Ham IP addresses?

[Rob Seastrom]

Mike O'Dell <mo at ccr.org> writes:

> an act of infinite wisdom on the part of Dave Mills,
> long long ago when such things could still be done.

Didn't know Dave was involved.  I've heard Net 44 variously attributed
to Brian Kantor and Hank Magnuski.

> a real class A would be immensely valuable if it
> could be sold. i'm pretty sure ARIN would insist
> they get a massive piece of the action on any 
> transaction.

I'm sure that in light of what I'm about to write, someone will accuse
me of pedantry.  In this crowd, that might be taken as a high
accolade.

The numbers themselves are not property, but the exclusive right to
use them on The Internet and have them registered as such in a
Regional Internet Registry's database has value.  Transfer of that right
to unique numbers may involve cash changing hands.

It also involves demonstration of need just as getting addresses from
an RIR directly does (and has ever since the institution of the RIR
system, and even before that, though the "needs" basis is
progressively more vague and nebulous the further back one goes).  It
is not possible to transfer internet number resources without signing
a registration services agreement with the RIR of competent
jurisdiction, and it involves payment of a nominal annual fee.  I
signed a LRSA (legacy registration services agreement) several years
ago to cover the /23 and ASN that I have.  I write a check each year
to ARIN for $100.  I wouldn't characterize that as a "massive piece of
the action".

It's worth noting that there is already a "class A" er, /8 in play,
it's the old BNR/Northern Telecom/Nortel Networks Net 47 out of
bankruptcy.  The documents before the bankruptcy court regarding the
transfers stipulated that all involved would adhere to the rules and
regulations of ARIN for making the transfers happen, so there's been
some degree of scrutiny of the framework by the US Bankruptcy Courts
and others who are fine tuned to look for people trying to pull a fast
one.

A report of transfered prefixes is here:
https://www.arin.net/knowledge/statistics/transfers.html and you can
see that 47.x.x.x/8 is indeed moving in dribs and drabs.

This conversation was started about Net 44 though, and I don't think
that there is an organization or individual that can provide the
authorization to transfer { the exclusive rights to announce } net 44
or bits of it away from its widely understood use.

In the interests of full disclosure, I've been on ARIN's Advisory
Council since 2003 and am predisposed to be generally sympathetic to
the community-based, bottom-up process that the RIRs including ARIN
have promulgated.

> RS, Louie, Strat - i assume you have viewpoints

Let's hear it from the other guys.  :)

-r