ARIN TAL copyright

Mon Oct 15 16:13:11 UTC 2018

Hi,

The URL to the ARIN TAL nor the ARIN TAL document itself is not 
copyrightable. The ARIN TAL document contains a URL and a key, which is 
a machine generated random number. Neither is based on any creative work 
whatsoever, and so can not be copyrighted. Also would be protected by 
free speech and fair use.

The service itself can have terms and conditions, but access the the TAL 
document is not an effective enforcement. Bundlers of software can 
include this information at will. No need to download it.

I understand the issue is that ARIN wants protection from being sued, 
should I somehow harm myself with this service. However ARIN already 
offers a similar service without any terms and conditions: The reverse 
DNS. As reverse DNS is often used by SMTP mail servers and mail clients 
to stop spam, I might not receive an important mail due to the failure 
of the ARIN reverse DNS service. And then sue ARIN for my financial loss.

As a compromise, I suggest that ARIN outsource the service to somewhere 
with a less hostile legal environment. For example, maybe RIPE could 
mirror the ARIN service. The ARIN service may still require terms and 
conditions, while automatically installed software would use the RIPE 
mirror.

Regards,

Baldur