[arin-ppml] Needs assessment

[Gary Buhrmaster]

On Wed, Jun 5, 2013 at 3:57 PM, Milton L Mueller <mueller at syr.edu> wrote:
.....
> * people who attack the elimination of needs assessments on the grounds that "there are bad people out there who want to make money on addresses" seem to be missing the point. Nearly all of the organizations applying for IP addresses are trying to make money on them in one way or the other. Or did you think Google, Amazon and Verizon were charities? [1] Do you not understand that IP addresses are part of the service bundle offered by ISPs, cloud providers, hosting providers, etc., and that they are being "sold"? What is it, exactly, that makes selling a number block as an alienable commodity intrinsically evil but selling it bundled with internet service worthy and wonderful?

I look at a needs basis assessment somewhat like our system
of governance (a republic; it is not a democracy).  It may be the
worst form of assignment, except for all the alternatives(*).

Gary

(*) My apologies to Churchill