And the madness begins.... IPv4

[Robert E. Seastrom]

Iain McFadyen <mcfadyenusa at yahoo.com> writes:

> http://www.eweekeurope.co.uk/news/nortel-sells-microsoft-ipv4-addresses-for-7-5m-24885

It is actually a lot more complex than this article states.  There is
a "transfer market" for IP addresses (with which I'm entirely too
familiar because I was part of the team that crafted it in ARIN-land).
The recipient has to justify them just as if they were getting new
addresses from the RIR (in this case ARIN).

Based on the price paid and current stocks of IPv4 addresses at ARIN
(it is only the central IANA free pool that is "run out", not the
various RIRs'), I would say that someone at Microsoft has been
hoodwinked into thinking that they would somehow have an easier time
of getting a certain amount of address space if they went this route
than if they went directly to the registry.

I've read the Nortel sale motion documents and they neglect to mention
that addresses are *not* property, but are assigned on a needs-basis
and are subject to revocation.  A quote from RFC2050:

   The IANA reserves the right to invalidate any IP assignments once it
   is determined the the requirement for the address space no longer
   exists.  In the event of address invalidation, reasonable efforts
   will be made by the appropriate registry to inform the organization
   that the addresses have been returned to the free pool of IPv4
   address space.

Further they attempt to get the bankruptcy court to override RFC2050
section 4.7:

   7.  The transfer of IP addresses from one party to another must be
       approved by the regional registries.  The party trying to obtain
       the IP address must meet the same criteria as if they were
       requesting an IP address directly from the IR.

I think that it is fair to expect that absent further justification on
Microsoft's part, information exposing the fallacy of this transaction
will be presented to the bankruptcy court, and counsel for the
debtor-in-possession will be reproached for engaging in the digital
equivalent of trading in swiped milk crates.

-r