Question on 7.0.0.0/8

Mon Apr 16 19:36:45 UTC 2007

On Sun, 15 Apr 2007, michael.dillon at bt.com wrote:

> As a result, most people consider William Leibzon and the Bogon project
> to be, collectively, the authoritative source for information on whose
> IP address that is. That's because William and the Bogon project, act
> authoritative, and take some pains to provide comprehensive data. At the

Please do not confuse 'consistent interface' with 'authoritative'.

> Why doesn't IANA operate a whois server?

They do.  The question you want to ask is "Why doesn't IANA operate a 
whois server with IP address information?", and the answer to that 
involves a number of brick walls and bleeding heads over a number of 
years.

> Why don't they publish a more detailled explanation field in each IANA
> allocation record so that they can explain the precise status of each
> block?

IANA's role in this should be 'Ugh.  Here Big Block.  Go Talk to RIR.'

imo of course ;)

> Why doesn't IANA and the RIRs collectively get off their butts and
> actually make an "authoritative IP address allocation directory" one of
> their goals?

Been There, Done that.  See each RIR's FTP site, updated daily.  There's 
even a standardised format between the RIRs, unlike the whois output.

--==--
Bruce.