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The Internet

Key US Provider of Internet To Russia Cuts Service There, Citing 'Unprovoked Invasion of Ukraine' (washingtonpost.com) 103

Posted by BeauHD from the terminating-connections dept.
A leading American Internet service provider, Cogent Communications, said it was severing relations with Russian customers on Friday, a move that gives Ukrainian officials another victory in their campaign to isolate Russia online. The Washington Post reports: Cogent chief executive Dave Schaeffer said the company did not want to keep ordinary Russians off the Internet but did want to prevent the Russian government from using Cogent's networks to launch cyberattacks or deliver propaganda targeting Ukraine at a time of war. "Our goal is not to hurt anyone. It's just to not empower the Russian government to have another tool in their war chest," Schaeffer said in an interview with The Washington Post.

Cogent, based in Washington, D.C., is one of the world's largest providers of what's known as Internet backbone -- roughly comparable to the interstate highway system, providing the primary conduit for data flows that local companies then route to individual domains. Schaeffer said Cogent's networks carry about one-quarter of the world's Internet traffic. Cogent has several dozen customers in Russia, with many of them, such as state-owned telecommunications giant Rostelecom, being close to the government.

Russia, like most nations, is connected to the world by several backbone providers, but Cogent is among its largest. The company began terminating its Russian companies at noon Friday but was doing so gradually. Some customers asked for a delay of up to several days while they found other Internet sources, Schaeffer said, and the company is trying to accommodate those requests. "We're pretty confident that we're not interfering with anyone's ability to get some information," he said, though he acknowledged the likelihood of slowdowns and other disruptions with Russia. "In light of the unwarranted and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, Cogent is terminating all of your services effective at 5 p.m. GMT on March 4, 2022," wrote Cogent in a letter to one of their Russian customers. "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. All Cogent-provided ports and IP address space will be reclaimed as of the termination date."
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Key US Provider of Internet To Russia Cuts Service There, Citing 'Unprovoked Invasion of Ukraine' More

Key US Provider of Internet To Russia Cuts Service There, Citing 'Unprovoked Invasion of Ukraine'

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  • net neutrality (Score:3)

    by Alworx ( 885008 ) on Friday March 04, 2022 @04:33PM (#62327283) Homepage

    Net neutrality goes both ways

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by vlad30 ( 44644 )
      They have played into Putins hand he doesn't want his fictional narrative destroyed by real information. However it is likely preemptive as they were likely to be removed due to sanctions or the Russian government anyway
    • This is just a private company saying they don't want to do business with a brutal dictator. And I'm sad to say that there really isn't any way to separate that dictator from the people he's oppressing. The people of Russia need to decide what's more important to them, Vladimir Putin's ego or their ability to function in a modern society. And by the people of Russia I mostly mean the handful of oligarchs and generals that could actually do something about Putin and not the rank and file that would find them

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Net neutrality goes both ways

      You should learn what net neutrality actually is before writing nonsense like that.

  • Cogent? (Score:3)

    by flippy ( 62353 ) on Friday March 04, 2022 @04:37PM (#62327293) Homepage
    I find this pretty funny given that Cogent is awful and unreliable under the best of circumstances. It seems that every time I see a big outage that's ISP based, it's Cogent.

  • They'll continue to peer with india and china and whatnot but now russkies have open season on cutting undersea cables of western peers. Not good.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jbengt ( 874751 )

      . . . but now russkies have open season on cutting undersea cables of western peers

      That doesn't follow. It's like saying if Ford refuses to sell me a car, now I have open season on stealing Chevys. (This is Slashdot - it had to be a car analogy.)

    • russkies have open season on cutting undersea cables of western peers

      That's quite a leap of logic there, depending on what you mean by 'open season'. If you mean 'are free to do so, with the virtual guarantee it will bring international military forces into the Ukraine' then sure, I guess, but I fail to see how that's any different than the situation before Cogent cut them off. Attacking physical infrastructure is a far, far different beast than just ceasing to provide services.

      • That's quite a leap of logic there

        It's from a science fiction novel, Cryptonomicon, which some people take a little (lot) too seriously.

  • Tasty, tasty address space!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Sebby ( 238625 )

      Tasty, tasty address space!

      That'll just make them move to IPv6 that much quicker (yeah, I'm assuming the 'reclaimed' space is all IPv4).

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by flippy ( 62353 )
      I foresee a bidding war for IP4 addresses that were only gently used and only on Sundays by a little old lady from St. Petersburg.
      • And strangely, that little old lady was the originator of 722,165,054 penetration attempts against my office firewall last month.

