Re: Cogent cutting links to Russia?

[Aaron Wendel <aaron () wholesaleinternet net>]

I think you're reading it incorrectly.

The US government and many other countries have imposed sanctions 
against Russia and barred businesses in those countries from doing 
business in Russia.  Cogent is a US based company and, even if it 
operates on foreign jurisdictions through subsidiaries, has issues 
providing services to sanctioned entities.  That's how I read the 
excerpt provided.

Aaron


On 3/4/2022 4:03 PM, Matthew Petach wrote:
> On Fri, Mar 4, 2022 at 12:55 PM Martin Hannigan <hannigan () gmail com> 
> wrote:
>
>
>     I would argue they don't have much of a choice:
>
>     "The economic sanctions put in place as a result of the invasion
>     and the increasingly uncertain security situation make it
>     impossible for Cogent to continue to provide you with service."
>
>     I would expect to see others follow suit  if that is the case.
>
>
>
> That's an interesting slope to slide along...
>
> I fully understand ISPs disconnecting customers for non-payment; we've
> all had to do that at one point or another in our careers, I'm sure.
> However, that's generally done *after* the customer has demonstrated
> an inability or unwillingness to pay their bills.
>
> This doesn't seem to indicate that any existing invoices have gone
> unpaid past their due date, but simply that there is *concern* that a
> future bill might go unpaid due to the economic sanctions.
>
> I'm not sure that's a good precedent for a service provider to create;
> "we may terminate your service at any point if we suspect that at an
> unspecified time in the future, you may become unable to pay future
> invoices."
>
> Shades of Minority Report.  We'll imprison you today for a crime we
> suspect you will commit in the future.   ^_^;
>
> If and when bills go unpaid, I fully support turning off customers.
> I worry about the precedent of disconnecting based on suspicions
> of what might happen in the future, however.
>
> Matt

--
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Aaron Wendel
Chief Technical Officer
Wholesale Internet, Inc. (AS 32097)
(816)550-9030
http://www.wholesaleinternet.com
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