[ppml] 240/4

Getting my 2 pence in...  I may not say it as eloquently or precisely as
the rest of you have done, but please bear with me.

If we try to make a change by placing arbitrary enforcable rules we are
going about this entirely the wrong way.  To make laws you need not only
to be a recognized governing body, but you also need a police force with
the time, manpower, energy and money to enforce your rules.  

We need to remember that none of the groups writing IP policies (not
laws) is a government.  ARIN is a registry, ICANN is a corporation, IANA
is a subdivision of ICANN..  

The only reason any of these organizations function (and they do it very
well, don't get me wrong) is the cooperation of the internet 'community'
at large.  Cooperative anarchy was the principle that let the internet
function at the onset, and that is still the best way of doing it today.
If we arrange things so that IPv6 is easier to use, works better and is
cheaper than IPv4 then people will flock to it as fast as assimilation
is possible.  If we try to force people to IPv6 through punitive
measures people will grab hold of IPv4 so hard you will never pry them
away from it.  

If we want that internet 'community' to stand on their heads in the
corner then the way to get them to do that is to arrange services so
that it is easier, cheaper and more functional to do it your way that
any other.  People will do what is easier first, then what is cheaper.
People will rarely do what you tell them just because you say "they have
to".

If we try to force change on folks by making rules, they will ignore the
rules as long as possible.  If we try to make it more expensive to
ignore the new rules by artificially inflating costs then people will
just find another way around and ignore us altogether.  

In the words of John Taylor Gatto..  "... genius is as common as dirt.
We suppress our genius only because we haven't yet figured out how to
manage a population of educated men and women. The solution, I think, is
simple and glorious. Let them manage themselves."


> -----Original Message-----
> From: ppml-bounces at arin.net [mailto:ppml-bounces at arin.net] On 
> Behalf Of Paul Vixie
> Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2007 10:55 AM
> To: 'Public Policy Mailing List'
> Subject: Re: [ppml] 240/4
> 
> > > i don't think so.  the folks who find 10/8 inadequate 
> want a LOT LOT 
> > > LOT more, not just a little more.
> > 
> > In that case, why don't they adopt v6 and be done with it ?
> 
> do we want to be prescriptive in that way, or responsive?  if 
> someone wants to build a big private ipv4 network and can 
> hack their devices to run 240/4 and that space is otherwise 
> useless, should we say "no, use ipv6 instead"?
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