Barry - FYI – In addition to a regular financial audit, ARIN periodically has a third-party operational audit conducted of the registry, including random sampling of transactions and detailed review of same. The results of the audit are used to both reaffirm registry integrity and have led to improvements in our processes in multiple areas including internal review/signoff practices, transaction logging, and fraud investigation. Thanks, /John John Curran President and CEO American Registry for Internet Numbers On 6 Feb 2020, at 1:38 PM, bzs@theworld.com<mailto:bzs@theworld.com> wrote: Given events including the IPv4 runout etc perhaps it's long overdue that the RIRs should hire a professional big-name (we used to call them Big 5) accounting firm to audit or at least review IP address, ASN, etc. allocation. I am not talking about money, I am talking about resource allocation. That would be a step towards accountability. It would likely be a lot better than "someone on NANOG noticed a discrepancy let's shout at each other about it for a few days." The "rules" really aren't that difficult even if the details of technical management can be. A modern accounting firm could find the talent to grasp how it all should work and review how it has worked and is working. I've worked with accountants, they know things like what we'd call in a phrase "game theory" (you cut, I choose, etc) regarding resource allocation, memorialization (is the record-keeping broken?), "forcing" organizations to fix outright bugs in rules and record-keeping, internal accountability (e.g., who has access to critical records? what's the process when an error or fraud occurs?), proper reporting, etc. It wouldn't be cheap. But as an easy suggestion I'd recommend that ISOC help with the funding for such a project. There could be other sources. Or possibly, I haven't a clue how the numbers might work, a $10 or $20 new annual resource allocation surcharge to underwrite such auditing. It would be a new and potentially valuable service so, within reason, justified. -- -Barry Shein Software Tool & Die | bzs@TheWorld.com<mailto:bzs@TheWorld.com> | http://www.TheWorld.com Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: +1 617-STD-WRLD | 800-THE-WRLD The World: Since 1989 | A Public Information Utility | *oo*