[arin-discuss] Food for thought: IPv4 accountability.

[Owen DeLong]

On Jul 22, 2009, at 6:17 AM, <michael.dillon at bt.com> <michael.dillon at bt.com 
 > wrote:

>> When Apple or HP got their space in the late 1980's there was
>> no fee as part of the "contract".
>
> It is a principle of common law that if there is no money (or
> equivalent) paid then there is no legal contract. Has this changed in
> the USA?
>
It is a principle of common law that a contract involves an exchange
of value. (labor, things, etc. == value)

It is a principle of common law that without a contract, you cannot  
expect
someone to pay a bill for a service you did not tell them you were going
to charge them for, whether or not they asked for said service and  
whether
or not you performed said service.

The above use of the term "contract" probably is in quotations because,
it specifically is not a contract in the legal meaning of the word,  
but, more
the "contract" as a term of art for any form of agreement between two or
more parties.

> I'd like to see all these entities billed retroactively back to the
> beginning of ARIN. If they complain, then we could negotiate it down  
> to
> just the past year if they sign an RSA.
>
This would be an absurd waste of time and money on the part of ARIN in
my humble opinion. I think it would also go a long way towards reducing
the willingness to work with ARIN on the parts of several  
organizations with
legacy space.

Owen