john: i appreciate the numbers. thanks! and, btw, it has always been a pleasure to work with arin staff.
Total number of /24s of space directly registered in ARIN's database = 6,644,175 (101.38 /8 equivalents)
Of those: 2,808,621 /24s of space (42.3%) are registered to ARIN members (42.86 /8 equivalents)
Total number of Org IDs with directly registered IPv4 addresses = 26,148
Of those: 4,520 (17%) are ARIN members
the arin membership consists of 17% of the address holding organizations in the region (plus a few folk who buy membership), and they hold 42% of the address space. so the 17% (give or take) elect the board [0], and the board, through a complex inside-controlled process [1], sets policy for the other unrepresented 83%. and the board and policy wonks set policy and contracts, among other things the lrsa and rsa, which place serious barriers to becoming a member, such as clauses with arin being able to unilaterally change ts&cs arbitrarily. [2] [3] and i know the "anyone can partiipate" theory. but in fact extremely few participate, and arin pays many of the policy wonks to fly around the world business class and spread the arin regulatory religion. no other rir does this. and this is a representative bottom up organization claiming legitimacy in the global arena? i would be interested in similar numbers for other rirs, and whether their service agreements are similarly onerous. (and i believe that ripe is actively tearing down barriers to participation). randy -- [0] as you know, there has been at least one occasion where the board election has been rigged. at your encouragement, i once submitted the whole nomination rig-a-marole to the nomcom. my name did not appear on the ballot, which i found out only when the ballot came out, and was never even viven a reason. [1] an outsider can not make a proposal that is not modifiably by an 'advisory' committee. and most are revised. [smell same problem as nomcom?] [2] who would sign such an agreement except under threat of not having the resources necessary to run their business? see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extortion [3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barrier_to_entry