 
principles when managing Internet number resources.

The fundamental purpose of Internet number stewardship is to distribute 
unique number resources to entities building and operating networks 
thereby facilitating the growth and sustainability of the Internet for 
the benefit of all.

It should be noted that the above goals may sometimes be in conflict 
with each other and with the interests of individual end-users or 
network operators. Care must be taken to ensure balance with these 
conflicting goals given the resource availability, relative size of the 
resource, and number resource specific technical dynamics, for each type 
of number resource.

Comments:

a. Timetable for implementation: immediately

b. I believe that it would be beneficial for IANA to adopt these 
principles as well, and encourage the community to consider a global 
policy proposal.

Text removed from third paragraph of Stewardship above:

For example, Conservation often requires greater consideration in IPv4 
address distribution due to the limited size of the address space, 
Routability has a higher weight for the massive IPv6 address space, and 
AS numbers place the highest value on Registration because they come 
from a moderately sized pool and are not subject to aggregation.

AC's assessment of conformance with the Principles of Internet Number 
Resource Policy:

ARIN-2013-4 "RIR Principles" was moved to recommended draft policy 
status for adoption discussion at ARIN 32. The majority of the AC 
believes that documenting the existing principles under which ARIN 
operates uniquely enables fair and impartial number resource 
administration and that these principles are technically sound, based on 
their history and heritage. The AC also notes that the current text, 
after being revised to incorporate staff and community feedback, now has 
community support.

Problem Statement:

The original text in RFC 2050 both "describes the registry system for 
the distribution of globally unique Internet address space and registry 
operations" and provides "rules and guidelines [principles] governing 
the distribution of this address space."

The currently proposed update (RFC2050bis) "provides information about 
the current Internet Numbers Registry System used in the distribution of 
globally unique Internet Protocol (IP) address space and autonomous 
system (AS) numbers" and "provides information about the processes for 
further evolution of the Internet Numbers Registry System."

This means that the guiding principles of stewardship are not currently 
being carried forward into the new document. The goals of Conservation 
(efficient utilization based on need), Routability (hierarchical 
aggregation), and Registration (uniqueness) are as important, if not 
more so, now that the transition to IPv6 is upon us. This can be 
rectified by documenting these principles in RIR policy.

##########


ARIN Staff and Legal Assessment

DRAFT NUMBER AND NAME: 2013-4
Principles and Goals of the Internet Registry System

DATE: 17 September 2013

1. Summary (Staff Understanding)

This policy would add text to the NRPM which codifies the guiding 
principles of the registry system as registration, conservation, 
routability, and stewardship.

2. Comments

A. ARIN Staff Comments

· This proposal text is clear.

· Staff notes that the proposal does not appear to change any existing 
processes or procedures.

· It appears that the author's intent is to add these statements as 
guiding principles into the NRPM.

· Their inclusion into the policy manual will make it more clear to the 
community the principles under which ARIN has operated.

· For reference, the term “Registration” already exists in NRPM as 
follows:
· 4.2.3.7. Registration - Refers to ISPs providing reassignment 
information, so it's not applicable.
· 6.3.3. Registration - This section has some overlap, could be 
reduced, but also refers to privacy.
· 6.5.5. Registration - Refers to reassignment information, so it's not 
applicable.

· The term “Conservation” exists already in 6.3.5 but is different 
and specific to IPv6.

· The addition of the term “Routability” would make a portion of NRPM 
4.1.1 redundant.

· The term "Stewardship" would add that word anew to the NRPM.

· The statement about conflicting goals should not refer to any 
specific type of number resource if it is a principle.
o Suggestion - Allow the specific conflicts to exist in the particular 
section. Remove everything from "For example" on.

· Note also that NRPM 6.3.8 already talks about conflict of goals, 
noting "aggregation" as the most important goal for IPv6.

· Staff suggests different placement/numbering, in particular, moving 
the introduction text up into the Abstract section before the TOC, thus 
freeing up Section 1 for “RIR Principles”.

· It is worth noting that the ARIN Policy Development Process contains 
the following:
"4. Principles of Internet Number Resource Policy” Internet number 
resource policy must satisfy three important principles, specifically: 
1) enabling fair and impartial number resource administration, 2) 
technically sound (providing for uniqueness and usability of number 
resources), and 3) supported by the community."

Furthermore that the RFC 7020 contains references to “1) Allocation 
Pool Management, 2) Hierarchical Allocation, and 3) Registration 
Accuracy”. It is suggested that the policy text be reviewed to avoid 
duplication with these existing principles.

B. ARIN General Counsel - Legal Assessment

The text of the policy does not create a material legal issue for ARIN. 
Any effort like this to accurately incorporate in writing the concepts 
that animate ARIN's activity is a positive development.

3. Resource Impact

This policy would have minimal resource impact from an implementation 
aspect. It is estimated that implementation would occur within 3 months 
after ratification by the ARIN Board of Trustees. The following would be 
needed in order to implement:

A. Updated guidelines

B. Staff training