FYI - Suspension of Cogent access to ARIN Whois

Thu Jan 9 17:05:03 UTC 2020

On 08/01/2020 13:53, Joe Provo wrote:
>> This is a disproportionate response IMHO. $0.02
>>
>> YMMV,
>  
> And mine certainly does. Well over a decade of documented 
> misbehavior with requests for them to cease certainly makes
> this an appropriate response. I will always applaud an 
> organization enforcing its anti-abuse policies. 
> 
> Similarly, Cogent has been banned from peeringdb multiple 
> times for the exact same behavior.  Repeated warnings had
> no impact and without the bans, the behavior was not adjusted.

Quite.

The root cause isn't even the /fault/ of the individual sales personnel,
whom may or may not be inconvenienced by ARIN's actions. Their
management (and likely, *their* directors/VPs) need to see what their
sanctioned behaviour, and/or demands placed upon their employees in
those sales functions, does to the company's reputation in the industry,
and ultimately their bottom line.

ARIN has tried the carrot, and this is the stick. One of the thinnest
sticks that they could have used, I'd add.

Will Cogent stop pestering the community with illicitly harvested
contact information? Will they switch to more nefarious tactics? Who
knows... Everyone likes having money, after-all.

-- 
Tom