> > IETF unique way could be to charge a fee for an address > allocation to > > RIRs. On their side RIRs would charge for assignments as > they do now > > and return a fair share back to IANA/IETF. > > A IP address use fee might help solve two problems. When based upon > relative scarcities, IPv4 space should demand a higher premium. The Board of Trustees of ARIN, one of the 5 RIRs, has just released an official statement here: http://www.arin.net/announcements/20070701.html There are, however, those who propose that the democratically established governance principles now be abandoned, to create a market in IP addresses. A market that abandons these existing, consensus-driven core values would encourage speculators to take advantage of the upcoming time of relative scarcity of IPv4 addresses to profit from less foresightful users' remaining need. The purpose of this memorandum is to assure the community that the democratic principles of Internet governance will be adhered to by ARIN, That adds to the other two big hurdles. First, IP addresses are not property. And second, given the fact that there is a rapidly shrinking pool of free addresses to be sold, there is not sufficient liquidity for a stable market to form. --Michael Dillon _______________________________________________ Ietf@xxxxxxxx https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf