[members-discuss] [ncc-announce] [news] RIPE NCC Members and Multiple LIR Accounts - Please Discuss

Hi Paul,

* Paul Webb

> We're just discussing symptoms of the problem though....the shortage
> of IP4 addresses, which is all these "abusers" are trying to find a
> way around.
> 
> As MD of a relatively new ISP (10 years old) we see many established
> players happily sitting on very large (and often largely unused)
> subnets. If IPV4 space not used was given back and reallocated
> (rather than hoarded as a competitive advantage) you wouldn't see
> folk trying to work around the rules like they do. 

Actually, we most certainly would. 

For the sake of the argument, let's assume that the NCC is able to
reclaim all previously allocated but currently unused IPv4 address
space overnight with zero effort required¹. Let's also assume that the
address-policy WG instructed the NCC to do precisely that, and proceed
to re-distribute the reclaimed space according to the previous «everyone
gets what they actually need»-style policy.

What would have been accomplished is merely to delay the fundamental
problem, i.e., «the shortage of IP4 addresses, which is all these
"abusers" are trying to find a way around», by perhaps a few months.
Afterwards we'd be right back where we began, having made zero progress
towards actually solving the fundamental problem.

[1] If we're being realistic, such a IPv4 reclamation project would be
a colossal undertaking. The current holders is not going to part with
their space willingly. The only ones that would actually benefit from
the endeavour would be attorneys.

(In Norway we describe such strategies as being akin to peeing your own
pants for warmth in winter. While there is no denying it will help you
in the short term, in the end you'll be way worse off than you began.)

> Better still, let's get IPV6 in wider use and then we can all get on
> with more useful things.

+1

Tore