On 18 Nov 2021, at 8:14 PM, b...@theworld.com wrote: > That suggests an idea: > > Repurpose these addresses and allow the RIRs to sell them in the IPv4 > secondary markets with some earmark for the funds. Plus or minus > perhaps some worthy causes for "free" (not quite free but old school) > allocations. ...
(Sidestepping for the moment the question of technical merits of the proposal…) There’s this organization called the Internet Engineering Task Force that has been working hard to establish long-term financial independence and stability via the IETF Endowment project <https://www.ietf.org/endowment/ <https://www.ietf.org/endowment/>> – Several of the Internet community organizations have made substantial contributions to this goal, but much more will be needed if the IETF is to achieve long-term funding stability. Speaking entirely in my own personal capacity, I believe that long-term financial stability of the IETF is an extremely worthwhile goal for all of us to support and – to the extent that somehow changes to the IPv4 address specification result in a financial upside – I believe that the IETF Endowment would be a very appropriate beneficiary. FYI, /John p.s. Disclaimer: my views alone - contents may be hot and cause burns to unprotected surfaces. p.p.s. It is unclear if the involvement of the RIRs in such a monetization activity is beneficial or not, but also orthogonal to the point that using proceeds for the benefit of IETF Endowment would be a very worthwhile goal.
