[arin-ppml] Policy Proposal: IPv4 Recovery Fund

[Milton L Mueller]

Kevin Kargel:
> 
> Why are so many people working so hard to make IP as expensive as
> possible?  

The fallacy which you repeat again and again is that allowing market
transfers of ipv4 makes ipv4 addresses "more expensive." It does not.
What makes ipv4 addresses expensive is their scarcity (i.e., the
existence of more demand for them than supply). The price merely
reflects the level of scarcity. Even if there are no visible prices and
no organized transfer mechanisms, ipv4 addresses will become "more
expensive" in the sense of "harder to get." More resources will have to
be expended by ISPs and anyone else to get them. If the transfer
processes are poorly organized, nontransparent and based on subjective
criteria --THAT is what will make ipv4 addresses more expensive. If
there is no economic incentive to return things to availability, THAT
will make ipv4 addresses more expensive (harder to get).

Milton Mueller
Professor, Syracuse University School of Information Studies
XS4All Professor, Delft University of Technology
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