Why buying IP addresses is a scam — ITW 2025
Paying for an IP address and controlling its future are different questions. Lu Heng examines the gap at ITW 2025 in Washington, DC.
Lu Heng · Original recording in English
Imagine a business pays for IP addresses, connects its servers and brings customers online. If the registry later challenges its use of those addresses, what does the payment actually protect?
An IP address is a numerical address used to connect devices across networks. A registry keeps records of Internet number resources. At ITW 2025, Lu Heng calls buying IP addresses a ‘scam’ to challenge the assumption that paying settles who has control.
Watch the argument
His concern reaches beyond the buyer: customers and services depend on the network continuing to work. He argues that keeping accurate records should not give a registry power over the people using those resources.
What would give the operator a real choice?
In his later Bill of Rights, Lu Heng proposes protections for working networks, accurate records and the ability to change registry without losing number resources. An exit needs to be usable before a dispute leaves the operator with nowhere to go. Note 72 sets out that proposed direction.