Statements of Support Acceptable Use Policy

ARIN provides a forum to collect and publish statements in support of candidates for the ARIN Board of Trustees (“Board”) and Advisory Council (“AC”), and the Number Resource Organization Number Council (“NRO NC”). These statements are gathered from the ARIN community and Internet stakeholders for the purpose of providing voting members more information about individuals on the Slate of Candidates. ARIN maintains this forum at its sole discretion and may create, modify, or remove the form or change the requirements to submit statements at any time.

Statement Guidelines

  1. Statements must focus on support of a specific candidate and their qualifications for the office they are seeking.
  2. Statements must be reasonably seen as supporting the candidate and should not address specifics of other candidates running for office or individuals already serving in those positions.
  3. Individuals submitting statements of support acknowledge that their submissions are publicly available on ARIN-managed sites, archived and kept public on the ARIN website after the close of the elections, may be used in materials related to ARIN’s process, procedures, operations, and are subject to legal rules of discovery.
  4. Individuals submitting statements of support must provide their name and email address when submitting their statement. The email address will not be made public but will be used for the purposes of communication in the event of moderation actions or questions. Any statement found by ARIN staff to be misrepresenting the name or email address of the individual making the submission will be automatically removed.
  5. Statements of a political or philosophical nature are discouraged.
  6. There is no requirement that an individual submitting a statement be associated with an ARIN Member or have regular involvement with the ARIN community. However, it is encouraged that statements be focused on the candidate’s applicability for the position they are running for within ARIN.
  7. Individuals submitting statements do not have the right to demand or expect explanations from ARIN, candidates, or other community members in response to their postings.
  8. All submitted statements are automatically held for moderation and will be processed within one business day. Any individual whose privileges to submit statements has been revoked, may not post submissions under any other email address or alias.
  9. Discussion regarding moderation actions that ARIN has taken in regard to the Statements of Support should be directed to elections@arin.net.

Specifically Prohibited Activities

The following activities are specifically prohibited on any ARIN mailing list:

  1. Statements that include foul language, personal character attacks, or show disrespect for other participants, including ARIN.
  2. Statements that are slanderous or libelous, including making accusations of criminal conduct in the absence of an indictment or conviction.
  3. Product marketing, business development, or business lead purposes.
  4. Use or distribution of others’ comments or email addresses for any purpose other than to discuss relevant issues pertaining to ARIN elections.
  5. Posts which interfere with the customary purpose of the Statement of Support forum.
  6. Postings by fictional or non-identifiable names and addresses.
  7. Posting false or fictitious statements.
  8. Actions, that while not described specifically here, are similar to the conduct described.

Reporting Violations and Enforcement

ARIN reserves the right to maintain order and decorum on the forums it manages, to include imposing disciplinary actions on individuals making submissions to the Statements of Support. At its own discretion, ARIN may take any one or more of the following actions in response to a reported violation or its own determination that a violation has occurred:

  1. Issue the offender a written warning; and/or
  2. Filter/remove the offender’s message(s); and/or
  3. Immediately revoke the offender’s posting privileges to ARIN’s Statements of Support forum; and/or
  4. Revoke posting privileges for a specified time-period or permanently.

Procedures

Oversight and management of this policy will be held by the President, with the advice of ARIN’s General Counsel and with the support of the Office of the Chief Customer Officer.

Direct management of the moderation of messages will be handled by the Office of the Chief Customer Officer. In the event of a perceived need to remove a submission, the Chief Customer Officer will be informed and involve ARIN’s President and General Counsel as necessary.

In cases where an alleged offender wishes to submit additional information, or to seek reconsideration of a decision, ARIN’s General Counsel and Chief Customer Officer will be asked to review such materials and report their findings to the President.

Community members may report to ARIN what they believe to be a violation of this AUP by notifying elections@arin.net. Information provided must include the name of the submitter, date and time of post, and a reference to the reason why it is believed to violate this AUP.

Reservation of Rights

Notwithstanding anything in this policy, ARIN specifically reserves the right to pursue any remedy in law or equity.