IGF 2020 WS #327 Believe it or not, the Internet Protocol is on Sale!

Relevance to Internet Governance: The Internet is constantly evolving and each multistakeholder (government, private sector, academia, civil society) that is part of its governance has the responsibility to keep it working. Any proposed modification that is made to its structure needs to be studied and evaluated before being applied. Especially, if this modification involves conceptual changes in the protocols that underpin the infrastructure. It will not only shape the future of the network, but also affect how each stakeholder might use and connect on the Internet. This proposal aims to discuss the future impacts on the Internet and its governance, related to a recent decision on a conceptual change in its protocol infrastructure, the permission to trade IPv4 addresses (IPv4 Market). Our focus is to analyse not only the technical perspective about how this decision might influence the speed of Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) adoption (which will substitute protocol IPv4 in the Internet) but also how each multistakeholder might be affected. But before starting the analysis about the IPv4 market which will be the basis for the workshop, it is important to understand how the Internet infrastructure was designed and why it has problems. In the 60's, the Internet was built with the simple purpose of allowing some machines to exchange information. The main concern at that time was how to design a logical infrastructure where all the institutions connected could communicate with each other freely. As there was no intention of commercial use of the network, protocols and standards were developed in open discussions within the technical community to produce an open non-commercial structural basis for the Internet. This was the situation which allowed the Internet to evolve and expand rapidly. However, the internet infrastructure was not designed to meet our current global connection needs, in which a full digital inclusion is sought. Due to this, problems in the Internet infrastructure began to appear as well as discussions were raised about the possibility of changing this conceptual structure. One of the most relevant architectural issues that the Internet is suffering nowadays is related to the protocol migration from IPv4 to IPv6. The whole digital world is being impaired by the lack of public IPv4 addresses available and the low level of IPv6 adoption. Without these protocols (IPv4 and IPv6), machines will not be able either to connect to the Internet or to communicate. This hampers the growth of the Internet and consequently prevents the advancement of digital inclusion. In order to avoid this scenario, many measures have already been taken (such as, workshops in previous editions of the IGF*) to promote IPv6 deployment worldwide. Although these measures are effective, it takes time before good results start to appear. During this time, a palliative solution is being discussed. The most promoted idea today is to encourage the redistribution of the excess IPv4 addresses that each institution has, through the permission of their commercialization (IPv4 market). A change in the conceptual basis of the Internet with few precedents which needs to be studied. What are the effects (positive and negative) of using the IPv4 market? What are its consequences to the future of the Internet? Should it aid the IPv6 deployment because it gives more time to companies to plan their migration? Or will it delay the adoption of IPv6 even more because companies will prefer to operate with IPv4? How can each stakeholder be affected by this market? To answer these questions it is necessary to analyze each role of each stakeholder involved in Internet governance. Looking at the governmental point of view, its online services should always be accessible to the population. This means, from a technical perspective, that its services should operate with both protocols (IPv4 and IPv6 are not interoperable). With that in mind, governments can benefit from using this market especially because they can purchase IPv4 addresses when it is necessary. However, if governments start to negotiate in the market, this can cause a negative side effect for other stakeholders, the increase of the prices. From another point of view, civil society can also be affected by the IPv4 market. First, because it can increase the costs of creating community networks. Second, because it is possible that Internet plan prices will increase for the general population. Both situations that can hinder the growth of digital inclusion, especially in underdeveloped regions. The private sector needs to be assessed according to different contexts. On the one hand, there are companies whose business is financial speculation. These will directly profit from this new market and from the rising prices. On the other hand, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) can either benefit or be harmed by the use of this market. If the market allows for a more equitable redistribution of IPv4 addresses among ISPs, this will help those in need to expand their businesses. However, there is a possibility that trading IPv4 addresses will cause an imbalance in the ISP market. That's because the big providers can concentrate the addresses even more. Therefore, it is fundamental to bring together different actors involved in this IPv4 market discussion in order to advance comprehension of possible impacts that it might cause in the future of the Internet. * Workshops held in the past editions of the IGF: IPv6 Independence Day: Rest in peace IPv4 - https://www.intgovforum.org/content/igf-2019-ws-403-ipv6-independence-day-rest-in-peace-ipv4 IPv6: Why should I care? - https://www.intgovforum.org/content/igf-2019-ws-421-ipv6-why-should-i-care Game Over IPv4: The need of IPv6 for the future of games - https://www.intgovforum.org/content/igf-2018-ws-306-game-over-ipv4-the-need-of-ipv6-for-the-future-of-games

