> RIPE/ARIN/APNIC etc have zero actual authority over actual routing. That is not a flaw in the system, it is a fundamental precept of it. Their function (In Curran's words: "as the community has defined it") is as a registry of allocation data, not as some kind of authoritative regional route super-reflector.
> Yet another reason they aren't worth the money we flush down the toilet > for them to do absolutely nothing. It seems obvious to me that an internet without -some- kind of addressing registry will not function. So you're being hyperbolic. Hyperbole weakens any argument - it reveals that the proponent is not rationally considering the issue. I suspect you are completely aware that the RIRs perform real functions, and that your real objection is that they don't operate at some arbitrary level of efficiency, or perform some additional role that you've predefined (but not shared in your argument). Without a shared definition, it is impossible to have a constructive conversation (and I am assuming that you are on NANOG to be constructive, rather than to troll operators). John Curran appears to be completely open to constructive suggestions, so if you have real and substantive input, why not contribute your intellect to the problem and talk to him? Every organization has things they could be doing better, but as in physics, it often requires some new outside force to make it happen. Nathan Eisenberg
