[58139] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: Market-based address allocation
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Eric Gauthier)
Thu May 1 13:57:15 2003
Date: Thu, 1 May 2003 13:56:46 -0400
From: Eric Gauthier <eric@roxanne.org>
To: nanog@merit.edu
In-Reply-To: <20030501122345.M22391-100000@paradox.fdfnet.net>; from dgold@FDFNet.Net on Thu, May 01, 2003 at 12:27:05PM -0500
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
> > Oh... sorry, are folks really seriously wanting
> > to treat integers as a marketable commodity?
>
> Treating IP space as a commodity is no more strange than trading financial
> options or other derivatives, or, for that matter, intellectual property.
> Bits, numbers, and agreements all hold value outside of the context of
> purely physical property.
In this context, which is more real:
1) That highly dense, "gold"-colored bar of metal
2) The little green pieces of paper in my wallet
3) The ones-and-zero's that make up the balance in my checking account
IMHO, these are ordered correctly from a physical standpoint but ordered
backwards in terms of marketablility... If you have $100's worth of gold,
a one hundred-dollar bill, and $100 in your checking/debit account - which
is the easiest to transact with?
Eric :)
