[arin-ppml] Policy Proposal 108: Eliminate the term license inthe NRPM

[James Hess]

On Wed, Feb 17, 2010 at 11:48 AM,  <michael.dillon at bt.com> wrote:
>> > Not if you understand the history of IP addressing. They
>> have always
>> > been loaned out to organizations who have technical
>> A loan is a conditional transfer of property rights.
> I did not say "a loan was made", I said they have been
> loaned out. Whether or not this loaning out constitutes

"Making a loan"  means the same thing as  "lending".  You want to say
IP addresses should be clearly indicated as not property, and then you
are using words in discussion that imply they are.

It's a bit confusing to say IP addresses aren't property, and then use
words like "lend" that imply they are  property that  someone
temporarily confers, instead of selling or transferring, okay.

Let's back up a bit...  and say  if the IP address itself is indeed
not property:  then  neither  assignee nor ARIN   _OWN_   IPs.
Because they are not property,  nobody  can "lend" IP addresses.
Nobody can  "license"  the legal use of IP addresses,   because
ownership  or some other exclusive right would be required to do these
things.  Nobody can transfer  or assign property rights to IP
addresses.

Perhaps these words like "lend" are being used in attempt to compare
something more complicated using everyday terms that are simple  (but
less precise).


Any of the above words like "lend" or "license" when used seem to
strongly suggest that  the  "IP  address"  itself is an  owned object
that ARIN had acquired legal ownership of and confers  some  exclusive
legally protected monopoly  to the use of that  IP number,  when
configuring hosts on a network.

Policy could  be less-confusing by referring to other things owned
besides the IP address,

For example,  the  "act of assigning an IP address",    or  the
slot  in ARIN's contact database.      Recognition of   user of the IP
address by the registry.

E.g.      The  registry  confers   to the user allocated IP address
space by the registry,   the special  right,   to be reported by the
registry  as a  legitimate unique assignee of that  IP address space,
according and within that registry.


They don't get a license to the address space,  instead  they get
provided a service by ARIN.

The service that ARIN performs is to  provide  contact information to
the internet community  and provide verification  that  they  were
assigned that address space  by the  registry  (through WHOIS and
RDNS).


--
-J