Re: Market-based address allocation

[bmanning () karoshi com]

> At 03:43 PM 4/30/2003 -0500, Jack Bates wrote:
> > Without mandating necessity, I'd also point out that there would no longer 
> > be IPv4 address space available except at outrageous prices for smaller 
> > networks that wish to multi-home and have their own netblocks.
>
> At 02:10 PM 4/30/2003 -0700, bmanning () karoshi com wrote:
>
> >         Oh... sorry, are folks really seriously wanting
> >         to treat integers as a marketable commodity?
>
> I'm confused--are IPv4 netblocks so valuable that we can't expect the 
> market to set a reasonable price, or are IPv4 netblocks (sets of integers) 
> so worthless that they're not worth the trouble of trading at all?
>
> Bill Nickless    http://www.mcs.anl.gov/people/nickless      +1 630 252 7390

        Oh, I expect that I beleive that some folks are so confused by
        the smoke/mirrors of ISP politics that they are willing to
        pay good money to have their name associated with a prefix.
        and not just any prefix mind you, one that starts with 192 or
        is /16 or longer.  ISPs treat those things as golden and will
        transit bits around from such things w/ impunity.  Of course
        if these prefixes become a commodity, then I get to impune
        intellectual property on my prefix.  e.g.  8 (tm)  and
        everyone who uses 8 must pay me a royalty.  Equally, if these
        things become a commodity, some studly wallet will buy them all
        and then where will you be?  Rapidly moving to IPv6 I expect. :)

        As mentioned earlier in this thread, the value is not the prefix
        or its length, its the ability to get and maintain a prefix in
        the routing systems of the sites you wish to communicate with.

        the slot is valuable, not what you place in it.

        e.g.  the numbers, in and of themselves, are worthless.

        however, if I can get ANL to transit my packets by using 
        130.202.0.0/16 numbers as the source addresses for packets
        I generate, that may have value.  

        even more value may be obtained if I can convince rafts of
        more dewey-eyed neophytes to pass my bits around with that
        prefix as the origin of my sourced packets.   

        in the end, its not the prefix, its the routing table slot.