[156544] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: The Department of Work and Pensions, UK has an entire /8
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (George Herbert)
Wed Sep 19 16:47:33 2012
In-Reply-To: <450916D8-FA1D-4D43-BE8F-451D50DD6088@privaterra.org>
From: George Herbert <george.herbert@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2012 13:46:57 -0700
To: Robert Guerra <rguerra@privaterra.org>
Cc: NANOG list <nanog@nanog.org>
Errors-To: nanog-bounces+nanog.discuss=bloom-picayune.mit.edu@nanog.org
As the subsequent discussion here shows, "unused" is a press inaccuracy.
The nets are in active use; much of that use is not publicly advertised, but=
it's still in use.
George William Herbert
Sent from my iPhone
On Sep 19, 2012, at 1:35 PM, "Robert Guerra" <rguerra@privaterra.org> wrote:=
> Am I correct in assuming that the unused IP block would not be sold as is m=
entioned in the article, but instead be returned to RIPE to be reallocated?=
>=20
> Robert
>=20
>=20
> On 18 Sep 2012, at 10:07, Eugen Leitl wrote:
>=20
>> http://paritynews.com/network/item/325-department-of-work-and-pensions-uk=
-in-possession-of-169-million-unused-ipv4-addresses
>>=20
>> Department of Work and Pensions UK in Possession of 16.9 Million Unused I=
Pv4
>> Addresses
>>=20
>> Written by Ravi Mandalia
>>=20
>> Department of Work and Pensions UK in Possession of 16.9 Million Unused I=
Pv4
>> Addresses
>>=20
>> The Department of Work and Pensions, UK has an entire block of '/8' IPv4
>> addresses that is unused and an e-petition has been filed in this regards=
>> asking the DWP to sell it off thus easing off the RIPE IPv4 address space=
>> scarcity a little.
>>=20
>> John Graham-Cumming, who found this unused block, wrote in a blog post th=
at
>> the DWP was in possession of 51.0.0.0/8 IPv4 addresses. According to Cumm=
ing,
>> these 16.9 million IP addresses are unused at the moment and he derived t=
his
>> conclusion by doing a check in the ASN database. =E2=80=9CA check of the A=
SN database
>> will show that there are no networks for that block of addresses,=E2=80=9D=
he wrote.
>>=20
>> An e-petition has been filed in this regards. =E2=80=9CIt has recently co=
me to light
>> that the Department for Work and Pensions has its own allocated block of
>> 16,777,216 addresses (commonly referred to as a /8), covering 51.0.0.0 to=
>> 51.255.255.255=E2=80=9D, reads the petition.
>>=20
>> The UK government, if it sells off this /8 block, could end up getting =C2=
=A31
>> billion mark. =E2=80=9C=C2=A31 billion of low-effort extra cash would be a=
very nice thing
>> to throw at our deficit,=E2=80=9D read the petition.
>>=20
>> Cumming ends his post with the remark, =E2=80=9CSo, Mr. Cameron, I'll acc=
ept a 10%
>> finder's fee if you dispose of this asset :-)=E2=80=9D.
>=20
