Quote:
Originally Posted by Rubber Duck
Nevertheless, the question has some merit. Are IP addresses going to become the latest market for speculation?
Have you ever lived in a town where you have to wait for somebody to die before you can get a phone number? I did once. A very frustrating scenario if you are trying to run a commercial enterprise.
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I don't think it's possible for IP addresses to become speculated, as you are not able to "purchase" them or transfer rights to them. Additionally, there are mechanisms such as NAT in place that alleviate the need for most end-users to have a public IP address. But basically, if can you demonstrate a real need for allocation of a block of IP addresses, e.g. you are starting an ISP, then you just apply to RIPE or the other regional equivalent and you will get them for free. If you can't demonstrate a need, then you won't get them at all. On top of that, according to RIPE rules, organizations with allocated IP blocks are not allowed to charge end-users for IP addresses (although many of them do it anyway and call the charge something else).
However, an organization that has a large IP block (class A or B) allocated to it could potentially use this as a selling point for the entire business...
Here is some more interesting reading on the subject of address exhaustion:
IPv4 address exhaustion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Migration to IPv6 has been slow because most North American companies don't give a rat's arse - they already have far more allocated to them than they could ever possibly use and they won't return any of them. Screw the rest of the world. Countries like China and India will eventually be forced into putting IPv4 <-> IPv6 translating gateways at all of their borders and just use IPv6 internally. Which won't really be a problem - if handset manufacturers don't deliver phones with IPv6 stacks, then those countries will just stop importing them and begin making their own (more than they already do, anyway).
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