[address-policy-wg] Re: Can the RIRs bypass the IETF and do their own thing?

Brian,

On Mon, May 14, 2007 at 01:34:31PM +0200, Brian E Carpenter wrote:
> On 2007-05-11 23:32, JORDI PALET MARTINEZ wrote:
> >
> >The RIRs don't depend on IETF at all, they can define global
> >policies for things that the IETF failed to complete if that's the
> >case. IANA can be instructed the same by the RIRs (which a global
> >policy) than by the IETF itself with an RFC.
> 
> Not quite. The RIRs have authority delegated to them by IANA, and
> IANA operates under the terms of its MoU and SLA with the IETF. So
> the RIRs' scope is to set and implement policy within their
> delegated authority, which itself has to be within the terms of the
> IANA MoU and SLA.

The RIRs authority comes from their communities, not from IANA.
That's what "bottom-up" means.

Many industries need a neutral organisation to do business. Airlines
have a system to handle reservations. Many industries use the ISO to
set standards (paint colour, carpet thickness, and so on).
Universities have accreditation bodies to insure a certain quality of
education. And so on.

The ISPs of the world need someone to handle resource allocation. The
RIRs do that. They also do a bunch of other stuff. Really, the RIRs'
scope is whatever their communities think it should be.

If the RIRs decide to allocate numbers from dead:beef::/32 based on
lunar tides, then the IETF and IANA and ICANN can complain about it
all day long, but it's not their decision to make. Of course they can
participate in the policy making process like everyone else. :)

--
Shane