Dear address-policy-wg, One concern I have about the current 2007-01 draft is the lack of arguments opposing the proposal mentioned under the 'Rationale' section of the document. While many such arguments were raised and discussed extensively on this mailing list, the draft itself raises only one such argument and proceeds to immediately dismiss it. In the current draft, some of the following objections may still be relevant to varying extent: - Given the diversity of legal systems the RIPE NCC service region, the success of contractually binding existing resource holders to a new contract and fee is uncertain, and might be the beginning of a long and expensive exercise in futility. - By attempting to levy a new fee on existing end users of directly assigned resources, RIPE NCC risks creating widespread dissent from these very same end users which had no voting right on this matter and were likely unaware of the proceedings of this WG; in the worst case scenario, this might result in end users utilizing resources regardless of their status in the WHOIS database. - Previous experience (domain reg. world) suggests that by putting an explicit price tag on number resources, the "sponsoring LIR" approach in its currently presented form might result in the rise of "discount LIRs". These LIRs would process the bulk of the assignments with no accountability to keep costs low, turning direct assignments into a revenue source and laying waste to many potential benefits which could result from this proposal. - The issue of resource reclamation when resources fall into disuse can potentially be addressed at significantly lower cost and complexity through technological solutions similar to those employed by e-retail outfits for customer account management (automated verification of electronic and snail-mail contacts, IVR verification of phone contacts, regular re-verification). Given the importance of this proposal, and considering that unfortunately the members participating in this WG are a small subset of the affected community, we should ensure the draft provides a balanced overview which includes the opposing arguments that remain valid for this draft. Such an overview would aid those who will be voting on this proposal without the benefit of years of participation and discussion in this WG. -- Respectfully yours, David Monosov