* Emilio Madaio
The draft document for the proposal described in 2012-04 has been published. The impact analysis that was conducted for this proposal has also been published
In principle, I support this proposal. Reserving the last /8 to the «LIR clique» is unfair to End Users who are not LIRs, but who may very well have an equally justifiable demand for IPv4 addresses as any LIR. In fact, I feel that the proposal does not go far enough - in my opinion, both LIRs and End Users should be able to get the same amount of address space from the last /8. I note that in the APNIC region, LIRs and End Users can both get up to a /22 from the last /8. I would prefer it if this was the case in the RIPE region as well. That said, I do fear the practical consequences of this proposal. As the possibility to get PA assignments will be dwindling, End Users may look to PI (quite possibly guided there by their ISP who can be a sponsoring LIR). The current difference in pricing between PI and PA address space is a key element of my worry here - a PI assignment costs €50/year, while becoming a LIR and getting the PA /22 would under the proposed 2012 charging scheme cost €1750 (€1000 sign-up fee + €750 yearly fee). In other words, acquiring PA address space is almost nine times as expensive as PI address space. Furthermore End Users may feel it compelling to set up several legal organisations in order to acquire multiple PI assignments from the last /8. This problem is nothing new - under the current policy, an organisation may set up multiple LIRs and receive multiple /22s from the last /8, but the expense of RIPE NCC membership is likely balancing out the cost/benefit assessment. The cost of PI address space, on the other hand, is too small to be a disincentive. I also note that the Impact Analysis warns that this policy may lead to increased fees for members, which would be an undesirable consequence. I don't feel that the members should be sponsoring the non-members; equal access to addresses from the last /8 should mean equal monetary contribution to the NCC. So to sum up - I feel that PI assignments should be allowed from the last /8. However, if they are, I strongly feel that they should be priced more or less the same (per address) as getting an allocation from the last /8 through first becoming an LIR. That said, I don't know if APWG have any influence on the NCC's charging scheme at all. Is it possible for this policy to say something along the lines of «joining the NCC and obtaining a PA allocation from the last /8 should cost approximately the same per address as obtaining a PI assignment from the last /8»? Is that in scope of address policy? (Just to be clear: I am not stating neither support or opposition to the proposal.) -- Tore Anderson Redpill Linpro AS - http://www.redpill-linpro.com