[discuss] let's get concrete

[John Curran]

On Apr 21, 2014, at 7:01 AM, Joseph Alhadeff <joseph.alhadeff at oracle.com> wrote:

> A useful concept was raised, however - cost.  Many of the services are provided at no cost to the user including the oversight and root management functions.  When evaluating other services in being as good or comparable, how do we factor cost? 

In the case of the RIRs, there is a membership structure for those who
directly make use of the registry, and that means costs and services 
are set by organization but accountable to the membership.  (This is 
also quite distinct from registry policy development, which is open 
to participation by everyone w/o charge)

One can argue that for the DNS registry space, the costs are borne by
the DNS registries (who are most directly affected by the services
that are offered), but the accountability for cost management to that
group is somewhat less certain under the current structures.

(and technical parameter registry costs are borne by the system as a 
whole, and anyone who thinks that's an issue should first reflect on
the fact that the DNS and IP address spaces are simply two of these 
registries that would not exist if not for the efforts of the IETF.)

FYI,
/John

Disclaimer:  My views alone.