Hi David,

I envy you and Bill your threaded mail readers.

Clearly other models exist for establishing uniqueness than treaty organizations, since that is the status quo.

Your assertion is that competitive RIRs would therefore be able to provide less bureaucracy and lower cost than current RIRs.
In the allocation of numbers, IPv6 blocks and ASNs are pretty easy to get, everywhere. They're also pretty cheap:
                RIPE NCC        APNIC           AFRINIC         LACNIC          ARIN
IPv6 /32        2600 EUR        1000 AUD        5000 USD        2750 USD        1000 USD
ASN             2600 EUR        0 AUD           450 USD 500 USD 250 USD
(That's initial fee plus annual renewal, but there are nuances I've simplified. I'm not authoritative and could be corrected for reading their pages wrong).

When it comes to IPv4 transfers, the bureaucratic hurdle varies by region. But the potential for fraud is high, and the disruption to the Internet if fraud were to succeed at scale would be significant. (Aha! We found something operational!)

How much cost could realistically be driven out, and still have a secure, reliable database and an open policy development process?

I am aware of a couple of companies that would like to compete with the RIRs. Maybe that's what you're thinking of. So far they have been unable to convince me that they have the communities' best interests at heart.

Lee

-----Original Message-----
From: David Conrad <drc@virtualized.org>
Sent: Monday, November 18, 2024 6:52 PM
To: Howard, Lee <LeeHoward@hilcostreambank.com>
Cc: NANOG <nanog@nanog.org>
Subject: Re: Shaping the Future of ICP-2: Community Input Extended to December 2024

Hi Lee,

On Nov 18, 2024, at 2:46 PM, Howard, Lee via NANOG <nanog@nanog.org> wrote:
> In the same way that phone numbers or radio frequencies are allocated by geographical monopolies, yes.
> Except that the RIRs are *much* more open to participation.

And except that telephone numbers and radio frequencies are allocated/managed by nation-states under UN-based international treaty regimes. I’m not sure this is a particularly good model to follow.

> What problem are you trying to solve?

As I suspect you’re aware, pragmatically, the geographical monopoly restrictions imposed by the RFCs/ICP-2 are increasingly bypassed, resulting in those restrictions arguably merely adding unnecessary bureaucracy/cost. The question is, when considering revising the policies under which the RIR operate, whether or not perpetuating those restrictions is beneficial in the long run.

Regards,
-drc