[apnic-talk] Comments on Address space policy
I note:
7.19. Transfer of address space
APNIC policy does not recognise the sale or unauthorised transfer of address space and will consider
all such transfers to be invalid. APNIC will require IRs holding such transfers to return them to the
appropriate IR.
Yet in the very next section 7.20 it notes some conditions applying to
allocations when the company is sold or merged.
In practice this has become a difficult issue to resolve - while the
address space held by a company can be regarded as part of the
assets of the company if the entire company's assets are sold in a
single transaction (my understanding of the intent of 7.20), the clause
in 7.19 indicates that when the address space asset is attempted to be sold
independantly of the disposal of other assets of the company, then the
transaction is not recognised by the APNIC registry.
While I recognise that the transferability of IP addresses and the consequent
interpretation of IP addresses as a tradeable assets raises many other
issues, I 'd like to simply point out that the current policy as stated
in this document causes equal levels of problems. The practical result
of application of this policy is a continuing series of misunderstandings,
disputes, legal challenges and other sources of disruption to the integrity
of the address management activity and the integrity of the Internet
routing space.
Perhaps we may agree to look at ways to reconise the validity of the disposal
of address space through sale or transfer in cases where the transaction is
independant of the disposal of other corporate assets.
regards,
Geoff Huston
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