BGP Security and PKI Hierarchies

Fri Nov 25 09:51:49 UTC 2005

> > How would you feel about having the registries serve as the root of
> > a hierarchical certificate system?
> 
> What about the swamp space?

Presumably if the users of class C blocks in the swamp
want to use the certficate services that the registry
provides then the registries would sell that service
for some reasonable fee.

Some people labor under the misunderstanding that
users of swamp space actually "own" IP addresses
and therefore have the right to not pay anybody
for anything at anytime. However, since "ownership"
is a legal concept and since IP address ownership
has never been tested in the courts, it is a moot
point. 

Do you suppose that if a Microsoft salesman had
given me a free copy of Windows back in 1990, I would
have a right to use any version of Windows for free
forever?

--Michael Dillon