North American Network Operators Group

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Re: Independent space from ARIN

  • From: Stephen Sprunk
  • Date: Tue Apr 15 01:27:53 2003

Thus spake "Bill Woodcock" <[email protected]>
> On Mon, 14 Apr 2003, Stephen Sprunk wrote:
> > That's why RIRs lease addresses to you, not sell them -- they get
> > to keep collecting money forever even if they do no additional work.
>
> RIRs _allocate_ addresses, meaning that they provide the _service_ of
> _registering uniqueness_.  You pay a _membership fee_ to support the
> ongoing operation of the registry, and allow it to continue providing you
> with the _service of uniqueness_ for your addresses.
>
> You don't buy them, you don't lease them.  You buy the service of the
> RIR's maintenance of a database which ensures unique allocations.

When I buy real estate, I don't have to pay yearly fees to the county clerk
to keep my title "unique", nor does the clerk charge me a different fee
based on the size of the parcel.  They are solely concerned with the number
of parcels I own and making sure nobody else claims them too.  This is an
accepted fee structure for a "service of uniqueness".

If ARIN were truly a registry, they would charge by the prefix, not by the
address, and said fees would only be incurred when a change was made.
ARIN's fee structure clearly has far more in common with a landlord than
with a title clerk. If it walks and talks like a duck, it's probably a duck.

S

Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking