[arin-ppml] Spectrum and IP address reservations / More from NERA

[tvest at eyeconomics.com]

On Jul 21, 2009, at 6:38 PM, Milton L Mueller wrote:

>>  On the other hand, the advocates of nonmarket resource allocation  
>> policies are often making equally strict and bizarre assumptions  
>> about human behavior, but their theories are often too flaccid to  
>> specify what those assumptions are, and so they are unable to  
>> derive good models of their implications. For example, when people  
>> say you can fix market imperfections by "regulating" the market,  
>> are they not assuming that:

Be careful Milton -- you seem to be skirting dangerously close to  
making one of those "larger arguments" that Milton Friedman cautioned  
you against making when it's politically risky.[1]

Remember that the institution whose policy development process you're  
seeking to influence here is the product of cooperative, non-market  
decision making. Nearly 100% of its ongoing activities could be  
characterized as cooperative, non-market decision making. Although RFC  
2050 is probably best described as a "codifying" rather than  
"defining" document, its contents are generally considered to  
accurately reflect the rationale for the RIRs' establishment and  
administrative practices. Would you care you identify those elements  
in RFC 2050 that you regard as "bizzare" and/or "flaccid"? I think  
that would help other list members greatly in understanding the  
context of your remarks here, and your recent interest in IP address  
distribution more generally.

Thanks,

TV


[1] Brian Doherty, Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of  
the Modern Libertarian Movement (Public Affairs, 2007), p. 611.
http://www.amazon.com/Radicals-Capitalism-Freewheeling-American-Libertarian/dp/1586485725/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1244380499&sr=1-1
(use the "search inside" feature to look for: "Milton Friedman, for  
example, once advised Students for a Libertarian Society leader Milton  
Mueller...")

Doherty draws this anecdote from a familiar source:
Milton Mueller, "The Movement," _Libertarian Review_ (April 1979, p.  
18).