A new
Internet system upgrade has been introduced, which will enable countless new IP
addresses. Although users will probably not notice, some analysts have
reservations about the move.
A new
Internet standard which will allow the creation of trillions of new IP
addresses was enabled on Wednesday, although internet users are unlikely to
register the change.
The
standard, called Internet Protocol (IPv6), was introduced at 0001 GMT. It
dramatically increases the internet's IP address capacity from the current 4.3
billion to a number in the trillions.
"To
ensure the Internet can continue to grow and connect billions more people and
devices around the world, thousands of companies and millions of websites have
now permanently enabled the next generation of Internet Protocol (IPv6) for
their products and services," said the Internet Society, an advisory
panel.
"Participants
in World IPv6 Launch include the four most visited websites in the world -
Google, Facebook, YouTube, and Yahoo! - as well as home router manufacturers
and Internet Service Providers in more than 100 countries," the
organization said. "By making IPv6 the 'new normal,' these companies are
enabling millions of end users to enjoy its benefits without having to do
anything themselves."
Expanded
connectivity
The
development is an inevitable result of the growth of the web, according to Vint
Cerf, one of the inventors of IPv6.
"When
the Internet launched operationally in 1983, its creators never dreamed that
there might be billions of devices and users trying to get online," he
said.
"Yet
now, almost three decades later, that same Internet serves nearly 2.5 billion
people and 11 billion devices across the globe. And we're running out of
space."
Although
every internet-enabled device - such as a computer or mobile smartphone -
technically needs its own IP address to connect to the web, because of the
shortage of addresses many devices currently end up sharing IPs. The change
would make it possible for every device to now get its own address.
Privacy
concerns
But the new
standard has not been praised by all. Some analysts warn that internet users
with older equipment may run into trouble because the "path" to
websites using compatible equipment could change.
Privacy
advocates are also worried that enabling each device to have its own IP could
compromise online anonymity.
The data
protection commissioner from the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein,
Thilo Weichert, has called for IP-Addresses to continue to be dynamically
assigned in order to protect the anonymity of users.
"We
want to continue with the applicable standards of IPv4, which make it difficult
to identify an individual user," Weichert told the daily Frankfurter
Rundschau.
The new
IPv6 standard does, however, also have its own data protection system, which
should - in theory - make it possible for browsers to surf anonymously.
The full
transition to IPv6 is anticipated to take several years, with IPv4 networks
continuing to operate as before.
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