Who Owns IPv4 Addresses?
IPv4 addresses are probably not property. IPv4 addresses are numbers and numbers can’t be owned. However, they are useful as communication tools only if they are used exclusively. That means a single organization controls how an address is used on the internet.
- Exclusive Use and Control: While numbers themselves cannot be owned, the value of an IPv4 address lies in its exclusive use. Controlling an IPv4 address ensures that multiple organizations do not try to use the same addresses.
- RIR Registry System: Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) are responsible for managing the distribution and registration of IPv4 addresses. Their registries maintain the authoritative record of which organization holds the rights to use each block of addresses.
- Rights vs. Ownership: When buying or selling IPv4 addresses, organizations are not purchasing ownership of the numbers themselves, but rather the rights to exclusive use of those addresses, as recorded in the RIR registry.
IPv4 addresses are useful when there is a consensus about exclusive use. That means agreement over who has a right to announce a block of addresses on the internet. The registry provided by the RIRs is the cheapest way of agreeing who should be using each block of addresses.
So, when someone buys or sells a block of addresses, they are buying or selling the rights to an exclusive entry in the registry.