Internet Backbone Provider Cogent Blocks Pirate Bay and Other “Pirate” Sites | Hacker News Reader

Internet Backbone Provider Cogent Blocks Pirate Bay and Other “Pirate” Sites

torrentfreak.com

14 pointsdoctorshady5 comments

Welp, they are definitely blackholing it inside of their own network. From their very own looking glass:

Frankfurt:

  BGP routing table entry for 104.31.19.30/32, version 3435302524
  Paths: (1 available, best #1, table Default-IP-Routing-Table)
    Local
      10.255.255.255 (metric 10118050) from 38.28.1.83 (38.28.1.83)
        Origin IGP, metric 0, localpref 150, valid, internal, best
        Community: 174:990 174:20912 174:21001
        Originator: 66.28.1.228, Cluster list: 38.28.1.83, 38.28.1.67, 38.28.1.65, 154.54.66.49

Washington, D.C.:

  BGP routing table entry for 104.31.19.30/32, version 611495772
  Paths: (1 available, best #1, table Default-IP-Routing-Table)
    Local
      10.255.255.255 (metric 10177050) from 154.54.66.21 (154.54.66.21)
        Origin IGP, metric 0, localpref 150, valid, internal, best
        Community: 174:990 174:20912 174:21001
        Originator: 66.28.1.228, Cluster list: 154.54.66.21, 66.28.1.9

... and the originator:

  $ host 66.28.1.228
  228.1.28.66.in-addr.arpa domain name pointer lo0.blackhole.dca01.atlas.cogentco.com.
  $

Answers that question.

Also to further amend my comment, the BGP communities (990 20912 21001) instruct routers to:

  990   - Do not send route to BGP customers, or peers.
  20912 - <Undocumented, presumably internal to Cogent>
  21001 - Route is NA internal or customer route.

...and they're continuing to blackhole that /32.

This seems like something that needs further verification on the intentions since they won't comment on it, but the implications are enormous if this is what's actually going on.

Before anybody talks about net neutrality, I believe the original rules Wheeler set in place will allow blocking of illegal materials if I remember correctly. I know the present situation with the FCC is less than great, but just keep this in mind.

EDIT: Try it for yourself here: http://www.cogentco.com/en/network/looking-glass

Yeah, I wonder if Cogent is blocking a DDoS or something.

Traditionally ISPs did not get involved in deciding what is and isn't illegal; SOPA/PIPA were trying to create ISP-level blocks but those bills did not become law. But traditionally ISPs didn't have big peering disputes and extort content providers either.

This also makes me wonder how CloudFlare decides what sites to assign to what IP addresses. Do they put legit sites on one IP, porn on another, pirates on yet another, and booters on another?

Distributed Great Firewall of America beta v0.0.3 changelog

- Start deprecating net neutrality (Title II)

:'(

Porn, political and streaming sites are next unless customers/grassroots people raise hell.

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