[AfriNIC-rpd] Last Call: IPv4 Soft Landing Policy - AFPUB-2010-v4-005-draft-03

[David Conrad]

I had written a long note on this thread, but in the end I decided not to waste anyone else's time.

I doubt anyone would disagree with the ideal that the unallocated pool held by AfriNIC should be used to expand the Internet in Africa. However, pragmatically speaking, I have a strong suspicion that the folks with the most money/lawyers will win, particularly since the folks with the most money/lawyers in this case (large ISPs) will be the ones most desperate for unallocated IPv4 addresses and are not coincidentally the same ones AfriNIC would rely upon to enforce policies such as those defined in section 3.8.

The RIR system works because folks (particularly large ISPs) find it in their best interest for it to continue to work. When policies are passed that negatively impact folks interests, things are unlikely to remain stable.

Regards,
-drc