[arin-discuss] Is a review of fee structure called for due to impending IPv4 runout?

[Ted Mittelstaedt]

A point was raised in a recent thread that the current fees for
IPv4 could be adjusted in the years and months closer to
IPv4 runout - currently projected sometime around 2011 - that
might accomplish the following:

1) Buy some more time before the actual date of IPv4 runout
from ARIN by slowing applications.

2) Discourage hoarders who are hoping that an "IPv4 market"
will appear post-runout

Currently, the fees for IPv4 are set to cover the cost of
ARIN administration of IPv4.

IT SEEMS TO ME that IF proposals such as "POC cleanup" and
"ARIN refereeing IPv4 sales" go into operation, that the
administration of IPv4 WILL BECOME MORE EXPENSIVE and thus
EVEN WITHOUT ANY MEMBERSHIP DIRECTION that ARIN will need to
RAISE IPv4 fees.

Post IPv4 runout, there will STILL be orgs that go bankrupt
and release their IPv4 allocations, there will still be orgs
willing to "trade in" fragmented IPv4 blocks hoping to gain
larger blocks, and there still will be orgs that merge and
give up IPv4 as a result.  In short, there will be "dirty"
IPv4 coming into ARIN for allocation.  Thus, ARIN will still
be in the business of administering IPv4, the IPv4 fee
schedule simply won't be discarded.

It also MIGHT BE ADVANTAGEOUS for ARIN to CREDIT orgs that
"turn in" IPv4 post-IPv4 runout.  For example if an org has
a few extra IPv4 subnets that aren't part of a larger aggregate,
perhaps a few years of credit on their bill might convince them
to turn them back into ARIN for reallocation.

AND, it might also be advantgeous for ARIN to pay a "bounty"
on "information leading to the recovery of abandonded IPv4"
basically, paying for people to give them documentation that
shows that a legacy holding is defunct.  After all, ARIN would
have to pay labor time to research this anyway, if it engages
in it itself.  Why not pay some IPv4 bounty hunters?

In short, fee changes are coming even if we do nothing - so
why not do something?

Ted