Why is IP address hijacking and in fact any kind of “selling of IP address space” illegal?
The very first thing to remember is that it is illegal to use somebody else’s property without the owner’s permission – and this is the very basis of hijacking IP address space. The process of hijacking IP address space is also serious criminal activity. As has been noted above, it involves trying to appear as somebody else or as representing a company that the hijacker has no relation with – this is identity fraud, and there are several additional criminal statutes when forgery of paper documents is involved. More criminal activity appears when somebody is trying to sell (or lease) IP address space for profit. It is rumored that as much as $100,000 would be the asking price for a /16 block of IP addresses (most likely seriously overstated since companies that can justify a /16 can get it for $5000/year from ARIN). Obviously these activities are illegal as they are trying to sell something that does not belong to them. On this point, it can be noted that any kind of selling of IP addre
