Re: IP renumbering timeframe

[David Schwartz <davids () webmaster com>]

On Thu, 9 May 2002 19:46:53 -0400 (EDT), David R Huberman wrote:

> DS writes:

> > Nonetheless, ARIN is in the business of requiring compliance with its
> > policies as a condition of IP address allocations.

> In the real world ARIN only looks at existing assignments to judge the
> worthiness of an additional address space request. It doesn't look at nor
> care about non-existent assignments.

        It doesn't matter what ARIN looks at or cares about. As I said, the ARIN
agreement is intended to benefit the public at large, not just ARIN and the
entity that signs it.

> > Third parties can make reasonable arguments that they have standing to
> > litigate these requirements on the grounds that the requirements were
> > intended to benefit the public in general and hence they are intended
> > beneficiaries.

> ARIN plays, at most, an advisory role to upstream/downstreams vis-a-vis
> appropriate assignments. It does not get involved with legal disputes nor
> does it ever directly instruct businesses how to conduct their affairs

        That is irrelevant. ARIN doesn't have to enforce its contracts. Any party to
a contract or any intended beneficiary to a contract can enforce it. So if my
upstream has a contract with ARIN, I can enforce that contract even if ARIN
doesn't choose to.

> Sure: organizations have successfully gotten more appropriate assignments
> from upstreams by thrusting ARIN policies in front of an obstinate
> upstream's face. Good.

> But those policies in no way preclude an upstream from taking away
> downstream assignments - especially in the case of this thread, where the
> customer/upstream relationship was terminated.

        Okay, let's see if we agree on the following things:

        1) In general, your upstream obtains the IP addresses they reassign to you
from ARIN.

        2) To do this, your upstream signs a contract with ARIN that states,
"Company [your upstream] agrees, as a condition to submitting this Agreement,
to be bound by the terms of ARIN's Internet Protocol address space allocation
and assignment guidelines...".

        3) This contract is not intended only to benefit ARIN and the Company
signing it. It is specifically intended to benefit the Internet-using public.

        So if my upstream violates its agreement with ARIN, I can litigate that
violation even if ARIN chooses not to.

        DS