[address-policy-wg] 2007-08 Review Period extended until 9July 2008 (Enabling Methods for Reallocation of IPv4 Resources)

 
Per Heldal wrote:
> Current policies only work because there's a carrot associated with
good
> behaviour (allocations). When there is no more carrots there's no
point
> trying to make any kind of rules unless we're prepared (technically
and
> legally) to enforce them. Thus 2007-08 is pointless. We could just as
> well turn RIPE's IPv4 WHOIS registry into some kind of best-effort-run
> self-service-robot. All that remains is a requirement to be able to
> identify the user of any address-resources that IANA has allocated to
> RIPE.

In your opinion, once we run out of space, any policy at all is
pointless. I do not agree. Most people don't need a carrot (or a stick,
for that matter) to cooperate nicely. What we do need is some
non-intrusive rules that are easy to adhere to. The need for an accurate
and usable database will remain, combined with an organisational
structure for maintaining that. We've got the NCC doing that now - I
think we'd like to keep that going forward.

> What I meant was to obtain reasonably reliable numbers which show how
> much address-space might become available for re-use given various
> schemes and/or pricing. I.e. for the RIRs to perform surveys towards
> existing LIRs and known legacy-allocation-holders as 
> businesses analyse
> their markets. Policies and work to deal with a transfer-market is a
> waste of time and resources unless numbers are significant. Growth is
> king, and if v4 can't provide for growth it'll go elsewhere.

I would very much like to see some figures as well, but is it relevant
for the decision at hand? We have no policy for registering address
space other than 'fresh' allocations, and we're going to run out of that
space. So we need some replacement policy before that time. Or be
content that as far as v4 is concerned, we can burn the database on a
DVD and use that as the final distribution of IPv4, ever. I don't think
that's what we want, hence 2007-08.

> Except the suggested policy explicitly removes any regulation on the
> receiving LIR. Now you can't just get an initial allocation, but have
> the blessing to acquire 1000s with no questions asked until the
existing
> requirements to document continued need of current blocks kicks in. Do
> you expect the NCC to go after those in retrospect, and that it will
> easier to enforce than a requirement to document need-for-space prior
to
> the acquisition?

Well, LIRs can already do that when they buy another LIR. Which is a
cumbersome transaction and not very transparent from a registration
perspective. If you want a genuine 'need-for-space' we should reclaim
all IPv4 space today and have IANA hand out addresses on a daily basis,
DHCP-style. It will of course kill aggregation and a host of other
things, but it's as far as you can go from the conservation perspective.

If you think that without enforcement there can be no rules, I'd hate to
live in your neighborhood. The reward for good behaviour is of course,
that your neighbors don't consider you to be an a.....e. The Internet is
an infrastructure based on cooperation - appearances count.

Best,

Remco


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