  • Finally (Score:3)

    by sumdumass ( 711423 ) on Friday March 04, 2022 @04:45PM (#62327347) Journal

    Great. Now all our efforts to reach the Russian people to encourage them to put pressure on the government to stop the hostilities will be easier. oops.

    Sounds like a genius idea to me. Perhaps while they are at it, they can double the amount of state sponsored media parroting the virtues of war. Or does that happen by default when they can no longer access alternative messaging or opinions. Who am I kidding. They only use the internet to find cat videos.

    • Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Great. Now all our efforts to reach the Russian people to encourage them to put pressure on the government to stop the hostilities will be easier. oops.

      They will still figure it out. Word of mouth spreads fast in the breadlines.

      • True. At least for those not already drafted to fight the world War that developed just before the bread lines kick in

        But hey, in the immortal words of Bernie about bread lines, that's a good thing!

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by spun ( 1352 )

          What world war? You think Russian nukes are actually going to work? Russia is a kleptocracy run by drunks. Those nukes are missing parts, which were sold to pay for vodka. The Russian army is showing what absolute incompetence, mismanagement and graft look like on a battlefield. Their soldiers have expired ammunition and outdated rations, if they have any. They are surrendering for a cup of hot tea. Their "most fearsome" Chechen generals have all been killed by snipers. Every time I see the Russian military

          • Yes, I'm sure that is all true. But let me ask you something. When you were sniffing Vladimir Putin's dirty panties to determine of he is scared shirtless yet, did you consider that there might be other hot spots in the world that might see these last grasps of an old man as enough of a distraction to repatriate South Korea or Taiwan or wipe some country of the face if the map? Or are you too intoxicated from the experience to think about anything else?

            There are a few places the west actually cares about mo

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by spun ( 1352 )

              "What about this? What about that? Why are you thinking of the things I don't want you to think of, when you could be thinking of some things that don't matter to me, but that I will pretend matter, just to get you to stop thinking about that other thing." -- you and a bunch of dumbass Russian trolls.

              • Oh.... Russian trolls. I bet you say that to all the gurls.

                Get real. Do some critical thinking of your own. That is if you are capable of doing so. If not, my appologies- I thought I was talking to someone with a higher IQ level.

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by spun ( 1352 )

                  Blah blah blah. Your troll fu is weak, your propaganda game is grade school, and your comebacks are trifling. Be better, yah boring sack of granola bars.

                  • Perhaps your reality is skewed because of your intellectual laziness? From my perspective, the only troll here is you.

                    But I guess it isn't important. Have a nice day.

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by spun ( 1352 )

                      Oh snap! sumdumass comes out swinging hard with the "I'm rubber you're glue" defense. Although mostly used by younger grade school children on the playground, current masters of the form sometimes employ it to throw less experienced Internet shit-slingers off guard. We'll see how this works out for him, whether spun takes the bait...

                      Oh! And there it is! "Have a nice day!" Looks like sumdumass is trying to disengage! He's out! He's out of the fight! It's over!

                    • There was no fight to begin with. All my points were made that I wanted to make. Somewhere, that seems to have triggered you. That or your life is so pathetic that you cannot walk away because trolling on the internet is the one thing that makes you finally feel powerful or better than somebody else.

                      So go ahead and make another troll post if that is what you need to feel better about yourself.

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by spun ( 1352 )

                      Oh my god you responded to that? HAHAHAHAHA, okay. Are we doing the "No you stop posting first, silly goose!" thing now?

                      As long as you keep entertaining me like this, I'm going to keep going. If you get boring I'll stop but this is just too good.

    • Well, trying to get the oligarchs to put on the pressure really.

    • Least of all the people in charge of Russia. It does absolutely nothing for them to have access to more information because they don't have any power. Everyone has this stupid little notion that there's going to be this great revolution and nobody understands that that stopped being a thing in the 1800s or hell the late 1700s when modern militaries became a thing. We don't like to talk about it because it's too depressing to think about.

      The only thing that's going to change Russia is money. Specifically

      • Everyone has this stupid little notion that there's going to be this great revolution and nobody understands that that stopped being a thing in the 1800s or hell the late 1700s when modern militaries became a thing. We don't like to talk about it because it's too depressing to think about.

        Erm. The Tsardom of Russia was overthrown 1917. A little less than a year after that, that government was overthrown by the Bolsheviks.

