Volume IX

Issue : 11: February 10, 2011

• The Internet Will Soon Run Out of New Addresses
• Egypt Unplugged Itself from the Internet to Try and Silence Dissent
• Dismissal for Improper Facebook Postings Upheld
• CRTC in Showdown with Ottawa over Unlimited Use Decision
• Kodak Loses Patent Dispute to RIM, Apple
• Microsoft files ITC complaint against TiVo
• FCC seeks to Dismiss Net Neutrality Lawsuits

Home > Volume IX > Issue 11: February 10, 2011 > The Internet Will Soon Run Out of New Addresses

The Internet Will Soon Run Out of New Addresses

The last blocks of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses have been distributed to local registries and are expected to run out in the coming months. IP addresses are numbers assigned to devices (including computers, Blackberries, iPhones, etc.) connected to the Internet that allow information to be routed to the correct location. When an Internet user types a website address in a browser, such as “www.lawsof.com”, the browser queries the Domain Name System for the IP address that is associated with the webserver that hosts the website, which is then used to communicate with the webserver and retrieve the requested website.

When the current addressing system, IP version 4 (IPv4), was designed in the 1970s, the number of possible IP addresses (about 4.3 billion) was more than enough to meet demand. However, this is no longer the case as many more devices are connecting to the Internet requiring their own IP address.

To address the issue of address exhaustion a newer Internet addressing system, IP version six (IPv6), has been designed which can host an almost limitless number of IP addresses (theoretically it can contain approximately 3.4 x 10³⁸ addresses, which some suggest is a sufficient number to assign an IPv6 address to each atom on the surface of the Earth). IPv6 is gradually being adopted, but it is incompatible with IPv4, so many older devices cannot use IPv6 addresses. This means that a complete and permanent transition to IPv6 is still years away.

Running out of IP addresses should expedite the shift to IPv6. Major Internet carriers and websites are already working towards the transition. American carriers AT&T and Verizon are retooling their Internet networks to make them compatible with IPv6. Moreover, Facebook, Google, and other websites preparing for the shift will switch over to the new system for a one-day trial (dubbed World IPv6 Day), which will take place in June 2011.

For additional information, visit:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704254304576116401267588510.html