Ah, no. RIRs say that their blocks are not guaranteed to be routable because they have no control over the filter policies of ISPs. They could issue a block that someone (say, someone transit-free) decides to filter. This assertion that they make is a wise protection. In practice, the vast majority of ISPs use RIR allocation guidelines as starting point for filter policies, so that they don't break the internet too badly. You are correct that there is no direct link between announcement and issuance. However, I can only hope that ARIN would look very closely at issueing space to an enterprise or SP that had no intention of routing it. I suspect that justifying further space would be difficult. Perhaps you can provide an example of a recent allocation for this purpose, along with some proof that ARIN or RIPE realized that the provider had no intention of routing the block? If this is the case, many folks on this list would be very interested in changing this policy, I'm guessing. - Dan On Tue, 29 Apr 2003, Stephen Sprunk wrote:
If RIRs want to claim their allocations aren't guaranteed to be routable, that must mean they are willing to make allocations for non-routed use. Furthermore, there is nothing in the ARIN allocation policies requiring a member to actually announce all of his allocations on the public Internet.
You're welcome to propose new RIR policies, but the reality today is that globally unique addresses can be and are allocated for private use.
S
Stephen Sprunk "God does not play dice." --Albert Einstein CCIE #3723 "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the K5SSS dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking