> On Thu, 27 Jan 2005, Nick 'Sharkey' Moore wrote: > > Ethernet-derived addresses are indeed also an issue, but they're > > hypothetically unique ... so we're back to estimating the > > inestimable ... are they less likely to collide than 3041 because > > of this supposed uniqueness, or more likely to collide because > > of the possibility of human error? > > Good question.. The reason why Ethernet MAC addresses would not be > unique would probably be either human error (manually configuring the > mac address) or a manufacturing error -- and in either case, it's not > certain how much analysis on 2^48 would help..
Or, maybe, privacy. If we question the privacy aspects of sending unique identifiers in IPv6 addresses, then we might also question the privacy impact of broadcasting unique 48 bit identifiers in Ethernet or WIFI frames. Rhetorical question: how long will it take before computers systematically configure a new MAC address each time they reboot, or each time they roam to a new network? -- Christian Huitema -------------------------------------------------------------------- IETF IPv6 working group mailing list [email protected] Administrative Requests: https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ipv6 --------------------------------------------------------------------
