Global council of registries???

[Rudolph J. Geist]

Michael Dillon wrote:
> 
> 
> Here is an excerpt from the just-released Cook Report that mentions ARIN.
> Note, that these are Gordon Cook's recommendations and I don't know how
> many people he has consulted about them, so please do not fly off the
> handle and start accusing people. I'm posting this here because I'd like
> to see some THOUGHTFUL public comment. On to the quote...
> 
>    (4)  ARIN needs to be formed immediately. (5) ARIN RIPE and APNIC need
>    to act swiftly to form the global Council of IP Registries, and (6)
>    this Council needs to appropriate for itself the IANA functions and to
>    found them in a legal charter.
> 
> If you want more info on the Cook Report, you can find it at
> http://cookreport.com/
> 
> Michael Dillon                   -               Internet & ISP Consulting
> Memra Software Inc.              -                  Fax: +1-250-546-3049
> http://www.memra.com             -               E-mail: michael at memra.com


Arin does not need to be formed immediately.  Determining what 
entity/entities will be responsible for the allocation of a finite 
resource such as IP addresses should not be done with haste by a few 
industry participants on a listserv.

The numbering issue should be addressed by an Internet industry council 
that has been established through a process ensuring public 
accountability for any action.  One example of a successful council for 
dealing with numbering issues is the North American Numbering Council 
(NANC), which deals with telephone numbering issues.  The NANC was 
established with the oversight of the FCC and is subject to public 
notice and comment procedures with regard to major action involving 
substantial questions of telephone industry numbering policy.

Some will argue that a U.S. council such as the NANC will not work for 
the Internet because the Internet is a global medium. However, the 
telephone system was global a long time before the Internet 
emerged, and the NANC does very well in handling the numbering issues 
for North America.

The U.S. Internet industry does not have to do things the way they are 
done in Europe with regard to registries.  The industry does need to 
make sure that the numbering issues are dealt with correctly, and are 
fairly representative of a broad cross-section of the industry. 

Thus, the industry should focus on the establishment of a council such 
as the NANC for IP numbering issues, and not leave it up to the creation 
of a monopoly such as ARIN to administer a valuable and finite resource. 

This council should be created as the North American Internet Numbering 
Coucil (NAINC), which should be subject to the same notice and comment 
procedures as the NANC.  In addition, if an entity such as ARIN, or any 
other entity/entities are necessary to handle the allocation of IP 
blocks, they should be appointed by this publicly accountable NAINC, 
only after careful review and policy formulation regarding IP assignment 
standards, cost issues, etc.


Rudolph J. Geist
Counsel to the
United States Internet Providers Association (USIPA)
www.usipa.org