[arin-discuss] [ppml] Counsel statement on Legacy assignments?

[Ron Cleven]

> 
>>>That's _entirely_ up to MIT. That's the point that you seem to not get.  
>>>That's what it means to have unencumbered rights.
>>>
>>
>>How about that!  If you Google "red herring", you will, amazingly, find 
>>your description of MIT's ISP plans.  I stand corrected.
> 
> 
> I don't know anything about MIT's plans, and I haven't said anything
> about MIT's plans. Whether those plans are a "red herring" isn't any
> else's business.  Neither you, nor I, nor ARIN have any say in that.
> 

YOU are the one who brought up the idea that somehow legacy holders 
should be able to "monetize" their IP holdings.  Since that seemed 
far-fetched, I pursued that point, asking if that meant they would be 
selling their IP space to someone.  Your response was "no" they would 
not sell it, but they might start an ISP.  That, too, seemed pretty 
far-fetched and totally irrelevant when one contemplates the size of 
their IP space.  So, I pursued that point, too.  Now, I guess you don't 
want to talk about it at all, because it is, after all MIT's business. 
Ok, what's a few million IP addresses between friends, anyway?  I'm sure 
MIT really needs to assign IPV4 addresses to all their Coke machines and 
doorknobs.

> 
>>It is really handy that you conveniently ignore the
>>plain-as-the-nose-on-your-face benefit of per-IP ARIN fees in your
> 
> 
> The benefit of your plan has no bearing whatsoever on the legality of
> your plan. If Legacy's have unencumbered rights, then you have no legal
> basis to impose _any_ plan, no matter how beneficial it might seem to
> you or others.

That seems like a REALLLLLLLLLLLY big "If" to me, and well worth having 
lawyers pursue aggressively (you already stated that was not your 
expertise, so pardon me if I don't take your legal opinion as gospel). 
However, for discussion purposes, let us assume a worst-case scenario. 
That is, let us assume that we cannot find educable Congressmen or 
judges to overturn those legacy "rights".

Even under those ridiculous circumstances, ARIN could switch all other 
non-legacy IPV4 holdings to scale their annual dues directly 
proportional to the size of their IP space.  Once that "price" per IP is 
established, they could act as a broker for legacy-holders to "monetize" 
(gee, what a great word you used) their IPV4 holdings.  That is, legacy 
holders could retire their IP space for the same price as new IP space 
is issued for.  It would be amusing to see all of the legacy holders 
(and big ISP's) line up to sell their IP space (first-come, 
first-served, boys).  The cost to ARIN would be purely an administrative 
one, because ARIN would only purchase blocks based upon need.  And 
because the net effect would be a self-policing system, their total 
administrative burden would be reduced.