Upcoming Improvements to ARIN's Directory Service

Thu Jun 10 22:16:17 UTC 2010

It's very clear.  I went back and forth with support, asking how to
automate my bulk transfer with the new system.

Me: Is the bulk data download going to be available for automated
download. I can currently download the data daily from the ftp via a
script. The new web page doesn't seem to support that.
Support:  No, there is no automation by design.

I'm ok with whatever system they provide if the functionality stays
the same.  I don't understand what they gain by making a human login
and download the file.

On Thu, Jun 10, 2010 at 5:26 PM, Michael Dillon
<wavetossed at googlemail.com> wrote:
>> Apparently we're supposed to be going all Web 2.0 now.
>
> Web 2.0 can handle bulk transfers of data just fine.
>
> I wonder if this is somehow related to privacy and data protection laws.
>
> Just recently, RIPE announced that they were going to block bulk
> transfers as a result of data protection laws, presumably because some
> law has just changed. Obviously ARIN is under a different legal regime
> than RIPE, however data protection has recently been a hot button
> issue in the USA and it is possible that something similar will
> happen. Given the importance of case law in the USA, as opposed to
> legislation, I wouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of legal
> review going on.
>
> But again, as far as technology goes, HTTP is a superior file transfer
> protocol to FTP, so the move to Web 2.0 RESTful transactions over HTTP
> does not give any technical reason to stop bulk transfers. In fact, it
> may just be an oversight so you should really ask them Clearly, if
> nobody bothers to ask about bulk transfers, then nobody uses them and
> nobody cares, so shutting them down is the right thing to do.
>
> --Michael Dillon
>
>