John L wrote:
the RIRs don't make their IP allocation policies because they hate individual users, they make them so that the IP space they allocate is actually usable.
Every separately managed chunk of IP space needs a separate entry in the routers at backbone networks. The route table is currently about 100,000 entries, and by heroic effort router manufacturers have been able to handle a table that size.
John, I was not suggesting to assign PI space to each and every individual. I just wanted to point out that DHCP and NAT in the consumer market has influenced the development of new Internet services. It still remains a centralized model. IPv6 could help make ever changing DHCP addresses and NAT a thing of the past. In a few years from now, one could imagine a low cost DSL router device that would also act as a Jabber, VoIP and web server, freeing us from using centralized, paying or ad-driven services. As for the router manufacturers, I would not describe their efforts as "heroic". CPU power and RAM size increase every year, according to Moore's law. User needs drive the developement of new technologies. This is also good news for router manufacturers. They are in the business of selling more iron, after all.
Assuming that IPv6 becomes common, ISPs could and should allocate a chunk of IPv6 space to each customer, but users still won't be able to take the chunks with them if they change ISPs. That was my point.
Best, -- Patrick Vande Walle Chairman Internet Society Luxembourg