I like how Jack Bates framed it: The IP address space is a "community
asset" and as such, the allocation of it needs to be done in a way
which serves & benefits the Internet community at-large.
That said, we have had this discussion many times over the years,
especially within IEPG discussions, and punching holes in CIDR blocks,
for the sake of alighning address space w.r.t. special interests
(as opposed to some sanity in allocation policy which attempts to
preserve allocation to allow CIDR aggregation) is a Bad Thing.
It will be interesing to see how this plays out...
Which would form a strong analogy to the FCC's original legal
justification for existence in 1934 which was that the radio spectrum
is a limited, public trust and as such the FCC is given the power to
regulate it and its contents in the public's interest (and, hence, to
regulate content in "the public interest".)
I would be very careful what I wish for.
Fortunately IPv6 could be a counter-balance to any claims of
jurisdiction based on limited address space though perhaps the camel's
nose will get into the tent first; in theory all address space is
finite, even if vast.
It's hard to imagine power over content achieved based on IPv4's
limited address space would be later yielded for IPv6 any more than
the tiny spectrum space of 1934 was ever yielded due to the vast
expansion of spectrum afforded by subsequent improved technology.