[governance] Re: Good contribution on IP addresses and Internet Governance

[McTim]

On Tue, Apr 26, 2011 at 3:53 PM, Lee W McKnight <lmcknigh at syr.edu> wrote:
> McTim,
>
> All valid points.
>
> Except I would not think of IPv4 addresses held by African entities as 'deepest pockets.'


nor did I mean that.  I meant the deep pockets of corporates who sit
on big piles of cash, and to whom a few million dollars for IPv4 space
won't pinch their bottom line.


>
> So if an incidental byproduct of IPv4 scarcity is prices paid well above costs to - Africa - well, that might be a transfer of value CSers would be sympathetic to.

so we would be encouraging the use of "African" resources by
corporates in the developing world?

>
> But larger issue is that not addressing a market as a market, can lead to lower consumer welfare; and specifically, opens door to incentives for - private markets.  Which is another way of saying, assume bakshish.

Well, I think we have the best opportunity for Jane Public to
participate in helping to set policy around these resources with the
status quo.  In addition, RIRs run on a non-profit "cost-recovery"
basis, so I fail to see how a profit making registry could undercut
them.  I think in a "free-market" for numbering resources, the
"premium" that folks will be willing to pay to obtain said resources
will be the baksheesh.

>
> Classic example is current mess in India where government - inefficiencies - have everyone now 'shocked!' that mobile operators - really want spectrum to provide services to their paying customers. Who could have guessed?
>
> Anyway, better an open market than one in which we are later 'shocked' to learn that money changed hands along with IPv4 addresses.

The "market" we have now is truly open, the policies and procedures
and fee structures for each RIR is online for all to see.


-- 
Cheers,

McTim
"A name indicates what we seek. An address indicates where it is. A
route indicates how we get there."  Jon Postel
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