[arin-ppml] Creating a market for IPv4 address space inabsenceof routing table entry market

[Owen DeLong]

> That's what I meant in my followup, if it was a little incoherent.
>
> Someone else has mail me privately (not sure if it is okay to quote
> him directly) that the dispute with my original statement is not that
> the rights go beyond what I said, but that there are any rights at
> all at stake.  He said there are not, but there is an explicit
> guarantee of uniqueness.  I claim that if this guarantee has any
> meaning, then it implies a right.  Otherwise it is no guarantee
> at all.  Maybe the dispute is over the meaning of the word "right"
> or license.  Or maybe Micheal is claiming that there is a broader
> right than I posited, and my other correspondent is claiming
> narrower rights.
>
Yes, if you still feel it necessary, you may quote me in public.

However, my intent was to point out that ARIN is not conveying
any rights.  I made no statement about what rights may or may
not exist.  I merely stated that ARIN does exactly this:

ARIN guarantees you that ARIN will not issue the same addresses
to another party while you maintain your account in good standing
with ARIN and your resources have not been reclaimed for other
reasons.

You are also reasonably assured that the other RIRs and the IANA
will not issue the same addresses to someone else.

This does not convey any rights with respect to the internet or any
organization outside of ARIN.  It's just a contract between you
and ARIN.  Nothing more.

The fact that most (if not all) ISPs agree and cooperate with ARIN
and the other RIRs as authoritative registries for uniqueness
is what makes the internet possible and keeps it working.  However,
if ISPs choose to believe someone else besides ARIN and let them
route addresses ARIN assigned to you, there's not really any
right on the part of ARIN to do anything about that.  Nor will
any government likely listen to you about ARIN having conveyed
such a right to you.


Owen