Re: ARIN fee structure (was: re: 2749 routes AT RISK - Re: TIMELY/IMPORTANT)

[John Curran <jcurran () arin net>]

On 7 Apr 2022, at 1:58 AM, Owen DeLong via NANOG <nanog () nanog org<mailto:nanog () nanog org>> wrote:
…
Yes, but if you don’t have a contract with ARIN, ARIN’s ability to revoke your resources because the community decided 
it might be fun is significantly less certain for ARIN at best and highly unlikely at worst.

Mr. Delong -

There’s some good news in this regard – ARIN can’t adopt number resource policy that allows revocation of number 
resources "because the community decided it might be fun" – as the ARIN Bylaws require that "ARIN will continue to 
utilize an open, transparent multi-stakeholder process for registry policy development.” and ARIN's adopted Policy 
Develop Process requires that number resource policy enable "Fair and Impartial Number Resource Administration” with 
defined criteria that are "simple and obtainable.”

More good news – anyone can participate in the ARIN Policy Development Process, so someone can, if they wish, easily 
make sure that the policy applicable their number resources meets the above constraints and is not arbitrary or 
capricious in any manner.   (The ARIN Board of Trustees is the one that makes sure that the ARIN Bylaws and ensure the 
ARIN PDP are followed, so that again seems like a great reason to get involved in ARIN governance for those have any 
concerns on that front.)

As to the last point, ARIN’s ability to manage all of the number resources in all of the number registry is remarkably 
clear, and ARIN number resource registry policies apply to all blocks in the ARIN registry (including legacy number 
resources) – as it is ultimately the ARIN members’ registry database to be administered as they direct.   If a legacy 
resource holder wants a statement of their rights to the number resources issued to them by ARIN or a predecessor 
registry, they can enter an RSA that provides them the same rights as every other customer that’s been issued number 
resources  –

(1) The exclusive right to be the registrant of the Included Number Resources within the ARIN database;

(2) The right to use the Included Number Resources within the ARIN database; and

(3) The right to transfer the registration of the Included Number Resources pursuant to the Policies.

(The rights are obviously “limited rights” because there are other rights that the community has to those same entries;
e.g. the ability to specify the fields/format of the number resource entry, ability to publish the public portion of 
the entry, etc.)

I.e., your legacy number resources in the ARIN registry are already governed by ARIN policy, as ARIN’s maintains the 
number resources in ARIN registry as the community directs regardless of whether you enter an RSA.  If a legacy 
resource holder doesn't want an RSA then that is a perfectly fine choice, but I’d still suggest they participate in the 
ARIN policy development process since it is quite applicable to their legacy number resources.

Thanks!
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers