[arin-ppml] Q1 - ARIN address transfer policy

[Scott Leibrand]

bmanning at vacation.karoshi.com wrote:

> 	Non-profits, research, government, military, public service
> 	sectors all can and do benefit from equal access to communications
> 	capabilities...   And their use of IP addresses is not driven
> 	by revenue/profit.  Does an open market best serve the needs of
> 	these communities?  Or is the existing needs-based system do a 
> 	better job of resource allocation?

Today's needs-based system does a better job of serving the needs of 
almost everyone in the community who needs more IP addresses (for-profit 
and not-for-profit) than a market would, because today the addresses can 
be given out essentially for free, whereas in a market system they'll 
have an acquisition cost.

However, that's not the debate around 2008-2.  The question at hand is 
which would better serve the needs of the community after the free pool 
is exhausted: a market-based transfer system, or a simple 
discontinuation of all IPv4 allocations from RIRs?

-Scott