[address-policy-wg] The final /8 policy proposals, part 3

On 25 Aug 2009, at 09:31, <michael.dillon at bt.com> wrote:

> Instead, let's push this EXTRAORDINARY decision making into the future
> where it belongs, at the time when the EXTRAORDINARY event takes  
> place.

I STRONGLY disgaree with this.

It will be very unwise -- I'm being charitable here -- to postpone  
this fundamentally crucial policy discussion until the extraordinary  
event occurs.

First of all, there is the potential for all sorts of trouble if RIPE  
tries to invent and then introduce new policies at that critical  
point. Obvious examples of this trouble include regulatory  
interventions, lawsuits, investigations by competition authorities and  
so on. At the point where IANA v4 runs out, expect everyone,  
particularly lawyers and governments, to take a much, much closer  
interest in IP addressing and how it's co-ordinated.] Then there's the  
likely bickering between LIRs. Or between the RIRs. Or some  
combination of those.

Secondly, it's extremely unlikely a consensus on how to manage those  
dwindling v4 addresses could emerge at that point. When the SS IPv4  
starts to sink, the prospect of a reasoned discussion reaching an  
agreed conclusion about who does and doesn't get space on the  
lifeboats which can't accommodate everyone don't look good. There's a  
Titanic analogy in here somewhere. Hopefully it won't involve that  
wretched Celine Dion song. :-)

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, if policy making about the  
last /8 is to be postponed until that event, it's doubtful that a  
consensus could be reached in time to make a difference. Assuming  
there is a difference to be made which is worth it at that point. At  
the moment it takes the WG  and the PDP some months to agree somewhat  
non-controversial policies: like anycast assignments for TLD DNS.  
Carving up the remaining IPv4 space is already controversial. After  
this extraordinary event occurs, will the controversy level be lower,  
about the same or higher?