Relevance to Theme: This submission "Believe it or not, the Internet Protocol is on Sale!" is related to the inclusion track. It is indisputable that the Internet is an essential part of our current society. In fact, it has shaped people's lives and revolutionized social, professional and personal relationships. The Internet is so important nowadays that it is considered a basic human right by many. That's why it is crucial to defend measures that guarantee digital inclusion for all. However, when developing the infrastructure of the Internet (Protocols, equipment, network design), certain protocols used (IPv6 and IPv4, for example) may enhance or hinder digital inclusion due to their limited availability, which has led to the creation of an alternative market. This proposal aims to discuss the impacts of the decisions related to protocols made when building the Internet infrastructure and how they might affect digital inclusion. Our focus is to understand the consequences of allowing the IPv4 market for the future of the Internet concerning digital inclusion. It is widely known within the technical community that the Internet has an intrinsic problem of lack of IPv4 addresses, which are mostly used by machines to communicate among themselves. There are only 4 billion IPv4 public addresses for the full operation of the Internet and most of them are already assigned to many Internet companies. Without IP addresses available Internet service providers (ISP) would not be able to expand their businesses and connect more homes or individuals. Considering that this connection is in the core business of ISPs whatever jeopardizes this connection may directly affect digital inclusion. In order to better support the continuous growth of the Internet, an alternative protocol, known as IPv6, has been developed to substitute IPv4. One of the main advantages of using IPv6 over IPv4 is that it allows for more capacity as it has more addresses that can be assigned to distinct machines. This higher capacity of IPv6 has a potentially positive effect on digital inclusion because it favors a more democratic distribution of access to the Internet. Although IPv6 seems to be a more appropriate solution for the Internet infrastructure, its current usage is still very low in comparison with IPv4's. Indeed, according to Google's, Facebook's, Akamai's and other research Internet centers, only about one-third of Internet users have IPv6 connectivity. Even though many measures have been taken to encourage the use of IPv6 (such as, World IPv6 Day* and World IPv6 Launch Day**), many companies are reluctant to adopt it immediately. These companies believe investing in deploying IPv6 is too costly and that it can be postponed. Their argument is based on the belief that it is less expensive to redistribute the existing IPv4 addresses rather than launching IPv6. However, redistributing IPv4 addresses is not a simple task. Institutions that already have IP addresses allocated to them have solid contracts with their related RIRs (Regional Internet Registries). For this reason those institutions are unfavorable to redistributing their surplus IPv4 addresses as this would mean a potential loss of business. The alternative solution is to achieve this is through the IPv4 market. With the permission to trade IPv4 addresses, not only companies that have unused addresses will be able to profit from their sale but also companies that are suffering from IPv4 exhaustion will have the opportunity to expand their business (like connecting more homes) by purchasing addresses. In fact, this is such a strong incentive for redistribution of IPv4 addresses that many institutions are already commercializing it. As the permission to trade addresses is a new situation in many regions, not much is known about its impacts on digital inclusion. Will it improve the distribution of addresses between several ISPs (Internet service provider) and thus allow more people to connect on the internet? Or will it allow few companies (that don't have a relationship with digital inclusion) to concentrate even more because they have more capital? These are just some of the reflections that this workshop intends to debate in order to form a critical analysis on the results of this IPv4 market for the future of the Internet. * World IPv6 Day - https://www.internetsociety.org/history/2011/world-ipv6-day/ ** World IPv6 Launch Day - https://www.worldipv6launch.org/