[ppml] rubber/road

> My magic crystal ball tells me that IPv4 address space will 
> become pricey, as that is the resource running out, not IPv6 space.

Get rid of that crystal ball, it doesn't work.
The ARIN fees will not go up because of IPv4 space running out since the
fees are based on maintaining the organization so they are more related
to the amount of work involved in processing applications than to any
characteristic of the number blocks.

Also, ARINs fees are not decided through the public policy process. The
members of ARIN ultimately set the fees that they pay and the members
have their own mailing list to discuss these things.
If you are an ARIN member then you can join the list here
http://lists.arin.net/mailman/listinfo/arin-discuss .

> You can make all kinds of weird assumptions about the future, 

That is for sure...

> one thing is sure: IPv4 address space won't be available 
> anymore from the RIRs in a couple of years. The blackmarket 
> will have it for you though.

If companies actually NEED the addresses they have been allocated, then
it will not be on the black market. If they don't need it and also do
not return it to the RIRs for reallocation then they could well be
committing fraud which is not a wise thing to do in these days of
Sarbannes-Oxley etc. etc. 

--Michael Dillon