Has internet censorship in the US begun?
braydon07.26.09 - 8:46 pm
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not to worry. MR provides enough of /b/ to satisfy me
Gav07.26.09 - 10:01 pm
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It's more of the principle thats bothersome, not so much what they blocked. One more reason to leave AT&T service.
braydon responding to a
comment by Gav
07.26.09 - 10:06 pm
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draconian censorship should not be allowed in a democratic society (<--- whatever that is) providers have no right to tell their subscribers what can and can't be viewed.
this is unheard of and the beginning of something extremely evil.
GodLovesUgly07.26.09 - 10:15 pm
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Oh, 4chan. Every time I pass by the crumbling ruins of the Church of Scientology, I will think of them...
nathansnider07.26.09 - 10:17 pm
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Especially considering that many areas don't have a choice in their internet service provider in their area. For example the only choice I had for DSL (cable not available in my building) was AT&T, I tried many others before (took three months). Cable might be available now, I'll have to look into it.....
braydon responding to a
comment by GodLovesUgly
07.26.09 - 10:19 pm
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yeah, that's the fucked up part. not being given a choice and then having sites censored without warning?
i'm definitely spreading the word about at&t and their practice.
GodLovesUgly responding to a
comment by braydon
07.26.09 - 10:26 pm
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Under the FCC’s Comcast/BitTorrent ruling, Internet Service Providers may only slow or cap connection speeds. They are not allowed to block any service or protocol on the internet. Here, 4chan as a web site appears to fall under an internet service, but it is also conforming to standard web page protocols. It appears AT&T does not have the legal right to block 4chan, only to cap customers who are “abusing” their access to the internet.
http://www.centralgadget.com/att-blocking-access-to-portions-of-4chan-2336/
braydon07.27.09 - 12:38 am
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also,
Warning!:
4Chan is currently down for reasons unknown, possible DDoS attack. Suspect: AnonTalk.
professor fate07.27.09 - 12:53 am
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It's all fixed now.
JB responding to a
comment by professor fate
07.27.09 - 6:58 am
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Yep, looks like it's no longer blocked.
braydon responding to a
comment by JB
07.27.09 - 10:12 am
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Looks like it wasn't censorship but because of a denial of service attack?
Roadblock07.27.09 - 11:19 am
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According to AT&Ts report, yeah. From 4chan's status page (status.4chan.org), it looks like they are under DDoS a lot.
braydon responding to a
comment by Roadblock
07.27.09 - 11:37 am
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4chan gets DDoSed all the time.
but lest we all get forgive-y with AT&T, let's not forget they were totally down to spy on us all with Bush's illegal wiretapping and data-mining bullshit that we don't know the full details of yet.
monovsstereo07.27.09 - 12:50 pm
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And why we should be using PGP and encrypt, sign everything we send that is private.
braydon responding to a
comment by monovsstereo
07.27.09 - 1:12 pm
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Joe Borfo responding to a
comment by braydon
07.27.09 - 3:07 pm
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Roadblock responding to a
comment by Joe Borfo
07.27.09 - 3:48 pm
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Here's what happened:
For the past three weeks, 4chan has been under a constant DDoS attack. We were able to filter this specific type of attack in a fashion that was more or less transparent to the end user.
Unfortunately, as an unintended consequence of the method used, some Internet users received errant traffic from one of our network switches. A handful happened to be AT&T customers.
In response, AT&T filtered all traffic to and from our img.4chan.org IPs (which serve /b/ & /r9k/) for their entire network, instead of only the affected customers. AT&T did not contact us prior to implementing the block. Here is their statement regarding the matter.
In the end, this wasn't a sinister act of censorship, but rather a bit of a mistake and a poorly executed, disproportionate response on AT&T's part. Whoever pulled the trigger on blackholing the site probably didn't anticipate [nor intend] the consequences of doing so.
We're glad to see this short-lived debacle has prompted renewed interest and debate over net neutrality and internet censorship—two very important issues that don't get nearly enough attention—so perhaps this was all just a blessing in disguise.
Aside from that, I'll also add that there is some big news due later this week. Keep an eye on the News page, Twitter, and global message for updates.
As always, I can be reached at moot@4chan.org.
braydon07.27.09 - 7:50 pm
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So in other news:
Google Voice App blocked in Apple App Store, and who's behind it? AT&T !
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/27/apple-is-growing-rotten-to-the-core-and-its-likely-atts-fault/
(...) Google Voice scares the carriers. It allows users to send free SMS messages and get cheap long-distance over Google Voice’s lines. It also makes it trivial to switch to a new phone service, because everyone calls the Google Voice number anyway. Carriers have known about Google Voice for a long time, but it wasn’t until recently that it began accepting new users, and there has still been some hassle associated with actually using the service. (...)
braydon07.27.09 - 8:23 pm
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