IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) is an upgrade to the current version 4 which has the primary purpose of increasing the amount of Internet addresses available. While it’s been fairly slow to get adoption, it’s on track to become the standard over the coming years.
IPv6 addresses are composed of two parts: a 64–bit network prefix and a 64–bit host part. In IPv6, the 64–bit host part is either “automatically generated from the interface’s MAC address or assigned sequentially.”
Well, IPv6 has at least one Chinese internet authority rubbing his hands in glee.
“There is now anonymity for criminals on the Internet in China,” said Hu Qiheng, chair of the Internet Society of China, a public-private group founded five years ago to promote the Internet in China. “With the China Next Generation Internet project, we will give everyone a unique identity on the Internet.”
Hu, who was interviewed on a visit to Paris this month for an Internet workshop organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, does not represent the Chinese government, but she has long been prominent in the development of China’s Internet and served as adviser to the Chinese government both domestically and at Internet policy meetings of the United Nations.
Alex Eckelberry