We're running out of internet addresses

CNN ^ | 07/23/10 | John D. Sutter

[TigerLikesRooster]

We're running out of internet addresses

By John D. Sutter, CNN

* We may run out of internet addresses in less than a year

* Internet addresses are assigned to all devices accessing the Web

* Researchers are working on solutions to avoid a new "Y2K"

(CNN) -- Don't panic, but we're running out of internet addresses.

Not domain names -- those website names that you see at the top of this page and which always start with some semblance of "http://" and "www."

We've got plenty of those.

But, according to statements from prominent internet thinkers this week, we may run out of internet protocol -- or IP -- addresses in less than a year.

IP addresses are numbers assigned to all of the devices -- computers, phones, cars, wireless sensors, etc. -- that log on to the internet.

According to the blog ReadWriteWeb, the internet is changing and evolving so quickly -- with so many new types of devices connecting -- that we're running out of numbers to assign to all of these Web-enabled electronics.

"The main reason for the concern? There's an explosion of data about to happen to the Web thanks largely to sensor data, smart grids, RFID and other Internet of Things data," Richard MacManus writes on that site.

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[Erik Latranyi]

If government gets involved, expect the internet to crash.

If capitalist are allowed to manage this, the internet will live on forever.

[Bryanw92]

OMG!!!!! We need a new government program to fix this.

[ShadowAce]

[Nat Turner]

“yawn” This was old news to IT people back when YK2 was “scaring” the masses... NEXT!!!

[MV=PY]

I just read somewhere that they’ve discovered more IP addresses in a large deposit under farmland in Iowa. I think it’s someplace called TCP/IPv6. Easily recoverable.

[BornToBeAmerican]

Windows 7 comes with new IP addressing:

Here’s min: fe80::2c20:acd4:f59a:6bxd%11

this is much different method. Not sure but I think there is a Squllion possible combinations with this approach

[joseph20]

I thought this is what IPv6 was created for.

[Born to Conserve]

A guy who was there when they were discussing how many addresses the internet would need told me they liberally guessed at about 30-40 — they only had a few actual subscribers. For other reasons, they went with 4 billion possible addresses.

[BornToBeAmerican]

IPv6......Exactly. Wish I could have remembered it in my post

[ViLaLuz]

Yes! Let Obama take over the Internet!

[vikingd00d]

Obama proposing ‘ObamaNet’ legislation nationalizing the Internet in 5.. 4.. 3.. 2.. 1..

[Vaduz]

No sale

[brewcrew]

Sh!t. Now I’m going to have to dial the area code just to chat with my bride across the living room.

[blam]

I read somewhere recently, (I think the Smithonian Magazine), that at present there is 23 hours of video being added to YouTube every hour.

[blam]

"OMG!!!!! We need a new government program to fix this."

Yup.

This calls for another $400,000 a year Black male internet address CZAR that reports directly to the president.

[huldah1776]

Calling Al Gore, you screwed up again.

[USMCPOP]

“OMG!!!!! We need a new government program to fix this.”

Well, if anyone can pull numbers out of their asses, it’s the goobamint.

[raybbr]

I believe that is your Mac Address not your IP.

[Dubh_Ghlase]

NAT and IPv6...

[Cboldt]

-- that at present there is 23 hours of video being added to YouTube every hour --

every minute, 24 hours of video
http://www.youtube.com/t/fact_sheet

[EternalVigilance]

Well, if anyone can pull numbers out of their asses, it’s the goobamint.

After that post, there really isn't a reason to post any more on this thread. You said it all!

[HangnJudge]

[bmwcyle]

And with IPv6 there will be enought to assign every person their own IP.

[lowbridge]

a Squllion

Shush, you. Do you want Obama to find out what comes after a trillion?

[blam]

Thanks for the correction.

When I began to post, I typed minute instead of hour then changed it because 'minute' seemed overboard and I just assumed my memory had failed me again, lol.

[Cboldt]

-- I typed minute instead of hour then changed it because 'minute' seemed overboard and I just assumed my memory had failed me again --

Not just your memory, your sense that millions of people have upload rights!

FWIW, I thought you just made a "typo." Now you've gone and confessed.

[HangnJudge]

Ipv4 exhaustion

[TheRightGuy]

Now I’m going to have to dial the area code just to chat with my bride across the living room.

got eleven digit dialing already where i live ... across the lving room, next door, across the street ... everywhere

[sauropod]

so, the Surveillance Society is about to crash the Grid.

Way to go Monkey Collective!

[HangnJudge]

Take the unused blocks from companies that are hogging them: http://www.iana.org/assignments/ipv4-address-space/ [iana.org]

GE - 3.nnn.nnn.nnn
IBM - 9.nnn.nnn.nnn
AT&T Bell Labs - 12.nnn.nnn.nnn
Xerox - 13.nnn.nnn.nnn
HP - 15.nnn.nnn.nnn
DEC - 16.nnn.nnn.nnn
Apple - 17.nnn.nnn.nnn
MIT - 18.nnn.nnn.nnn
Ford - 19.nnn.nnn.nnn
CSC - 20.nnn.nnn.nnn
Halliburton - 34.nnn.nnn.nnn
Eli Lilly Co - 40.nnn.nnn.nnn
Bell Northern Research - 47.nnn.nnn.nnn
Prudential - 48.nnn.nnn.nnn
UK Work and Pensions - 51.nnn.nnn.nnn
Dupont - 52.nnn.nnn.nnn
Cap Debis - 53.nnn.nnn.nnn
Merck - 54.nnn.nnn.nnn
USPS - 56.nnn.nnn.nnn

Defense has 7

That's 26 - more than 10% - that can be harvested.

But converting to IPv6 fixes the problem...

[org.whodat]

The sky is falling, the sky is falling!!!

[org.whodat]

Oh, dud, you do know that the government was the one that made the Internet possible, after algore invented it of course. LOL, Actual it was a government communication experiment.!!

[PhatHead]

a Squllion

And that's even bigger than a bajillion!

[HangnJudge]

Actual it was a government communication experiment.!!

[org.whodat]

" The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is an agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technology for use by the military. DARPA has been responsible for funding the development of many technologies which have had a major effect on the world, including computer networking, as well as NLS, which was both the first hypertext system, and an important precursor to the contemporary ubiquitous graphical user interface." The DARPA funding started in the sixties.

[varon]

OMG!!!!! We need a new government program to fix this.

You mean an IP Czar?

[Darth Reardon]

No, that’s an IPv6 address, not a MAC.

[raybbr]

Yes, I did a little research, checked ipconfig on my W7 laptop and, you're right, it is a IPv6 address.

I stand corrected.

[Dubh_Ghlase]

Encoded in a chip in our foreheads...?

[dayglored]

> "The main reason for the concern? There's an explosion of data about to happen to the Web thanks largely to sensor data, smart grids, RFID and other Internet of Things data,"...

But why, in heaven's name, would you want all such devices to have public IP addresses in the first place???

The real problem is more topological and organizational, and has to do with the fact that the internet is hierarchical for good reasons, such as security. A huge flat IP space is crazy, from a security point of view.

IPv6 is just going to mask the problem, not solve it. In some ways, it will just make security a lot worse.

'Scuse me, but IMO, what a pile of crap.

[bmwcyle]

The chip company has a new invisible tattoo that can be put on the skin with a bar code also.

[whence911]

And that's a bad thing because?.......................

I look at it like real estate grab all you can and when they run out ......sell.

[KoRn]

Most devices that access the internet do so through company and ISP NAT devices(routers and firewalls) that use a single, or block of addresses. I believe this article is overly hyped.

The writer seems to be trying to give the impression that each and every device in use has a ‘public’ IP Address, and we are running out of addresses for all them.

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the ping.

[mikrofon]

If you were running for over 15 years straight, you’d be exhausted too....

[BornToBeAmerican]

No Problem. That isn’t exactly my IP address for security reasons.

[Chode]

iirc, newer chip sets will reveal their S/N

unless the IP protocol prevents it, is it possible or is it a bad thing to use chipset S/N's ???

[dayglored]

> Most devices that access the internet do so through company and ISP NAT devices(routers and firewalls) that use a single, or block of addresses. I believe this article is overly hyped. The writer seems to be trying to give the impression that each and every device in use has a ‘public’ IP Address, and we are running out of addresses for all them.

Precisely.

They've been flogging and hawking IPv6 for a long time and basically nobody cares to adopt it because it's a pain in the rear, and it's a solution in search of a problem.

The only reason we might want IPv6 is if we wanted every device in the world to have a public IP address. Apparently some people think that's a good idea.

It's nuts.