  • How does this help anything? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by ThoolooExpress ( 9311797 ) on Friday March 04, 2022 @04:45PM (#62327349)
    I'm all for making both slowing down the military and propaganda machines, as well as inconveniencing regular people so they remember how much their lives depend on the decades of international cooperation Putin is now throwing out the window, but this move really achieves neither of those goals. Russia can serve propaganda from within its own borders. All this move does is make it slower to access foreign sites from Russia, increasing the chances Russians will get their information from propaganda outlets. Pure virtue signaling on the part of Cogent. Chances are the real reason to cut off Russia is that Russian ISPs couldn't pay their bills.

    • I was wondering when their interconnects would be cut off... even though this is only one disconnect; I presume they have other interconnects.

      Anything to make it harder for Russian hackers to do damage is a good thing.

    • Sure but you assume that people in Russia are interested in the first place. About 80% of Russians are completely brainwashed and consider any âwesternâ(TM) information as propaganda. Even now there are anecdotal stories about parents in Russia not believing what their kids in Ukraine are saying whatâ(TM)s happening. Thereâ(TM)s a minority of Russians who know whatâ(TM)s happening, but itâ(TM)s not enough. We need to do everything we can to break the Russian illusion they live

      • Sure but you assume that people in Russia are interested in the first place. About 80% of Russians are completely brainwashed and consider any âwesternâ(TM) information as propaganda.

        You are correct, sir. And here is evidence [9gag.com] to back up your comments about Russians being brainwashed.

    • Pure virtue signaling on the part of Cogent. Chances are the real reason to cut off Russia is that Russian ISPs couldn't pay their bills.

      Why would that be virtue signaling? Looks like purely selfish bog standard business to me. They even cited the sanctions explicitly. Their Russian customers can't pay the bills because of the sanctions, so Cogent cuts off service. There's no virtue involved and Cogent isn't really pretending otherwise.. Just accounts receivable.

      • Virtual signalling can be used to spin a decision which was made for other reasons.

        The Hilton hotel chain stopping their sale of pay-per-view porn comes to mind. They made a public statement explaining that this was taking a moral stance, because "adult video-on-demand entertainment is not in keeping with our company’s vision." Even though other hotel chains had already made the same decision on simple financial grounds: No-one was buying, because having free wi-fi access rendered the PPV channels rat

    • virtue signaling

      Please stop getting your vocabulary lessons from Fox News, it's really painful for everyone else.

      Putin's 'popularity' in Russia is precarious at the best of times, and getting their access to the outside world suddenly reduced isn't going to turn the population into drooling children. Russia isn't North Korea, it's going into this blackout following decades of more or less open access to western culture, information, and society. Those following the government narrative will be the same ones who were f

    • Is devastating to their economy and the wealth of the oligarchs. At this point that is the only thing that matters here. The Russian people are simply too tightly controlled and too beaten down. A population cannot stand up to a modern military. Unless the military itself rebels which would require the generals in the oligarchs. Simply having more access to information isn't going to change anything in Russia. I know us techy nerds want to believe that technology and information is going to solve every pro

  • Bad idea... (Score:3)

    by dark.nebulae ( 3950923 ) on Friday March 04, 2022 @04:52PM (#62327385)

    The russian people need a way to access unbiased (meaning not govt) information. Cutting off their internet would only leave them with biased sources as a result.

    This doesn't at all seem like a good idea...

    • The people that would actually look at (and believe) non-Kremlin sources of information are already not fooled. BBC did an op-ed on a Ukrainian woman with a mother in Moscow that refused to believe her daughter even when she took photos of the damaged buildings on her street. The koolaid is strong.
      • In that mother's defense, you see similar behavior from right-wing Americans all the time - Including right here on Slashdot.

        The strong belief in lies and the refusal to accept facts right in front of their face isn't limited to nations like Russia.
      • Correction: BBC did an Op-Ed piece on a woman who refused to publicly contradict the offical Russian Narrative. It's an important distinction.

        • Correction: Slashdot poster parrots Russian disinformation.

          The article is not an opinion piece and it would not be news if the mother acknowledged the truth of the bombing, so no risk in contradicting the official Russian narrative.

          • Correction: Slashdot poster parrots Russian disinformation.

            The article is not an opinion piece and it would not be news if the mother acknowledged the truth of the bombing, so no risk in contradicting the official Russian narrative.

            Please re-read the GP, which I'm reposting here

            Correction: BBC did an Op-Ed piece on a woman who refused to publicly contradict the offical Russian Narrative. It's an important distinction.

            The GP isn't parroting Russian disinformation but is merely hinting at the possiblity that the mother doesn't simply want to state her true views on the air. In a police state, which Putin's Russia has become or is fast becoming, it's better to keep your head down and not invite the unwanted interest of the authorities.

