CircleID

ARIN has just released a statement on the future of addressing policy. Specifically addressing the future of IPv4 addressing.

What ARIN does is to emphasize the current policies and say they will be enforced even stronger than today if needed. I.e. there is no announcement of a change in policy.

The resource-allocation policy under which ARIN operates has been produced through an open, transparent, and democratic process over more than a decade. ARIN is fully dedicated to preserving universal access and stable functionality of the Internet, and our policies do not encourage profit-driven speculation in the Internet addresses.

The risk, if policies regarding review of usage of the address is not enforced for example, is that holders of large address blocks can create an artificial shortage of addresses in the market (that will exists for IPv4 addresses). By ensuring only few addresses "are for sale", the holders of the large address blocks can make sure the price per address stays high. At least higher than what it would have been if all IPv4 addresses that are not in use (according to the usage policies the RIRs have set) would have been "available".

By Patrik Fältström. Visit the blog maintained by Patrik Fältström here.

Related topics: IP Addressing, IPv6, Policy & Regulation, Regional Registries