Lightly used IP addresses

Mon Aug 16 11:02:58 UTC 2010

On Aug 15, 2010, at 11:31 PM, Jeffrey Lyon wrote:
> 
> Would the policy process be an appropriate venue for a proposition to
> change the ARIN mission, restricting it's activities exclusively to
> registration services while requiring a reduction in fees and budget?

Jeffrey - 

  Some historical perspective: ARIN not raised fees to my knowledge, 
  but has actually lowered them 4 or 5 times over its 12 year history.

  ARIN's mission is set by the Board of Trustees, and lies within
  the purposes of the articles of incorporation of ARIN.  I'll note 
  that the articles encompass remarkable breadth, so the setting the 
  mission turns out to be fairly important to keep ARIN focused 
  appropriately.  We have added initiatives in the past (e.g. this 
  years extensive education and outreach regarding IPv4/IPv6) based 
  on input received (predominantly at the Public Policy and Members 
  meeting) and can remove them just as easily, but setting mission 
  does not lie per se within the Policy process; it is a Board 
  function to review and update the mission periodically.

  (Two minor notes: if you want an *ongoing* restraint on mission
  scope, it would really need be placed by the Board into the Bylaws 
  with an significant hurdle precluding future revision, and should 
  have some specificity, e.g.  "exclusively registration services" 
  could easily be read as either including or excluding abuse/fraud
  investigation, depending on the particular reader's inclination)

/John

John Curran
President and CEO
ARIN