[ih] Some Questions over IPv4 Ownership

[Jack Haverty]

On Thu, 2010-10-14 at 20:33 -0400, John Day wrote:
> IP addresses must be assigned to facilitate 
> routing.  If they are not, there is no Internet. 

True, with today's implementation.

Getting back to history...   IIRC, the Telephone Companies used the same
argument about telephone numbers - they had a structure which was
meaningful to the switching system, and was needed to establish the
circuit through the various COs to end at a particular wire inside your
house.

Somewhere between then and now, Number Portability happened despite
their objections, cell phones were attached to everyone's ear, and, at
least for some numbers, I can take my number and phone with me around
the planet and from company to company.  Telephone Companies had to
reinvent the innards of their networks, so that numbers were no longer
tied to addresses and/or routes.  And the Telephone System still works.
There's some pretty strong precedents in that evolution.

Seems like The Internet could make a similar evolutionary step if it was
needed....or mandated by government or customer pressures, as happened
to the Telephone networks.

/Jack