[arin-ppml] 2008-6: Emergency Transfer Policy for IPv4 Addresses

[David Williamson]

On Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 04:30:11PM -0500, Kevin Kargel wrote:
>  Again with the "It's gonna happen anyway" argument..  
> 
> Again I say then should we legitimize selling heroin to schoolchildren?
> Child prostitution? Sales of pirated coyrighted material?

Your examples are poor.  Those are all illegal activities.  Purchasing
the rights to use a set of integers isn't illegal, it's just in breach
of an agreement with ARIN.  You might get sued, but you won't go to
jail.

I think the examples you are looking for are more along the lines of
enforcing sales tax at garage sales or flea markets.

I do think transfers are going to happen anyway.  THat's not a
sufficient reason on its own to create a market, but it's not a bad
reason to try to regulate it.

At one point, there was a marijuana possesion tax in Minnesota (I think
that was the correct state.)  If you didn't have enough pot on you for
a drug conviction, they'd get you for tax evasion since, surprise, no
one paid the tax.

-David