Softlayer / Blocking Cuba IP's ?

[faisal at snappytelecom.net (Faisal Imtiaz)]

Ola Carlos, 

I am very familiar with Govt. instituted restrictions, and yes, people always find ways to get around it. I cannot speak for the Cuban Gov. nor for the US Gov. as to what they decide to do and when. 

What was/is irksome about Softlayer's decision is the following:- 

1) Unilateral implementation of a restricted policy without any notification. 

2) The broad stroke implementation of a Gov Policy that does not apply to the communication service they applied the policy to. 

i.e. As much as we all dislike Dictatorial Behavior, and we fully recognize Softlayer is a Private Entity, who can exercise it's right to act Dictatorially, Such behavior in the overall community (Internet) is frowned upon and (as it should) have a long term negative affect to business. 

Saludos. 

Faisal Imtiaz 
Snappy Internet & Telecom 
7266 SW 48 Street 
Miami, FL 33155 
Tel: 305 663 5518 x 232 

Help-desk: (305)663-5518 Option 2 or Email: Support at Snappytelecom.net 

> From: "Carlos A. Carnero Delgado" <carloscarnero at gmail.com>
> To: "Faisal Imtiaz" <faisal at snappytelecom.net>
> Cc: "nanog list" <nanog at nanog.org>
> Sent: Friday, February 19, 2016 6:08:42 PM
> Subject: Re: Softlayer / Blocking Cuba IP's ?

> Hi,

> (disclaimer: I'm Cuban national, living in Cuba, and a long time lurker in this
> great list)

> 2016-02-19 15:27 GMT-05:00 Faisal Imtiaz < faisal at snappytelecom.net > :

>> Considering the fact that such a block was just put in place about a week ago ?
>> Last time I checked, blocking any part of the world is not part of any legal
>> requirements on any Global Service Provider ? other than a 'company policy' ?

> Being denied access to services, as a Cuban national, is something that we've
> all experienced here and we (sadly) have come to accept it as a fact of life.
> Sometimes we resort to proxies/VPNs in order to conceal our origin -- and by a
> similar token, sometimes, our destination ;).

> However, there are a couple of things that have made me wondering how arbitrary
> decisions can be. I think sometimes it just boils down to specific provider
> policies that try to (maybe rightfully) cover their bottoms in the light of the
> law. For instance, I can't hide the fact that I have access to Gmail; but at
> the same time there are many Google properties and services than I can't. There
> are many companies, global companies, that I can't access, and others are open
> to us which are, paradoxically, completely based on the US and under US law
> (won't name them publicly to avoid potential damage).

> Any way, I'm going back to lurk mode. However, feel free to ask anything, on- of
> offlist. And I thank you all for this wonderful resource.
> Carlos.