Executive Summary:
In the thousands of years of human civilization, there have always been divisions. It is a sad fact that people are treated differently not because of their ability but because of their origin. This has lasted for all mankind history. The internet is the first-ever invention of mankind that disregards all differences of human beings meaning that every oneonline is treated as equal; an intelligent being irrespective of their status, race, colour, or origin.
The internet’s main purpose is to unite minds together for communication, entertainment and the promotion of humanity. And thanks to the internet, we are able to traverse race, colour and origin in a space where intelligent and similar individuals/groups meet.
However, it would be naive to think that the internet does not have problems to overcome. The Internet has run into major setbacks such as the property value of IP address registration, the lack of regulations in the IP market and the dominance of large corporations. Furthermore, the slow transition from IPv4 to IPv6 and a lack of innovation within the internet community has caused the internet to stagnate.
These problems have plagued the internet community for years and is the motivation behind LARUS being at the forefront of implementing much needed changes in opening up access to the internet for the benefit of humanity.
That is why Hong Kong based LARUS, partners with firms worldwide to lease IPv4 addresses to millions of end-users worldwide, whilst also providing IPv6 training and education to the nurture the next generation of talent.
LARUS is motivated to create a better Internet for all
Creating a fairer internet for all – the history
The emergence of a global computer network and the intensification of our reliance upon it has prompted debate about openness and most significantly, equality and fairness.
One of the key areas of debate has been internet governance. The internet used to be a computer network shared between universities. Its governance structure was never designed to counter a challenge to become the unity of the modern society.
IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4) addresses are a fundamental constituent of communication over the Internet as we know it. An Ipv4 address enables every packet to reach its destination anywhere on the Internet. Publicly-routable Ipv4 address space is therefore required to interconnect Internet users with global digital services, such as online content.
There are a total of 4.3 Billion Ipv4 addresses on the planet. IP were once infinite when the Internet was small, but they became scarce once the Internet reaches every home on this planet, with each individual holding multiple devices that are connected to the Internet. Because of this and the exhaustion of Ipv4 addresses on the central free pool, the market for Ipv4 has been formed about a decade ago.
Regional Internet Registries
RIRs (Regional Internet Registries) were first created to distribute and register Internet number resources, such as IP addresses and autonomous system (AS) numbers. Such functions make it a vital cog in the running of the internet.
The IANA (Internet Assigned Number Authority) on the other hand, is responsible for Internet protocol, coordinating global IP addressing, symbols, numbering, media-type and DNS root zone management.
One important thing to note is that Regional Internet registries are components of the Internet Number Registry System. So while the IANA delegates Internet resources to the RIR based on the accumulated technical need of RIR's customers, the RIRs in turn, follow their regional policies to delegate resources to those in need of the resources such as internet service providers and content providers, who further provide service to end users such as home and business.
Figure 1: ARIN has the biggest pool of IPv4 as the region is more developed and needs more IPs
And for the past 30 years, IPs have been distributed under a fair scheme based on the technical needs of RIR customers. This scheme is fair and open; ensuring that no organization, people or race is denied access. Everyone has the right to connect to the internet, and everyone is equal, regardless of race, color or geographical location. Distribution should and must be fair.
Registries such as AFRINIC and LACNIC, due to their lack of need from their customers (i.e., ISPs in the region), end up with the least amount of IP addresses to them. However, some international companies have nobly decided to apply IP addresses through those "minority" RIRs to boost those RIR's registration base and the number of internet resources they manage such as Cloud Innovation.
However, due to the exhaustion of IPv4 on the central pool, a marketplace was formed tobecome the primary means for companies to access their growing need of internet resources. LARUS is one the first IPv4 management companies which manage highly valuable IPv4 registrations for IPv4 registration owners and distribute them in the market.
This is similar to the role of RIRs in the old times - the difference is that LARUS's model is one of a free market model, with vendors including companies across the globe. Cloud Innovation is a notable example in which the firm had acquired a large of IPv4 registrations and handed them to LARUS for management.
Figure 2: IPv4 addresses have plummeted since its conception in 1969
However, because there are no more addresses from IANA as IPs are exhausted, RIRs that once used to be both distribution channels and bookkeepers now should only carry the role of the "bookkeeper", while the distribution channels should be taken over by the market. However, this necessary transition is not entirely realized because of the reluctance and resistance of RIRs in accepting this change.
IP address registration and the lack of regulations
Created in 1980, IPv4 stands for Internet Protocol version 4 and it is what allows users to connect to the internet. Whenever a device accesses the Internet, it is assigned a unique, numerical IP address such as 8.8.8.8. Every internet user,whether its commercial, or home, has a unique IP address. The IPv4 market has seemingly been functioning properly for a long time, however, a problem remained: the lack of recognizing IPv4 property values.
Based on NRO EC Oct 2021 Teleconference's minutes, the RIRs do not yet recognize the property ownership of IPv4 registration: “IP addresses are not property. The right to IP addresses is the right to registration of IP addresses, which comes with exclusive rights to use and to transfer them, based on and subject to a contractual relationship between the right holder and the relevant RIR.
The right to registration of IP addresses may be eligible to seizure or some form of precautionary measure in civil proceedings, subject to limitations of the contractual relationship between the right holder and the relevant RIR.” (Source: https://www.nro.net/wp-content/uploads/2021-October-193AMinutesNROECTeleconference.pdf) Per the NRO (Number Resource Organization), the property rights of IPv4 addresses is not recognized by RIR.
This is because the RIRs haven't transitioned from their role as distributors to becoming only bookkeepers. This lack of recognition of IPv4's property rights poses a serious threat to the stability of the IP market as well as that of the Internet itself, as companies face the danger of losing their IP addresses. This will directly affect end-users' connectivity.
For any commodity market to function, recognition of the property value of the commodity is extremely important - it is the very foundation, The registration of IPv4 IP address on a global unique registration database clearly has its commercial value, and such commercial value today is valued over 200 billion USD worldwide (50 USD per IPv4 address with 4.3billion total number of IPv4 on the planet), and billions dollar of the transaction have been done for the past decades.