    • Donâ(TM)t delude yourself that Russians are interested in seeing outside information. Most (Like 80%) believe the propaganda, you can see anecdotes now of parents in Russia literally not believing what their kids in Ukraine are seeing. Most Russians are really living in an alternate information universe. At this point itâ(TM)s more important to burst the illusion for them that they live in a free and informed country.

      • Most (Like 80%) believe the propaganda, you can see anecdotes now of parents in Russia literally not believing what their kids in Ukraine are seeing.

        Or at least parents in Russia saying they don't believe what their kids are seeing. Most Russians who are old enough to be parents of adult children were alive when the USSR fell, and grew up hearing firsthand stories of the worst parts of the revolution. With a dictator in power cracking down on dissent, I wouldn't be surprised if many of them have decided that it's not a good idea to dispute the official version of events on any channel that could be monitored.

    • Not having access to cogent does not change this in any shape or form. Russia have already imposed restrictions on the Internet (for example they just outright blocked Twitter) so Russians will only see the propaganda regardless of which provider they have. Heck Kremlin even managed to silence Novaja Gazeta with the threat of 15 years in jail if you write "fake news about the war in Ukraine" where of course Kremlin decides what constitutes fake.

  • Yikes, that's gotta hurt (Score:3)

    by TomGreenhaw ( 929233 ) on Friday March 04, 2022 @04:58PM (#62327425)
    "All Cogent-provided ports and IP address space will be reclaimed as of the termination date."
    Reclaimed and resold IP address space make this decision pretty much permanent.
    • Why only human life? Do you know that 10 BILLION land animals are murdered a year in the USA alone? They are also almost all tortured. Literally tortured. Go vegan. All the Democrat, Reepublican, independent meat, milk, egg eaters are murderers and torturers.
      • Is it really torture and murder if they wanted it? I have to assume that if my Beef didn't want this end, it wouldn't have made itself taste soooo good

  • This may set a precedent (Score:3)

    by Major_Disorder ( 5019363 ) on Friday March 04, 2022 @05:01PM (#62327441)
    If so, I think it may be one worth setting.
    We obviously won't know for sure for a while.
    But the message, "Start a war of aggression, and get cut off from the rest of the world." is probably worth sending. The only way I see this ending, is with an overthrow of Putin, and the only way I see that happening, is if the people of Russia are pissed off enough with him. We are already seeing people protesting despite the near certainty they will be arrested for it.

    Cutoff my access to Slashdot, and I might revolt myself.

    Lastly, free market. If they choose to not deal with Russia that is their choice.
    • Don't count on people removing Putin, the last thing he'll do then for certain is push the button that will launch all nukes. He's the kind of guy that says, if I go, everybody goes.. I would do the same if I was him, as he knows damn well he won't gave a live is he is removed from his position.
      • I don't expect "people" to remove putin. I expect the oligarch's to. They are the ones suffering the most now and benefited the most before. I mean no cruise on the Mediterranean this summer. No snow skiing in Switzerland. No camping in Yosemite. No ... The world suddenly got much smaller for a very very very entitled group of people. I don't think they are going to like it.

        • Don't forget confiscation of their yachts, their apartments in cities such as London and New York, their children also being sanctioned, bank accounts frozen, and so on.

          Even the con artist is now whining [yahoo.com]. He talked a big game by saying Putin was "smart" and kept lauding him, right up until the source of funds dried up when Russian banks were sanctioned.

      • Hi actually told exactly that what he told on March 8th 2018.
        "What is the point of keeping a world where Russia doesn't exist ?"

      • Don't count on people removing Putin, the last thing he'll do then for certain is push the button that will launch all nukes. He's the kind of guy that says, if I go, everybody goes.. I would do the same if I was him, as he knows damn well he won't gave a live is he is removed from his position.

        By removed, I mean a 7.62 bullet to the brain. Not much time for pushing buttons when that happens.

        • You'll have to be more specific: do you mean 7.62×51mm or 7.62×39mm?

          Obviously I think it would be the latter, but how often does one get to make puns of such calibre?

        • I'm pretty sure he would have hooked up a device to himself which would sent out a signal if he's killed. He's that kind of person, well, again, I would if I were him.
          • Yes. That's how nuclear weapons work.
            Your grasp on the intricacies of strategic deterrents is positively potato. Carry on, internet soldier.
            • Every Bond villain does that. Putin looks very much like a Bond Villain, so logically he must have wired the nukes to his fitbit.

      • When the russians said they were going into 'nuke mode' this week, they didn't even bother to move their mobile nuclear missiles or roll out their long range bombers, I think it was all threats.

