As the subsequent discussion here shows, "unused" is a press inaccuracy.
The nets are in active use; much of that use is not publicly advertised, but it's still in use. George William Herbert Sent from my iPhone On Sep 19, 2012, at 1:35 PM, "Robert Guerra" <rgue...@privaterra.org> wrote: > Am I correct in assuming that the unused IP block would not be sold as is > mentioned in the article, but instead be returned to RIPE to be reallocated? > > Robert > > > On 18 Sep 2012, at 10:07, Eugen Leitl wrote: > >> http://paritynews.com/network/item/325-department-of-work-and-pensions-uk-in-possession-of-169-million-unused-ipv4-addresses >> >> Department of Work and Pensions UK in Possession of 16.9 Million Unused IPv4 >> Addresses >> >> Written by Ravi Mandalia >> >> Department of Work and Pensions UK in Possession of 16.9 Million Unused IPv4 >> Addresses >> >> The Department of Work and Pensions, UK has an entire block of '/8' IPv4 >> addresses that is unused and an e-petition has been filed in this regards >> asking the DWP to sell it off thus easing off the RIPE IPv4 address space >> scarcity a little. >> >> John Graham-Cumming, who found this unused block, wrote in a blog post that >> the DWP was in possession of 51.0.0.0/8 IPv4 addresses. According to Cumming, >> these 16.9 million IP addresses are unused at the moment and he derived this >> conclusion by doing a check in the ASN database. “A check of the ASN database >> will show that there are no networks for that block of addresses,” he wrote. >> >> An e-petition has been filed in this regards. “It has recently come to light >> that the Department for Work and Pensions has its own allocated block of >> 16,777,216 addresses (commonly referred to as a /8), covering 51.0.0.0 to >> 51.255.255.255”, reads the petition. >> >> The UK government, if it sells off this /8 block, could end up getting £1 >> billion mark. “£1 billion of low-effort extra cash would be a very nice thing >> to throw at our deficit,” read the petition. >> >> Cumming ends his post with the remark, “So, Mr. Cameron, I'll accept a 10% >> finder's fee if you dispose of this asset :-)”. >