[NA-Discuss] ARIN / Statement on the future of addressing policy

[Robert Guerra]

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

http://www.arin.net/announcements/20070701.html

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”.