Any claims that Paul makes about traffic to and from his servers is bogus, because tens of thousands of instances of those server addresses, operating on local sub-nets, locally-route the traffic for better, more reliable, operations. ICANN always claims to be interested in more secure and stable operations, what better way than to know that one's root traffic never leaves their physical site.

Going one step further, the sub-nets that the legacy root servers use are largely wasted with only one lone IP address in use from large blocks. That makes those sub-nets useful for local DHCP allocations. Scripts are commonly available which discover the legacy root servers and then dynamically write the DHCP config file to allow other machines to grab an open IP address from what amount to site-local blocks. By changing the number of root servers and the sub-nets they use, an external provider can provide the information to auto-configure a complete site. For PC novices here, you may see this in your Network Control Panel as "Obtain IP Address Automatically".

It is truely ironic that Paul Trixie has made mega-millions from the BIND and DHCP software and it is that software which can be easily configured to render his beloved f-troop servers useless.

Beyond the above, Paul is of course not looking at the usage of an IP address surrounded by other prefix and/or suffix address bits, as one sees with IPv6. It will be interesting to see if Paul claims that he owns all addresses with the f-troop 32-bit pattern anywhere in the larger bit field. He could be chasing billions of bit patterns in use around the world.

Speaking of chasing, Paul has announced on the IETF list that he will open an office in any locale just for the purpose of filing a lawsuit against anyone who uses the f-troop 32-bit address. He must have pretty deep pockets from the years of dominating the DNS market with his "non-profit" vest-pocket companies. Even ICANN only plans to open a total of 8 offices to cover the litigation landscape around the world.

It might be useful to have Paul provide the contact of his main legal counsel in all 50 States as a starting point. ISPs could then spend a few hours or days with each attorney to fully digest what Paul asserts. After the State-level discussions start, the ISPs could move to the City-level and obtain the contact for the 20,000+ major U.S. cities. That should be pocket-change for Paul to handle that many simultaneous legal activities. That may help to head off any need to actually test the legal theories in the various Circuit Courts. Just think of the savings in legal fees, long-term.

that the root-server IP blocks are owned by IANA
and ICANN has a contract with the U.S. Government
to manage the IANA function.

also, the contents of the root-servers also
belongs to the IANA.

In the ICANN circles, some of the root-server
operators are viewed as immature jerks and the
first chance they get, they will be replaced.

As ICANN expands and cozies up to groups like
the ITU, root-server operations will be relocated
to serious facilities operated by serious
professionals.

The ISOC and ICANN are rapidly distancing
themselves from socially mis-fit geeks,
especially now that the tens of millions of
dollars in .ORG taxes are flowing to the
players. They can now fund A-list party-goers
from LA, New York, D.C. and Paris. Shopping
on Rodeo Drive is now a field trip for the
ICANN "staff" and visitors. CompUSA and Fryes
are not the place to "make the scene".