600 acres and a mule, was Lightly used IP addresses

Sat Aug 14 16:22:00 UTC 2010

> Convincingly said here on an ISP mailing list. But what about the
> folks who were denied address assignments by ARIN policies over the
> last 15 years? Denied them based on the fiction that ISPs didn't own
> IP addresses, that they were merely holding the addresses in trust for
> the public they serve. ...

I dunno.  What was New York's responsibility in the 1790s to guys who 
didn't join the army because they had to stay home and take care of their 
widowed mother and six younger sisters?

I wouldn't for a moment claim that IPv4 space was a way that was uniformly 
fair or wise or close to ideal.  But I don't think you're going to have 
much luck imposing fairness and wisdom retroactively on people who've 
already got the space.

R's,
John