General

Your Role in IP Addressing: How You Dictate ARIN's Policies

You're probably familiar with ARIN. It's the nonprofit corporation that manages the distribution of Internet number resources—IPv4, IPv6, and Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs). But did you know that YOU have a direct say in how ARIN manages those numbers?

by ARIN [August 1, 2008]

A Brief Overview of Number Resource Distribution

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) distributes large blocks (usually /8s in CIDR notation) of IP addresses to the five Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) that handle global requests for large blocks of IP address space. RIRs then allocate smaller address blocks within their regions to Internet Service Providers, Local Internet Registries, and National Internet Registries, who then assign IP addresses to consumers.

The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) is one of the five RIRs, serving Canada, many Caribbean and North Atlantic islands, and the United States.

ARIN and Its Policy Development Process

The community in the ARIN region decides how ARIN will manage and administer Internet number resources. These community decisions are recorded as polices and stored in the Number Resource Policy Manual at http://www.arin.net/policy/nrpm.html. These are the rules everyone in the ARIN region must follow to receive resources.

The Internet Resource Policy Evaluation Process describes the policy process and details how a proposal becomes an official ARIN policy. In short, the Board of Trustees ratifies policies only after (a) the community has discussed them on public mailing lists and during at least one in-person Public Policy Meeting, and (b) the ARIN Advisory Council recommends that, based on these public discussions, the community has reached consensus in favor of the proposal.

Policy development is open and transparent. Anyone may participate in the process—you do not have to be a member, nor do you have to become a member to participate. Each participant has an equal say in all policy decisions—all posts to the Public Policy Mailing List and all contributions at in-person Public Policy Meetings are taken into consideration as part of finding overall community consensus. The success of ARIN as a steward of Internet number resources depends on the participation of its community and stakeholders. ARIN relies on the community to determine policy and provide direction for the services it provides.

The policy proposal is cyclical and consists of five basic steps. They are:

• Need: A community member submits a proposal after seeing a need for a new or revised policy.
  
  
• Discuss: The community discusses the proposal on the Public Policy Mailing List and at Public Policy Meeting(s).
  
  
• Consensus: The Advisory Council evaluates consensus and, if found in favor, recommends ratification by the Board of Trustees. The Board ratifies proposals after ensuring the process was followed and conducting a full legal and fiscal review.
  
  
• Implement: The new policy takes effect.
  
  
• Evaluate: ARIN community and staff members evaluate all policies for relevance and unintended consequences based on implementation experience. This continuous review may result in additional needs.

Your Participation

There are several ways to become involved in ARIN, including attending meetings, voicing opinions on policy proposals online and in person, developing policy proposals, and running for election.

Attending Public Policy and Members Meetings

ARIN holds Public Policy and Members Meetings twice a year, typically in April and October, in various locations throughout the ARIN region. Meetings provide an opportunity for the entire Internet community to engage in policy discussions, network with colleagues, and attend workshops and tutorials. Meetings usually include events for first-time attendees, social activities, and opportunities to meet one-on-one with Registration Services and Billing Services staff as well as Board and Advisory Council members.

All interested individuals are welcome to attend the Public Policy & Members Meetings. ARIN members may register two attendees for free, while nonmembers are charged a nominal registration fee.

ARIN's next meeting will be held from 15-17 October 2008 in Los Angeles, California. More information is available at http://www.arin.net/meetings/.

Subscribing to ARIN Mailing Lists

• Public Policy Mailing List (arin-ppml@arin.net)
  This public forum is used to raise and discuss issues surrounding existing and proposed policies. The PPML is an integral part of ARIN’s Internet Resource Policy Evaluation Process. Opinions expressed here are reviewed to determine consensus for a policy proposal.
  
  
• ARIN Announce Mailing List (arin-announce@arin.net)
  This read-only list provides information on issues affecting the community including elections, meetings, policy updates, training opportunities, and other ARIN events.
  
  
• ARIN Discussion Mailing List (arin-discuss@arin.net)
  This members-only list provides a forum for members to discuss ARIN-specific issues such as fee structures and internal policies.
  
  
• Consultation Mailing List (arin-consult@arin.net)
  This open list is used in conjunction with the ARIN Consultation and Suggestion Process to gather comments. This list is open only when there is a call for comments.

See http://www.arin.net/mailing_lists for subscription information and list archives.

Participating in Policy Discussions
Subscribe to the Public Policy Mailing List and join the discussions. Recent policy discussions have included IPv4 and IPv6 allocations and assignments, micro-allocations, transfers of IP address space, and privacy.

Developing a Policy Proposal
Anyone may propose a new policy or revise an existing policy by submitting a proposal template. See http://www.arin.net/policy for more information on ARIN’s policy development process, including the current Number Resource Policy Manual and the Internet Resource Policy Evaluation Process.

Becoming an ARIN Member and Participating in Elections
Membership is open to everyone by submitting an application and paying an annual fee. Entities that receive IP address space allocations directly from ARIN are automatically accorded membership. For further information see http://www.arin.net/membership.

Only ARIN’s General Members may nominate and vote in the Board of Trustees and Advisory Council elections. However anyone, regardless of membership status, may serve on the Board of Trustees or the Advisory Council. The Board of Trustees is responsible for the business affairs and financial health of ARIN. The Advisory Council serves in a consultative capacity to the Board of Trustees on IP allocation policy and related matters.

Participating in Global Mailing List Discussions
Each RIR maintains mailing lists to discuss items of interest in its region. See http://www.arin.net/community/involvement.html for more information and subscription information.

The Number Resource Organization maintains two mailing lists of its own and posts information for global mailing lists hosted by the RIRs. See http://www.nro.net/interact for more information and subscription information.

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