ARIN /8s ?

> > > As has been pointed out numerous times, an IP allocation is a LEASE, not a
> > > SALE.  Just as a leased house is not an asset you can claim, neither is an
> > > IP allocation.  Technically, ARIN will be leased a portion of the IP space
> > > (just like RIPE and APNIC, and formerly NSI) from the IANA.
> > 
> > A "lease" is, under the law of most, if not all, jurisdictions, and under
> > accepted accounting principles, a property right, which, in fact, does,
> > and often must, show up on balance sheets.
> 
> > To the extent that one can trace IP address space back to a US
> > governmental authority, the handling of those property rights must accord
> > with the various Constitutional requirements of due process.
> 
> 
> I'm no lawyer, but my guess is that the legal concept of a lease being
> property derives from the fact that what is being leased is property
> to begin with - i.e., when you lease an office, the lease has value
> because the office has value.

Try substituting the "right to use" in lieu of "ownership" of an IP
address. 

You may have a drivers license. (Except for the paper certificate it is
even less tangible than an IP address.)  You have a right to use the
drivers license (don't get yourself confused by right/privilege
distinctions -- those don't really work) until the government a) either
buys it from you or b) removes it from you under a procedure meeting due
process requirements.

Similarly, with a telephone number, you have a right to use it.  And the
telephone company can revoke it, but only under the conditions, either
explicit or implied, in your agreement, written or not, with it.  These
rights often may be sold, and hence clearly have a value and consequently
are "property".

Those who delegate or assign address spaces are going to have to expect
that, whether it is technically a pain or not, the consumers of IP address
space are going to demand some stability and predicatabilty in their
ability to use allocated numbers. 

Since, I doubt that anybody reading this list is really talking about a
network in which you could wake up each day and find that you have a
different allocation, but that occassionally reallocations will be
necessary for technical reasons, rather than taking a "we can do what we
want any time we want" attitude, we'd be better off coming up with some
guidelines about the mutual obligations of an address space allocator and
allocatee -- things like "We will give two months notice and we won't do
it more than once a year."  Otherwise we could end up having to fight "IP
address portability" legislative proposals even if they aren't technically
sound.

			--karl--