Source of Authority

[Larry Honig]

As I stated in a few earlier letters, it seems to me that a prefix to
the IPv4 address which states unambiguously WHICH REGISTRY "issued" the
address could remove most of the concerns expressed on this list about
hijacking, monopolies, etc. , since then a given address could exist
multiple times. Of course a meta-registry would have to exist to prevent
two evil dudes from both claiming to be "Joe's IP Registry" ("Aaron's
(ARIN's) IP Registry"?) {:> a little levity...perhaps it should be
called a mela-registry to denote the allegiance to dark helicopters...)

Can routing technology as  presently exists in the installed base of
boxes (Cisco 7600's primarily, I guess?) handle any longer string than 4
octets without crapping out? Sorry for my profound ignorance of the
plumbing, but a reference to the actual techniques would be greatly
appreciated.