Let us all bend over, apply the Vaseline...

[David R. Conrad]

Bob,

>Again, that is wishfull thinking at best. To be sure the budget
>requirements of ARIN will likely grow to absord all available income
>and then some. ARIN has absolutely no incentive to lower costs. They
>will be a monopoly. Granted one controlled by a

How do you explain the fact that RIPE-NCC, on which ARIN is based
and which shares the same characteristics, has already lowered their
fees?

>They will only be working to ensure that address space isn't duplicated.

Unfortunately, this isn't the case.  The allocation registries are
also required to attempt to determine when address space is actually
necessary (instead of simply desired).  You might argue (as _many_
have done) that this isn't an appropriate function for ARIN, however
that IS the role the allocation registries are placed into.  If you
would like to change that role, see the PAGAN working group (to
subscribe: send "subscribe" to pagan-request at apnic.net).

>And yes, of course I understand the issues around CIDR. Are you trying
>to tell me that there is some magic voodoo in doling out /19 and
>greater (in terms of block size) CIDR blocks? Please don't try and make
>this any more complicated - it isn't. The whole thing could be easily
>coded an algorithm and implemented in a database frontend.

Uh huh.  Right.  And how long would it take for some nefarious
individuals to come up with the right buttons to push to obtain
whatever address space they want?

>Hold on. If $2500/year for a /19 block isn't leasing then I'd like to
>know what your definition of leasing is?

What happens when you don't pay the lease on your car?  What happens
to your address space if you don't pay your membership fee?

>That is the function of the routing arbiter's database. 

Who would that be?

>My basic gripe is this: $2500/year for a /19 block is highway robbery.
>The costs estimates being made for ARIN clearly are not reasonable
>and indicate a fairly bloated budget. I truely believe that it
>is possible to provide the *same* level of service for a lot less.

I'd recommend actually understanding what working in an IP allocation
registry means before you make such statements.  It most assuredly
isn't an automatable system (given current Internet policies).

Regards,
-drc