SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The UK government has started selling off internet addresses that it no longer uses.
The first group of 150,000 addresses has been snapped up by a Norwegian firm called Altibox for about £600,000.
[...]The surplus addresses are part of a much bigger block of 16 million addresses given to the Department of Work and Pensions in 1993. Earlier this year, the DWP started a project to see how many of these IP addresses could be freed.
An official report produced before the DWP began its investigation suggested that 70% of the massive block was used for the UK government's internal network, leaving about five million free for disposal.
What are the chances the government will end up leasing some back from the companies they are selling them to?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @09:42AM
Typical. Ipv4 addresses are becoming scarce. Instead of fixing the resource scarcity by switching to Ipv6 like should have been done a decade ago, we'll just keep on the old system for as long as possible, and make the inevitable transition even harder. In doing so we'll also create a brand new market in the sale and trade of addresses for all kinds of vested interests/middlemen/rent-seekers to profit off.
Prices will skyrocket, carrier grade NAT will become the norm, and only the privileged few will be able to afford running a proper server, leading to even more centralization. Or maybe I'm wrong and things will never become so bad as this. But why take the risk?
Reminds me of the whole energy and fossil fuels debate...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @09:48AM
You can switch to IPv6 right now. You won't be on the Internet anymore, but in your isolation you can be smug about your superiority over the common folk. Bye bye now.
(Score: 2) by ticho on Sunday May 24 2015, @10:03AM
Google is on v6, Farcebook is on v6, what more do 90% of the Internet users need?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @10:32AM
OK new plan. Let's move the unwashed masses over to IPv6, and all we 1337-d00dz can stay on IPv4. We'll be the elite minority by using the old protocols instead, and since there are so few really smart people, 32-bit addressing will more than enough for all of us! It's brilliant.
(Score: 2) by tathra on Sunday May 24 2015, @03:09PM
shouldn't it be the other way around? seriously, shouldn't all the nerds and intellectuals be setting up on IPv6, one, because its newer and better, and two, to get away from all the unwashed idiot masses? IPv6 should be the new pre-AOL-internet. the IPv6 Eternal September is inevitable, sure, but we'd probably have the IPv6 internet to ourselves for decades.
everyone who longs for the days before AOL ruined the internet, this is what you should be doing!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @04:23PM
Google is on v6, Farcebook is on v6, what more do 90% of the Internet users need?
Um, maybe SN? Oh, and porn. My porn site is still IPv4.
(Score: 3, Touché) by darkfeline on Monday May 25 2015, @06:18PM
Ignoring Facebook for the moment, Google (or your preferred search engine) being on IPv6 is meaningless if all of the sites turned up by it are not on IPv6.
Sort of like browsing product catalogs on a deserted island.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @10:16AM
Did I ever in any way suggest I was superior to the common folk, or that I am not myself part of the common folk? I do not think I did. Please do not put words into my mouth. I was simply calling out a problem and lamenting the fact that nothing serious is being done to address it by those with the power to do so.
Sure I could do my little part to improve the world and switch by myself. (I would first have to move house and find an ISP that properly supports it) But in practice you and I both know that would not solve the issue in the slightest. I won't be able to access the rest of the internet still on ipv4 and the rest of the internet will not be able to access any information that I might offer. I could be pragmatic and use a tunnel broker to access the ipv4 world, but then I'm just perpetuating the ipv4 situation in addition to making various things harder on myself.
This problem requires a coordinated effort involving governments, businesses and individuals. Telling me to switch and go into isolation by myself shows a clear lack of understanding of the situation and on top of that an immature, childish or perhaps trollish response.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @11:10AM
Hey, need a tampon?
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday May 24 2015, @12:28PM
I like Belgian beer and I can download about 30% of it over IPv6 [stateoftheinternet.com].
Also, in regards with IPv6, Google shows USofA in (neither red nor blue, but...) green [google.com]... you reckon is the colour of those stinky IPv6 backwaters?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Funny) by ticho on Sunday May 24 2015, @01:33PM
Wait, you can download beer? THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Sunday May 24 2015, @03:20PM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday May 24 2015, @05:25PM
https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/09/01/ale-chief-white-house-beer-recipe [whitehouse.gov]