Regarding one of the "LEGACY" blocks mentioned in my prior email, on a whim I decided to take a look at the full history of the block. That full history is reproduced below. This history causes me to have even more questions than I have already asked. I'm still totally befuddled by the fact that this block apparently is and always was marked as "status: LEGACY", even though it's original allocation date still seems to be 2015-09-23, which seems relatively recent to me. Just as perplexing is the apparent direct transfer of the block from a department of the UK government to a private for-profit Internet company. Has the UK government been so hard up for cash in recent years that it has taken to selling off any spare /16 blocks that it happens to have lying around? If so, who should I talk to about placing a bid for the next one they decide to unload? ======================================================================== % Version 1 of object "51.155.0.0 - 51.155.255.255" % This version was a UPDATE operation on 2015-09-23 15:10 inetnum: 51.155.0.0 - 51.155.255.255 netname: UK-DWP descr: UK Government Department for Work and Pensions country: GB status: LEGACY mnt-by: DWP-MNT created: 2015-09-23T13:10:05Z last-modified: 2015-09-23T13:10:05Z source: RIPE ======================================================================== % Version 2 of object "51.155.0.0 - 51.155.255.255" % This version was a UPDATE operation on 2015-09-23 15:15 inetnum: 51.155.0.0 - 51.155.255.255 netname: UK-DWP descr: UK Government Department for Work and Pensions country: GB org: ORG-DWP1-RIPE status: LEGACY mnt-by: DWP-MNT created: 2015-09-23T13:10:05Z last-modified: 2015-09-23T13:15:16Z source: RIPE ======================================================================== % Version 3 of object "51.155.0.0 - 51.155.255.255" % This version was a UPDATE operation on 2015-11-05 17:51 inetnum: 51.155.0.0 - 51.155.255.255 netname: UK-ZEN descr: Zen Internet Limited country: GB org: ORG-DWP1-RIPE status: LEGACY mnt-by: ZEN-MNT created: 2015-09-23T13:10:05Z last-modified: 2015-11-05T16:51:50Z source: RIPE ======================================================================== % Version 4 of object "51.155.0.0 - 51.155.255.255" % This version was a UPDATE operation on 2015-11-05 18:43 inetnum: 51.155.0.0 - 51.155.255.255 netname: UK-ZEN descr: Zen Internet Limited country: GB org: ORG-ZIL1-RIPE status: LEGACY mnt-by: ZEN-MNT created: 2015-09-23T13:10:05Z last-modified: 2015-11-05T17:43:45Z source: RIPE ======================================================================== % Version 5 of object "51.155.0.0 - 51.155.255.255" % This version was a UPDATE operation on 2019-07-04 12:43 inetnum: 51.155.0.0 - 51.155.255.255 netname: UK-ZEN descr: Zen Internet Limited country: GB org: ORG-ZIL1-RIPE status: LEGACY mnt-by: ZEN-MNT mnt-by: ZEN-NOC-MNT created: 2015-09-23T13:10:05Z last-modified: 2019-07-04T10:43:36Z source: RIPE ======================================================================== % Version 6 (current version) of object "51.155.0.0 - 51.155.255.255" % This version was a UPDATE operation on 2020-02-03 12:55 inetnum: 51.155.0.0 - 51.155.255.255 netname: UK-ZEN descr: Zen Internet Limited country: GB org: ORG-ZIL1-RIPE status: LEGACY mnt-by: RIPE-NCC-LEGACY-MNT mnt-by: ZEN-MNT mnt-by: ZEN-NOC-MNT created: 2015-09-23T13:10:05Z last-modified: 2020-02-03T11:55:22Z source: RIPE