1) Where did you get your fewer than 300 million users number? From the numbers I have seen, we crossed that line before the turn of the century. The latest number I have seen is closer to 2billion![1] In fact, the CIAs estimate from 2008 shows over 700 million users in just the top 5 Internet using countries.[2]

2) Do you understand that the Internet requires more than one address per user? Laptop, PC, Cell-Phone, Voip-Phone, Etc. Plus you need addresses for network infrastructure; routers switches, DNS servers, firewalls, etc. And let’s not forget that the servers you are accessing on the Internet need addresses too – every website, mail server, instant messaging service, online store, etc…

3) How exactly do you propose ARIN (or the other four RIRs) to reclaim addresses? Let’s say there is a lot of waste. OK, how do you get the address back? If company A has under-utilized IPv4 space and you give part of that space to company B, but company A continues to advertise that space to the Internet – then how does company B use the space?

ARIN and the other RIRs are working on a possible solution to the last point, it is called secure interdomain routing (SIDR) but is not a standard yet and will take time to deploy.

I am glad to see some interest in this topic here but I think you are basing your conclusion on bad data and thus drawing an over-simplified conclusion. If you think I am wrong, please jump onto the ARIN public policy mailing list (PPML)[3] and suggest your idea there. ARIN is a completely open, transparent and ground-up organization. Their policy is driven by the community, so you can share your ideas and if others agree it will become policy.

1 – http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm
2 – https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2153rank.html
3 – https://www.arin.net/participate/mailing_lists/index.html