[anti-abuse-wg] Some Facts for the Record

 >That is between IANA (well, ICANN since IANA is a function of ICANN) 
and the US Government…

The contract is with IANA (ICANN provides the resources but IANA is a 
distinct legal entity that entered
into the contract).  The contract allows IANA to delegate the IP's but 
they are responsible for the data surrounding
the allocation.  What it boils down to is that IANA has the ultimate 
responsibility for the data.  When they
allocate the IP's to someone else it is still IANA's responsibility for 
the authentication, integrity, and reliability of the data
is still with IANA.

I will agree that speculating on what the RIR requirements is not the 
basis for a stance on an issue.  However, neither
is "we have always done it this way."  I looked at RFC 2050 and I see no 
issues there.  IANA is allowed to delegate things
to the RIR's and the RIR's can develop local policies for local issues.  
However, IANA is still ultimately responsible for the data.
If some data responsibility is to transferred to the RIR then it would 
not be that big a deal to change the contract but the
US Government must agree.  IANA does not have the authority to transfer 
this responsibility on their own.

I cannot immediately find
the reference to IANA requirements for RIRs.  I would speculate that 
there is a whois requirement like all the ICANN requirements for
domain registries.  That would bolster my argument but my argument does 
not hinge on that, it hinges on the IANA contract wording.
If IANA had the authority to delegate something to someone else the 
contract would say so.  It does say IANA can delegate the IP
address space to regional registries but it does not say IANA can 
transfer the responsibility for the authentication, integrity, and 
reliability
of the data to the RIRs.

 >PS: You seem to have a top-down view, while this is a bottom-up world.

Yes.  I have seen how this "bottom up" and "transparent" system works.  
How many transparency initiatives has ICANN had now?
They seem  to have one very few months ever since they started but they 
all fail.  I had signed up for some type of community voting
system years ago and what ever happened to that?  I remember they 
harassed one Board member who used to suggest
adding TLD's.  Of course now that they came up with this big money grab 
scheme suddenly it is all the rage.   I just don't
believe or trust any of these ICANN or ICANN-like processes.  I think 
ICANN was set up to tax people and the people paying the
taxes have no say whatsoever.  Since it is set up as a corporation 
rather than a government agency it circumvents one
of the basic rights of taxpayers which is the access to the information 
(in the USA it is called the Freedom of Information Act or FOIA).

Thank you