IPV4 as a Commodity for Profit

Eliot Lear lear at cisco.com
Tue Feb 19 07:23:53 UTC 2008


Steve,
> Yah.  A market exists today, though it's perforce sub rosa.
>
> An interesting operational question is how to prevent deaggregation as
> a result of a market.  If, say, a company isn't using half of its
> address space, could it sell that half, to several other parties?  Can
> that be prevented by market means?
>   

This is a strong argument for regulation of the market.  A regulated 
market could provide liquidity needed by those who would otherwise find 
<unregulated> means to accomplish their ends (such as making private 
deals that are perhaps undetectable).  It provides an incentive for 
people to do the right thing, assuming the cost of doing so is not 
prohibitive (a big assumption if ever there was one).

Eliot



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