IPv4 and Auctions

Thu Oct 24 13:02:06 UTC 2019

On Thu, Oct 24, 2019 at 7:08 AM Matt Hoppes <
mattlists at rivervalleyinternet.net> wrote:

> A thought crossed my mind the other day as I was having a discussion with
> someone.
>
> Every entity is suppose to justify their need for IPv4 address space from
> ARIN. This was always (in recent history) the case.
>
> No entity is suppose to be given more IPv4 space until they have nearly
> exhausted their previous space.
>

A lot of entities received very large allocations prior to depletion being
a concern. A lot of entities received very large allocations prior to NAT
even being a thing. Back in the late 90s/early 00s, lots of very large
scale projects were going on in very large organizations to get away from
every desktop, PC, and printer having a world-routable IPv4 address.

Interestingly, that came with a shift in mentality away from having
firewalls at various borders - a mentality we really need to resurrect on a
lot of networks as IPv6 takes off.

How is it, then, that we daily for the last 2-3 years have places like
> Hilco that have sometimes 15-20 large IPv4 blocks up for auction?
>
> Supposedly we are completely out of IPv4 space, yet every day large blocks
> are being sold for money, yet they were never returned because they weren’t
> needed.
>

Why would you return an asset that has value when you could sell it
instead? I mean, look, I'm all for charity, but this is hardly feeding any
orphans or curing any diseases or sending any talented low income kids to
NANOG.

Besides the fact that from the standpoint of the RIR, processing transfers
is less hassle than processing a return and then keeping wait lists going
indefinitely. Better to shift focus to IPv6 as far as allocating space
goes, and let folks like Hilco worry about lining up buyers and sellers for
IPv4 space. Remember, Hilco makes more profit on facilitating those
transactions than an RIR most likely would with their fee structures that
are designed to keep them functioning efficiently, not to keep them engaged
in cumbersome legacy businesses.

Another thought: being that IPv4 address space is essentially leased to you
> from ARIN, can you even legally auction your space to someone else? I know
> it’s happening, but it would almost be like me auctioning my apartment to
> another random person.

Legally speaking, the RSA with ARIN is not particularly similar to most
rental housing contracts.

Besides that, many apartment leases do allow sub-letting or transferring
the lease, as well.

Take care,
Matt
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