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Background
The Internet
Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) would like to applaud the
Council Working Group on International Internet-Related Public Policy (CWG-Internet)
for allowing all stakeholders this opportunity to provide input on elements of
the debate surrounding policy issues concerning IPv4 addresses. By examining
inputs from individuals and organizations actively engaged in the management of
IPv4 addresses, CWG-Internet will have a better understanding of the current
status of the debate between and within the multistakeholder organisations.
However, we
suggest that the process of briefing members of CWG-Internet could be simplified
by allowing all stakeholders to attend meetings of CWG-Internet. This will
enable experts to participate and immediately respond to comments and questions
from ITU Member States. By ensuring CWG-Internet has access to the most
up-to-date information about IPv4 policy, ITU Member States will be able to
play a fuller role in the debate about how best to manage IPv4 address space.
ICANN believes
that the public policy debate surrounding the efficient use of IPv4 address
space should be facilitated in all multistakeholder fora where interested
parties want to debate the issues, which would include an open and inclusive
CWG-Internet.
Moreover, ICANN
suggests that members of CWG-Internet could more effectively ensure the success
of the Internet for future generations by focusing resources on strategies for
incentivising ITU Member States and business to swiftly adopt IPv6. While it
will be many years before IPv4 is obsolete, transitioning to IPv6 should help
ameliorate many of the current concerns surrounding legacy IPv4 addresses and
inter-regional transfers.
Unused Legacy IPv4 Addresses
The debate surrounding unused IPv4
addresses is both complex and long-standing. At the most straightforward level,
the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), with support from their
multistakeholder communities, have worked to ensure that, where possible,
unused legacy IPv4 addresses are returned to IANA; where the recovered pool now
has around 16m addresses.
In order to help facilitate debate on the
future use and treatment of legacy IPv4 addresses, ICANN has, along with other
actors, facilitated workshops where all stakeholders have the opportunity to
discuss their concerns and suggest issues the multistakeholder community needs
to address.
Issues relating to legacy IPv4 addresses
are also dealt with by the RIRs both individually and collectively. We ask
CWG-Internet members to attend their own local RIR meetings in order to most
effectively engage with those policy debates.
There are five RIRs, with each responsible for a specific geographic
area: Asia (APNIC), Africa (AFRINIC), Latin America (LACNIC), North America
(ARIN), and Europe and the Middle East (RIPE).
Inter-Region
Transfer of IPv4 Addresses
On inter-region transfers of IPv4 addresses,
ICANN (through the Community) have been involved in meetings that have helped
to facilitate discussion between stakeholders to enable more efficient use of
IPv4 addresses. However, ICANN does not have a direct role in developing policy
on inter-region transfers. That
role rests with each RIR’s open, policy-making community.
Those members of CWG-Internet with an
interest in this issue should engage with their local RIR and contribute to the
policy development process for inter-region IPv4 address transfers.
We look forward to engaging with
CWG-Internet in the future on these issues. ICANN is available to provide
further input on any future questions CWG-Internet may have. However, ICANN
believes members of CWG-Internet will better understand the existing debates,
and more effectively engage with the issues by attending and participating in
the policy debates at ICANN and RIR meetings.
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ICANN (www.icann.org)
is an international, non-profit entity, responsible for managing the technical coordination
of the Internet’s unique identifiers: the domain name system and IP addresses.
ICANN operates in a bottom-up, consensus-based, multi-stakeholder approach
towards its mission.
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