FW: Net-block issues

Wed Aug 15 15:39:00 UTC 2001

|> -----Original Message-----
|> From: Roeland Meyer 
|> Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 8:39 AM
|> To: 'Elisabeth Porteneuve'; 'ga at dnso.org'; 'kent at songbird.com'
|> Subject: Net-block issues
|> 
|> 
|> In this text, I typo'd a cost issue; Net-block cost 
|> $1US/month/IP-address. A /24 will cost $256/month, minimum.
|> 
|> |> From: Elisabeth Porteneuve 
|> [mailto:Elisabeth.Porteneuve at cetp.ipsl.fr]
|> |> Sent: Wednesday, August 15, 2001 1:58 AM
|> 
|> |>     The rivers of comments has been sent out about domain
|> |>     names, there is a dangereous silence about IP numbers.
|> 
|> It is with wry amusement that I have been following the MAPs 
|> debate, on NANOG, recently. Then you make this comment, it 
|> couldn't dove-tail more beautifully. Those that do not know 
|> what MAPs is, please review http://www.mail-abuse.org/. 
|> 
|> The fundimental function is to create blacklists used for 
|> various filtering of IP blocks. While this sounds innocuous 
|> on its face, MAPS has recently announced intention of 
|> charging for their service, in order to raise money for 
|> legal fees (they are under legal attack). Until now, Paul 
|> Vixie has been the main funder of MAPs.
|> 
|> The problem is that MAPS was distributing the lists and 
|> there were many local copies, within places like EarthLink 
|> and AOL. As long as those copies are maintained by MAPS, 
|> this is not a serious problem. They have an efficient and 
|> timely distribution mechanism. The result of an net-block 
|> being listed in MAPS is that entire chunks of the Internet 
|> cannot reach that net-block. This is done at the provider 
|> level. The effects are global in that they over-ride ARIN, 
|> RIPE, and APNIC.
|> 
|> The problem arises when there are stale entries in the 
|> black-list. In fact, the danger has always been, the issue 
|> of stale entries. The effect, given MAPS market-share, is 
|> that a net-block can be issued, to a new business, that may 
|> be perfectly useless and neither the ISP or the business 
|> knows about it until it is too late. I might point out that 
|> a similar problem can occur with DNs, so it is not entirely 
|> an PSO issue. There are now stale entries, in abundance, 
|> because many providers are still evaluating the new cost 
|> issues. Meanwhile, they have disconnected from the distro 
|> system and aren't having their black-lists updated. Ergo, 
|> they have stale entries.
|> 
|> What this, in effect, does is to over-ride various registry 
|> policies. Names and net-blocks that are issued may not, in 
|> fact, be issued. Names are not a serious cost issue and they 
|> can, with some logistical difficulty, be re-issued. However, 
|> net-blocks cost over $1US/month (at the ISP level), or 
|> $2500/year from ARIN (the US registry), and they are not all 
|> that plentiful.
|> 
|> The fundimental process disconnect here is that, IMHO, the 
|> various registries should be performing the MAPS function as 
|> part of their policy enforcement mechanism. This is not 
|> written into any of the registrar/registry agreements.
|> 
|> If anything argues for a centralised systems approach, the 
|> MAPS functionality does. IMHO, this makes it an ICANN issue. 
|> Yes, this also politicizes it somewhat. No, some NANOG 
|> denizens won't like it and that is guaranteed.
|> 
|> --
|> R O E L A N D  M J  M E Y E R
|> Managing Director
|> Morgan Hill Software Company
|> t:01 925 373 3954
|> c:01 925 352 3615
|> f:01 925 373 9781 
|> 