Re: Commodity (was RE: [Fwd: Kremen ...])
Since IP addresses are tightly tied to the network architecture, how can they ever be liquid? How are PI addresses tightly tied to network architecture? What percentage of the total IPv4 address space is PI? If non-PI addresses are not property then how do PI addresses gain that attribute? --Michael Dillon P.S. PI addresses get configured into devices just the same as non-PI addresses. If you could sell a PI block then you would be faced with the prospect of renumbering all those devices. DHCP makes end-user devices pretty easy, but devices in the NETWORK ARCHITECTURE pose more of a problem. In addition there are some people who use IP addresses encoded in hardware in a non-mutable fashion. Those people will apply for PI allocations which, on average, makes PI addresses more tied to the hardware than non-PI. But the important points are not the ones mentioned in this postscript.
Re: Commodity (was RE: [Fwd: Kremen ...])
Erm, Uranium *is* a commodity. Last week's spot price was $52 a pound for U3O8. It's a small market in terms of numbers of players but it's still an open market in the economic sense. 102 million pounds were traded in 2004. Hedge funds are players in the uranium market (source: www.uxc.com, home page) I don't know where you got that figure but the website you reference states that in 2005 only 35 million pounds were traded in 107 transaction. I think most people will agree that any item for which only 107 transactions are concluded in a year is not terribly liquid. According to this http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/cont_detail/0,3206,1248+21215,00.html in Chicago alone, counting only trades for 100 oz. unit size, there were 15,544 contracts. Add to that the fact that you can buy and sell gold in any major bank in any major city as well as in most large jewellry stores and you have a very liquid commodity indeed. --Michael Dillon
Re: Commodity (was RE: [Fwd: Kremen ...])
On Sep 13, 2006, at 1:37 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Since IP addresses are tightly tied to the network architecture, how can they ever be liquid? How are PI addresses tightly tied to network architecture? What percentage of the total IPv4 address space is PI? Good question. Perhaps someone from the RIRs could provide this information. What also might be interesting is the rate of change for PI allocations. My suspicion is the rate of PI allocations is increasing. Perhaps more interesting would be percentage and rate of change of PI IPv6 given scarcity isn't (yet?) an issue with IPv6. If non-PI addresses are not property then how do PI addresses gain that attribute? I suspect your position on whether or not PI addresses are property depends on whether it is yours or not. Rgds, -drc
Commodity (was RE: [Fwd: Kremen ...])
You make an incorrect assumption - that IP addresses are currently free (they are not, in either money or time) and that commoditizing them will increase their cost (there is significant evidence it will not). You seem to think that commoditizing IP addresses will reduce their cost. Commoditization is changing an illiquid resource into a liquid resource, i.e. one that can readily be converted to cash in an open market. Since IP addresses are tightly tied to the network architecture, how can they ever be liquid? If they cannot become liquid then they can never be a commodity in the first place. For example, let's compare gold and uranium. Both metals are very valuable. Gold can be bought and sold at any time on an open market. It is a commodity. But uranium is not as liquid. There are few buyers and sellers. Trades happen too infrequently to establish an open market. There are restrictions on posession and transport of the material. In the end, uranium is not a commodity and is not liquid. IP adresses are more like uranium than gold. --Michael Dillon
Re: Commodity (was RE: [Fwd: Kremen ...])
Michael, On Sep 12, 2006, at 2:11 AM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: Since IP addresses are tightly tied to the network architecture, how can they ever be liquid? How are PI addresses tightly tied to network architecture? Rgds, -drc
Re: Commodity (was RE: [Fwd: Kremen ...])
On 12 Sep 2006, at 10:11, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: For example, let's compare gold and uranium. Both metals are very valuable. Gold can be bought and sold at any time on an open market. It is a commodity. But uranium is not as liquid. There are few buyers and sellers. Trades happen too infrequently to establish an open market. There are restrictions on posession and transport of the material. In the end, uranium is not a commodity and is not liquid. IP adresses are more like uranium than gold. Erm, Uranium *is* a commodity. Last week's spot price was $52 a pound for U3O8. It's a small market in terms of numbers of players but it's still an open market in the economic sense. 102 million pounds were traded in 2004. Hedge funds are players in the uranium market (source: www.uxc.com, home page) - when people trade something who don't use it I think you've pretty much defined a commodity.
