[discuss] we need to fix what may be broken

Fri Apr 18 07:02:42 UTC 2014

Hi Barry,
At 12:42 17-04-2014, Barry Shein wrote:
>I'm wondering if the assertion is "don't see" or "can do"?
>
>The former is understandable and invites suggestions, but taken as a
>whole I sense it's meant to say it's outside of ICANN's ability or
>purview.

It's outside ICANN's ability.  Andrew Sullivan already mentioned that 
the IPv6 transition is an economic problem.  The world was told that 
IPv4 addresses had run out.  The internet is still working.  The 
networks are, in general, not facing any unsurmountable addressing 
problem.  The average user can still do what he or she likes to do on 
the internet.

If a body claims responsibility for IPv6 transition it would have to 
ensure that the transition is moving forward.  If a body allocates 
IPv6 addresses it would have to try and move the transition 
forward.  It would also have to assess the issues on which it can act 
on.  Otherwise, it might be investing in efforts which are 
unrewarding; it could also end up in the middle of a larger problem.

A few minutes ago, I took a look at a document which was written 
about 10 years ago.  IPv6 transition was considered important at that 
time.  It's more pressing now as it is unlikely that the IPv4 address 
pool will be replenished.  I am aware of integer slicing.  I am not 
enthusiastic about that.  There are some minimal efforts which I have 
put in.  The result was failure.  Would ICANN intervention have 
helped?  I don't think so.

>Do we all agree that if this IPv6 transition fails then everything
>else we are talking about here crumbles to dust?

People are currently interested about the IANA transition and some 
other topics.

>We all agree that "ICANN" is an acronym for "Internet Corporation for
>Names and Numbers"?

Yes.

>And that IPv6 addresses are one of those Numbers?

Yes.

>And that the reason DNS exists is to translate domain names into those
>Numbers?

Yes.

>And that every single device on the internet either has to have at
>least one of those numbers or has to be proxied by a device with one
>of those numbers?

Yes (short answer).

Regards,
S. Moonesamy  