[arin-ppml] Fairness of banning IPv4 allocations to some category of organization

[michael.dillon at bt.com]

I was just reading a legal opinion that RIPE has received related to
rationing policies for the final IANA allocations to RIRs. There
was an interesting paragraph there that I believe substantially
applies in North America, and which is worth thinking about:

   A shortage of supply is indeed generally recognized as an
   objective justification for a dominant company to discriminate
   between its customers. In such cases, which applies to IPv4
   address space, a dominant firm may e.g. prioritise long-
   standing customers over new or occasional customers and the
   Commission (EU) will limit its investigation to verifying that
   there is a genuine shortage and that the reduction in supplies
   is not merely a pretext for a downright abusive refusal to supply.

Obviously, any policy proposed within ARIN would get its own legal
review and we would see how the specific wording of such a policy
would be viewed under the specific laws of the USA and Virginia.
That is not the point.

The point is that we have a REAL shortage looming of IPv4 addresses
and that network operators are not yet ready to use IPv6 addresses
as a substitute. That is a genuine shortage of supply, and I believe
that it is justification for policies which specifically target
new entrants. Whether the policies only target smart utility 
networks, or whether they go further and target any new entrants,
I think that there is sufficient reason to think that such
policies would pass muster.

Therefore, I would like to see us discuss this type of policy now,
while there is still some chance of easing the IPv6 transition,
if only a little bit.

-------------------------------------------------------
Michael Dillon
GFS Network Addressing Authority - BT Innovation & Design
66 Prescot St., London, E1 8HG, UK
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Internet: michael.dillon at bt.com
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http://www.btradianz.com
 
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