[At-Large] Depository (was Re: Privacy and domain abuse vs the IP constituency)

[John R. Levine]

>> Depository's business model appears to be to set themselves up as a toll
>> booth on the information highway.
>
> I totally agree with you on that point.
>
> And yet even accepting that their business model is to make money I do
> not see why that is deserving of condemnation?

As should be blindingly obvious, the problem isn't that they make money. 
The RIRs charge, too.  The problem is that they want to be a toll booth, a 
place where everyone has to pay to get through.

> However, this does suggest to me that if muddy records is the harm that
> is feared then if Depository makes a commitment to a reverse IP address
> lookup system that is at least as good as those offered by any of the
> RIRs then the argument of public-harm dissipates.

As should be even more blindingly obvious, if Depository competes with the 
RIRs, we'll end up with a situation where some records are at Depository, 
some are at RIRs, and there's no way to tell which is more accurate or 
more current.  It's bad enough now trying to track old allocations that 
have been moved from ARIN to other RIRs, and there the RIRs are trying to 
stay in sync.  What incentive would the RIRs have to track records at 
Depository?  Who's supposed to pay for their costs of doing so?

There's a reason each county only has one deed registry, you know.

R's,
John