May
4

I Bought This IP Address On The Black Market – IPv4 shortage to create IP black market?

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We’ve of course seen endless prognostications over the last five years about how the pool of 4.3 billion IPv4 addresses are running out, and the migration to IPv6 should probably pick up the pace. Some current projections have the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) pool of IP addresses being fully depleted by the end of this year, given the accelerated demand for all manner of broadband-connected devices. Infoworld notes that this won’t be a bad thing for everybody — some individuals might be able to make a killing by selling IP addresses on the black market:

Well-known Internet engineer and notable Internet “pseudo-economist” R. Kevin Oberman points out that this black market already exists, albeit on a small scale. “The probability of black market growth depends on how run-out of IPv4 addresses is handled by the regional registries,” Oberman says. “A black market is uncontrolled by definition. If you have a commodity that has value and is required for commerce, the price will rise to whatever willing buyers will pay.” Currently, Oberman notes, IPv4 addresses are still relatively easy to get, because significant anti-fraud measures haven’t yet been put in place by registries such as ARIN.

The article proceeds to explore a number of protection measures and rules being crafted that encourage “legitimate” address transfers.

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  2. NRO: IPv4, IPv6 address demand is rising
  3. Number Resource Organization: IPv4′s end is near
  4. Tinet helps Denmark’s NORDUnet bridge the IPv4 to IPv6 gap
  5. Cable Companies Finally Forced To Address Customer Satisfaction – Maybe someday they’ll be forced to address bi-annual rate hikes?

Original story here.

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