[address-policy-wg] 2013-03 New Policy Proposal (No Need - Post-Depletion Reality Adjustment and Cleanup)

On Mar 26, 2013, at 10:48 AM, Nick Hilliard <nick at inex.ie> wrote:

> On 26/03/2013 13:54, John Curran wrote:
>> Actually, the US Government at the formation of ARIN stated exactly
>> that:
>> "Creation of ARIN will give the users of IP numbers (mostly Internet service 
>> providers, corporations and other large institutions) a voice in the policies 
>> by which they are managed and allocated within the North American region."
>> <http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=102819>
> 
> that was said by the NSF, which described itself as "an independent federal
> agency that supports fundamental research and education" at the bottom of
> that press release.  Nothing particularly to do with USG, and it would be
> extraordinary to claim that this press release endowed any legal status.

NSF was the USF agency which issued and provided oversight to the InterNIC 
award performing these exact same functions (and additional ones related to 
DNS) in the Internet's early years.

>> Community-based Internet self-governance means exactly that, not that policies
>> which are inconvenient don't apply.
> 
> My understanding is that ARIN's authority over legacy resources has not
> been tested in a federal district court.  Until it's reached some firm
> conclusion, I'd be circumspect about authoritatively claiming authority.

I am describing clearly _ARIN's_ position and how we operate the registry.  
There are certainly a few courts in the US (and just a few lawyers ;-) 
but Gert asked what the "InterNIC" stated at ARIN's formation, and so I 
answered.  As I've said before, it's relevance to RIPE policy development
is likely questionable, and I'd be happy to address these topics on the
ARIN mailing lists if that's preferred.

Thanks!
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
ARIN