Re: FYI - Suspension of Cogent access to ARIN Whois

[Martijn Schmidt via NANOG <nanog () nanog org>]

Out of curiosity, since we aren't affected by this ourselves, I know of cases where Cogent has sub-allocated IP space 
to its customers but which those customers originate from their own ASN and then announce to multiple upstream 
providers.

So while the IP space is registered to Cogent and allocated to its customer, the AS-path might be something like 
^174_456$ but it's entirely possible that ARIN would observe it as ^123_456$ instead. Are such IP address blocks 
affected by the suspension?

Best regards,
Martijn

On 1/7/20 5:30 AM, John Curran wrote:
ARIN has suspended service for all Cogent-registered IP address blocks.  Customers with their own IP blocks blocks that 
are simply being announced by Cogent are not affected.

/John

John Curran
President and CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers


On Jan 6, 2020, at 9:44 PM, Ross Tajvar <ross () tajvar io><mailto:ross () tajvar io> wrote:


Yeah this raises a great point - I'm curious how ARIN is differentiating between cogent and cogens customers when 
monitoring for prohibited access. Particularly those customers whose IPs belong to and are announced by Cogent.

On Mon, Jan 6, 2020, 10:38 PM Martin Hannigan <hannigan () gmail com<mailto:hannigan () gmail com>> wrote:

— shifting a side thread


John,

I have no stake in this, so far, but I have a few questions.

Can you define exactly what services have been blocked? IRR/ROA/TLA registry updates, etc? Were they blocked ^174 or 
174$? This is a precedent AFAIK. I’d like to understand consequences. In case I decide to attend Dave’s sales training? 
:-)

Cheers,

-M<



On Mon, Jan 6, 2020 at 10:45 John Curran <jcurran () arin net<mailto:jcurran () arin net>> wrote:
On 22 Sep 2019, at 8:52 AM, Tim Burke <tb () tburke us<mailto:tb () tburke us>> wrote:

That is just The Cogent Way™, unfortunately. I just had (yet another) Cogent rep spam me using an email address that is 
_only_ used as an ARIN contact, trying to sell me bandwidth. When I called him out on it, with compliance () arin 
net<mailto:compliance () arin net> CCed, he backpedaled and claimed to obtain my information from Google.

ARIN has repeatedly informed Cogent that their use of the ARIN Whois for solicitation is contrary to the terms of use 
and that they must stop.  Despite ARIN’s multiple written demands to Cogent to cease these prohibited activities, ARIN 
has continued to receive complaints from registrants that Cogent continues to engage in these prohibited solicitation 
activities.

For this reason, ARIN has suspended Cogent Communications’ use of ARIN’s Whois database effective today and continuing 
for a period of six months.  For additional details please refer to 
https://www.arin.net/vault/about_us/corp_docs/20200106_whois_tos_violation.pdf    ARIN will restore Cogent’s access to 
the Whois database at an earlier time if Cogent meets certain conditions, including instructing its sales personnel not 
to engage in the prohibited solicitation activities.

Given the otherwise general availability of ARIN Whois, it is quite possible that Cogent personnel may evade the 
suspension via various means and continue their solicitation.  If that does occur, please inform us (via compliance () 
arin net<mailto:compliance () arin net>), as ARIN is prepared to extend the suspension and/or bring appropriate legal 
action.

FYI,
/John

John Curran
President and CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers