Recommended Draft Policy ARIN-2017-3: Update to NPRM 3.6: Annual Whois POC Validation

[ARIN]

On 15 February 2018 the ARIN Advisory Council (AC) advanced the 
following Draft Policy to Recommended Draft Policy status:

ARIN-2017-3: Update to NPRM 3.6: Annual Whois POC Validation

The text of the Recommended Draft Policy is below, and may also be found at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/2017_3.html

You are encouraged to discuss all Recommended Draft Policies on PPML 
prior to their presentation at the next ARIN Public Policy Consultation 
(PPC). PPML and PPC discussions are invaluable to the AC when 
determining community consensus.

The PDP can be found at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/pdp.html

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

Regards,

Sean Hopkins
Policy Analyst
American Registry for Internet Numbers



Recommended Draft Policy ARIN-2017-3: Update to NPRM 3.6: Annual Whois 
POC Validation

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

This proposal is technically sound and enables fair and impartial number 
policy as it encourages more accurate Whois data collection by 
restricting organizations without at least one validated Admin or Tech 
POC from using ARIN Online services outside of payment and contact 
update functionalities.

Problem Statement:

Many of the Point of Contacts listed in ARIN’s public Whois database 
contain out-of-date and inaccurate contact information.

Policy statement:

Current Text:

3.6 Annual Whois POC Validation

3.6.1 Method of Annual Verification

During ARIN's annual Whois POC validation, an email 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 POC record shall be 
marked invalid. ARIN will maintain, and make readily available to the 
community, a current list of number resources with no valid POC; this 
data will be subject to the current bulk Whois policy.

Proposed Revised Text:

3.6 Annual Validation of ARIN's Public Whois Point of Contact Data

3.6.1 Annual POC Verification

ARIN will perform an annual verification of specific Points of Contact 
registered in the public Whois using the criteria and procedures 
outlined in sections 3.6.2, 3.6.3, and 3.6.4.

3.6.2 Specified Public Whois Points of Contact for Verification
Each of the following Points of Contact are to be verified annually, and 
will be referred to as Point of Contact or POC throughout this policy, 
and should be understood to be both organization and resource POCs:
    - Admin
    - Tech
    - NOC
    - Abuse

3.6.3 Organizations Covered by this Policy

This policy applies to every Organization that has a direct assignment, 
direct allocation, or AS number from ARIN (or one of its predecessor 
registries) or a reallocation from an upstream ISP. This includes but is 
not limited to upstream ISPs and their downstream ISP customers (as 
defined by NRPM 2.5 and 2.6), but not reassignments made to their 
downstream end user customers.

3.6.4 Procedure for Verification

An annual email notification will be sent to each of the Points of 
Contact outlined in section 3.6.2 on an annual basis. Each Point of 
Contact will have up to sixty (60) days from the date of the 
notification in which to respond with an affirmative that their Whois 
contact information is correct and complete or to submit new data to 
correct and complete it.  If after careful analysis, ARIN staff deems a 
POC to be completely and permanently abandoned or otherwise 
illegitimate, the POC record shall be marked invalid in Whois.

3.6.5 Non-Responsive Point of Contact Records

An invalid POC is restricted to payment and contact update functionality 
within ARIN Online. As a result, an organization without any valid POCs 
will be unable to access further functionalities within ARIN Online 
until at least one Admin or Tech POC validates that their information is 
accurate or modifies a POC to contain accurate information.

Comments:

Timetable for implementation: to be based upon discussions with ARIN's 
staff.