FCC and ARIN

[Jim Fleming]

On Thursday, February 27, 1997 10:30 AM, David R. Conrad[SMTP:davidc at APNIC.NET] wrote:
@ Hi,
@ 
@ >This makes the most sense since I've started  reading this list.
@ 
@ That Fleming says the FCC is considering taking on IP address
@ management?  Government intervention is, of course, always an option,
@ although it would likely mean the scope of ARIN would be reduced to
@ only the US.  I personally don't think the US government has shown
@ itself to be the best administrator for limited resources, however
@ given the large ISPs are already multi-national, I suspect they could
@ get around any perhaps inappropriate restrictions that might be
@ applied (in the worst case).
@ 
@ >What is an IP address really worth?
@ 
@ Geoff Huston proposed an answer to this question at the PIARA BOF held
@ in Montreal.  The short answer is "what the buyer is willing to pay
@ that the seller is willing to accept".  A single /24 is not likely to
@ have much value.  I've heard /16s are running between US $30,000 and
@ US $60,000 or so, but of course wouldn't know for sure since the
@ registries do not recognize such transfers.
@ 

Can you expand on..."the registries do not recognize such transfers"...?


@ >But is this all an attempt to get the routings to kind of 
@ >be like zipcodes?
@ 
@ No.  I believe the point of ARIN is to create a non-profit industry
@ driven organization which can allocate the resources (IP addresses and
@ AS numbers) without government intervention.  The registries do try to
@ promote routability of addresses (although not in the way I think you
@ mean -- you can't tell where a machine is located by just its address --
@ you need additional information (e.g., what is contained in the
@ routing tables)), but the registry's primary goal is to manage the
@ address space to insure there is sufficient addresses to meet the
@ requirements of the Internet community.
@ 

If the registries "promote" routability, then why does the InterNIC
carefully select blocks for ISPs and then make them sign or
agree to a statement that the block is not routable ?

Sort of like a ticket to a Cubs game...behind a pole in Wrigley..

@ >I will see how Minnesota reacts to having control of the *.*.mn.us
@ >IP adresses. 
@ 
@ These two (*.*.mn.us and IP addresses) are orthogonal concepts.
@ 
@ >Thanks for getting to the heart of the matter. It makes it look
@ >more like an accounting chore. Which it really is, anyway.
@ 
@ Yup.  Fleming keeps going to ridiculous efforts to call this an
@ economic or political excercise.  Allocation of addresses is a
@ technical activity and should be done in the most efficient way that
@ best manages the limited resource.  To go back to your original
@ statement, I don't believe the US government has demonstrated a high
@ level of efficiency in managing such resources, it could probably be
@ made to work.  I would think this would be a last resort however.
@ 

Do you think that allocating radio spectrum to AM and FM
stations is a technical matter ?

Are interstate highways, civil engineering problems ?


--
Jim Fleming
Unir Corporation

e-mail:
JimFleming at unety.net
JimFleming at unety.s0.g0 (EDNS/IPv8)