of policy proposal 2012-01, but will comment for sake 

of clarity on the use of the words "sell" and "sold" in 

the proposal.  In the policies in the ARIN region, we 

have made use of the term  "transfer" for this purpose, 

although one can argue that "sell" and "sold" is equally 

accurate.

The challenge with using the word "sell" is simply that

for many readers it carries the connotation of 'free and 

clear' transfer of property to another.  I do not know,

(nor intend to assert) what transfer of number resources

in the RIPE region means, but in the ARIN region we hold

that there are multiple parties with rights to each number 

resource, and this includes the resource holder (who has 

the right of exclusive use) but also includes the community 

(who has the right of visibility into the public portion of 

the registration, the right to set policies by which the 

resource may be transferred or reclaimed, etc.)

We've had parties come to ARIN and indicate that they have

"bought" or "sold" their address blocks, and we have to 

point out that they may indeed have sold their particular

rights to the address block, but that any transfer in our

region must comply with the community policies, and ask

that they put a transfer request (agreed to by the seller)

so that we may transfer the number resources to the new

registrant.

In short, using terms like "sell" and "sold" in the policy

text may create the impression for some readers that Internet

number resources are just widgets to be bought and sold as 

desired, but that error is may be unavoidable in any case 

given the circumstances. I do not believe that the use of 

"sell" or "sold" is incorrect, but simply of question of 

personal judgement as to whether the improved readability 

is worth the connotations that some readers will draw as a

result.

FYI,

/John

John Curran

President and CEO

ARIN