[address-policy-wg] 2012-02 New Draft Document and Impact Analysis Published (Policy for Inter-RIR Transfers of IPv4 Address Space)

* McTim

> I see this as potentially creating a good deal of admin overhead for 
> the RIRs, which will impact all LIRs

Having recently been told over dinner by an NCC employee something along
the lines of «I don't think the RIPE Community quite realises how much
effort goes into implementing policy changes», I find this worrisome as
well. Especially considering that the Impact Analysis makes an explicit
point out of it.

> while the upside will only be for those few who want to further
> commoditise Internet numbering resources.

Can't say I agree with this. If I, having absolutely no agenda «to
further commoditise Internet numbering resources», need to obtain IPv4
address space for purely technical reasons, a transfer is the only way
to go about it these days. This proposal would increase the number of
sellers I could buy from, which would be to my benefit. On the other
hand, it would at the same time increase the number of buyers I would
have to compete with, so it might well be a zero-sum game for me. Or
maybe not. Difficult to predict, really.

In any case, the cost (i.e., the administrative overhead) of this
proposal may be justified if there is enough members that are actually
interested in participating in the IPv4 transfer market in the first
place. I think the implementation of proposal 2012-05 might provide
valuable data in this regard. I'll stay on the fence about 2012-02 until
than, at least.

Another thing I'm curious about is how this proposal will impact
transfers of legacy/pre-RIR/ERX space (if at all), how these are handled
today, and if there's any interaction with 2012-07 to be considered.

-- 
Tore Anderson