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iruoy

This [0] is a really interesting page.

Companies that have an entire /8 block are AT&T, Apple, Ford, Cogent, Prudential Financial, USP and Comcast.

For some reason the US Department of Defense has 13 /8 blocks.

All others belong to regional internet registries (AFRINIC, ARIN, APNIC, LACNIC, RIPE NNC).

I really don't know why anyone other than the registries needs/deserves/got /8 blocks.

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_assigned_/8_IPv4_addre...

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Wow Prudential and Ford (if USP is supposed to be UPS, that too) are the odd ducks. At least the others have the internet as a core competency.

My guess as to the answer of “why” is power and leverage. It’s the same as nations claiming physical land. “Maybe we’ll need it, maybe we won’t. But either way, now it’s ours to decide.” Writing that out, do they own those? Can someone take those back?

USP is supposed to be USPS i.e. the U.S. Postal Service. It's still an odd one for sure.

> For some reason the US Department of Defense has 13 /8 blocks.

I did a bit of digging and looks like they're looking to sell:

https://datacentrereview.com/content-library/opinion/1522-th...

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