    • I would hope that the people of Russia now realise that when the internet goes quiet, there is some deep shit going on. Actually, the people of Russia probably have known this for some time. Problem is, what to do about it. Usual tactic is to carry on, and avoid being picked out to be sent to Siberia. It does look like Putin's Russia is not a lot different to Stalin's Russia.

  • I'm against Russian invading Ukrain,but it has brought to light that the rest of the world is too reliant on US companies being able to shut down basic services. It is clear we need much more neutral services which cannot be turned off on a whim because some politicians want it.

    • I'm against Russian invading Ukrain,but it has brought to light that the rest of the world is too reliant on US companies being able to shut down basic services. It is clear we need much more neutral services which cannot be turned off on a whim because some politicians want it.

      I know right? Countries should be able to simply invade other countries with impunity, and the countries they invade shouldn't be able to get aid from any other entity on the planet, in any form. Super silly shit - takes all the profit out of imperialism.

      • I guess you're too stupid to understand the ramifications of having something like this. Now it's because you don't agree with a country invading another country, next it's just because someone says something you don't like..

        • I guess you're too stupid to understand the ramifications of having something like this. Now it's because you don't agree with a country invading another country, next it's just because someone says something you don't like..

          You walk in here and say "it's scary that a US company can choose who to do business with" and call me stupid when I say "excuse me?" You're not against Russia invading Ukraine at all. I saw your other post where you said something to the effect of "Putin is like me and if I were him I'd use the nukes". You're just tossing around strawmen - I'm pretty sure you understand at least a tiny little bit about how network providers and peering works. So, fuck off Ivan. Cogent, being the [shitty] provider that they

    • I see your point but this is an exceptional moment in history and drastic measures are required to make sure that it doesn't spiral out of control. Hell, we just narrowly avoided another Chernobyl * 4 yesterday. I believe the measures taken are proportional to the potential clusterf*ck before us.
      • Oh please explain how this is an exceptional moment in history, compared to other countries going to war? If it is some country in africa or south america nobody would have given a shit.
    • It's much better. In the before times the only option would have been to go to war with Russia, or do nothing.

      We now have the ability to bring a nation to its knees without spilling blood. Without bombing its cities and sinking its ships.

      ...and it's important to note it's not just "US companies." Aeroflot may never fly again, thanks to Ireland.

      • You are really naive if you think this will bring Putin on his knees. Putin will not go down on his knees. The last thing Putin will do is press the button for world destruction, and that's all thanks to ignorant dumb people like a lot of politicians who think Putin would never do that.
        All this does is getting us closer to WW3, and people are cheering about it. How ignorant and stupid can you be.

    • Not just the USA, the EU and every nation wanting to be in good standing with the Western governments. Plus corps wanting to look good to the younger generations which are more influenced by such actions and Russia is economically pathetic; mostly a dirty energy supplier. Question is WHICH MOTIVE IS IT? How many government officials called them to make "suggestions" and how many had their lawyers inform them about sanctions and how many actually decided out of goodness (but then just cite government as co
    • It should also server as a clear warning to American citizens about what will happen to them the next time the US government inevitably attacks and invades without provocation the next "axis of evil" country on the list.
      • You make it sound like the leadership in the US actually listens to its citizens. Really we have more of a “at elections, we alternate which set of Oligarchs is pissing in our pocket and telling us its raining.” type system.
      • Ofcourse the US isn't scared about that, as they will invade it under false pretenses, just like they did in Iraq. It's also the only reason why the US is making waves now about the Ukrain, it has very valuable resources like xenon gas which comes for about 90% from the Ukrain. If it was some poor country without any resources, nobody would have given a shit if Russia would have invaded it.

  • Disturbance (Score:4, Funny)

    by chill ( 34294 ) on Friday March 04, 2022 @05:23PM (#62327527) Journal

    I feel a disturbance in the force. It is as if a ten million spammers and trolls suddenly went silent.

    • I feel a disturbance in the force. It is as if a ten million spammers and trolls suddenly went silent.

      I have seen numerous comments that with Russia cut off the number of bots and trolls has precipitously declined on anti-social media and other places.

    • I feel a disturbance in the force. It is as if a ten million spammers and trolls suddenly went silent.

      That's no moon...its Russia.

  • China and we would only be dealing with attacks from western(our own) security services.

  • Western DNS ought to block .ru domains and Russian public IPs. Cut off their internet air

    • What good would that do? The people of Russia need to know what is going on, as much as everybody else. The more communication the better. It appears that Ukraine president Zelensky is actually rather popular outside of his home country. Can we just we just stop this stupid war?

  • This makes no sense. The only hope of a change of behavior or elimination of Putin is from the Russian people. If you cut them off from the internet, you cut them off from outside information.

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