Michael, On Sep 17, 2009, at 12:07 PM, <michael.dillon@bt.com> <michael.dillon@bt.com
wrote:
Same thing that happens when the person in front of you in the line at the cafetaria at work takes that last cupcake: you're outta luck. Wrong!
Err, no.
If RIPE has changed their policies so that they apply different criteria to you and your competitor, you are not out of luck. You now have grounds for a nice lawsuit against both RIPE and your competitor.
By this logic, RIR policies can never change or the RIR will get sued. Obviously silly.
The point is that if RIPE changes the policy, it has to do so in a way that does not convert the bad luck of running out of IPv4, into selective discrimination.
It isn't "bad luck", it is a function of having a limited resource. Bakeries do not get sued when they run out of cupcakes. I suspect all RIPE needs to do is ensure polices are non-discriminatory going forward (but then again, I'm not a net.lawyer. Regards, -drc