Good info toasty. I wondered about companies that operated globally! But I was told again and again at conferences that the subnets(or blocks) will be divided geographically. Perhaps this was only meant to be divided when it came down to the registries. But the speakers specifically mentioned how you will be able to tell where an IP is originating from (geographically) solely by the first few digits.

I'm sure this is the latest idea and the intention, (which I was not a fan of), and the ball is still rolling, so I guess time will tell. I remember TONS of people registering for IPv6 subnet space back in 2002 or 2003, which they were given, only for it to be taken away less than a year later when plans started to change. Even my organization was given a massive chunk because we operate in most countries worldwide, and have our own satellites to extend our networks, but it was taken away and redistributed, taken away, changed to another range etc etc. We still have a massive chunk of address space, but who knows if it will change again...

In a way, the idea could have some advantages. Such as finally being able to "google" something relevant that is in your own region (website, online shop etc) and not what gets the most hits (or fake hits).

I kinda don't like the fact that there will be less NATing, and hope that ISP's retain NATing, since I like the fact that I'm partially protected behind my modem, and my computers' IP's can't be DIRECTLY accessed from across the net.

As for the P2P design being able to reach anywhere as long as there's enough nodes, yes, that works, however, it won't work if all traffic is blocked at the "borderline" for that protocol. It would essentially break up the single large worldwide P2P network, into smaller independent P2P networks of the same breed that can't talk to eachother anymore. And it could be done if a government or agency thought it was important enough to do, just look at the great firewall of China...

If what I've heard at the conferences happens, IPv6 will only make this even easier for everyone to do.