[arin-ppml] large vs small?

[Owen DeLong]

On Jun 16, 2009, at 11:57 AM, Ted Mittelstaedt wrote:

> Brian Johnson wrote:
>
>> This is a fruitless argument and I have no idea how I got myself into
>> this. I disagree that you "buy" anything by being a member of ARIN  
>> with
>> IP addresses being assigned to you. If you want to talk like you know
>> better, go ahead and do it. I'm out of energy arguing the point.
>
> We don't "buy" them we "rent" them.
>
> I can understand how the concept would be alien to a Legacy IP
> holder, who has an IPv4 allocation that will not revert back to
> ARIN if they stop paying the membership fees.
>
> Once you get your IPv6 allocation I'm sure you will understand.

IP Addresses are neither purchased nor leased, rented, etc. from ARIN.

No more so than License Plate Numbers are purchased/rented/etc. from
the DMV* (or whatever your government structural equivalent).

ARIN provides number resources which are known to be globally unique
among the cooperating entities collectively known as the RIR system  
which
includes IANA, 5 RIRs, and a significant portion of the ISPs and end  
users
who subscribe to services from the RIRs and choose not to attempt to use
addresses on the global internet which were not assigned to them by an  
RIR
or someone who received an allocation via an RIR (directly or  
indirectly).

That and the policy fora, outreach, and other services are what ARIN  
does.
Not leases, not sales, etc.

Some people choose to regard this guarantee of uniqueness as a right
to use license, but, in reality, ARIN cannot give you the right to use a
number on the internet since ARIN does not control routers through which
you connect to the internet.  The fact that most ISPs subscribe to the  
RIR
system and route accordingly certainly makes the internet function  
better.
However, they do that voluntarily because it works, not because ARIN
has any way to prevent them from doing something else.

Owen




*DMV -- In California and many other states, the Department of Motor  
Vehicles.