Re: Lightly used IP addresses

[Owen DeLong <owen () delong com>]

On Aug 13, 2010, at 11:31 AM, Ken Chase wrote:

> On Fri, Aug 13, 2010 at 02:15:51PM -0400, John R. Levine said:
> > > > I don't entirely understand the process.  Here's the flow chart as far
> > > > as I've figured it out:
> > > >
> > > > 1.  A sells a /20 of IPv4 space to B for, say, $5,000
> > > >
> > > > 2.  A tells ARIN to transfer the chunk to B
> > > >
> > > > 3.  ARIN says no, B hasn't shown that they need it
> > > >
> > > > 4.  A and B say screw it, and B announces the space anyway
> > > >
> > > > 5.  ???
> > >
> > > 6.  ARIN receives a fraud/abuse complaint that A's space is being used 
> > > by B.
> > > 7.  ARIN discovers that A is no longer using the space in accordance 
> > > with their RSA
> > > 8.  ARIN reclaims the space and A and B are left to figure out who owes 
> > > what to whom.
> >
> > 9.  A and B ignore ARIN's email and continue to announce what they've been 
> > announcing.
> >
> > 10.  ARIN attempts to allocate the /20 to someone else, who is not amused.
> >
> > Note that at this point ARIN presumably has no more v4 space left, so a 
> > threat never to allocate more space to A or B isn't very scary.  Given its 
> > limited practical leverage, ARIN is only effective insofar as its members 
> > and customers agree that playing by ARIN's rules is more beneficial than 
> > ignoring them.
>
> Right, and Im answering my own question here, for (8) about the reclaiming - 
> what upstream is going to stop carrying prefixes from a downstream that's
> 'illegally' announcing them? Is this upstream going to cut that customer off and
> lose the revenue, just to satisfy ARIN's bleating? From what I gather, all that
> ARIN can do is remove the NS records for the i-a.a reverse zone for the offending
> block, making SMTP a little trickier from the block, but not much else.
ARIN can do quite a bit more if the resources are under RSA. If they are legacy
resources (which I don't believe there are such things as legacy /20s), then,
it's a bit murkier, but, I wouldn't completely count ARIN out.

> Unless I didnt see the other large sticks ARIN's carrying? I've never seen them
> send hired goons to anyone's door... yet?

Contract law anyone? Perhaps you should re-read your RSAs.

Owen