stories filed under: "blocks"

Argentine ISPs Block Over A Million Blogs In Response To Court Order To Block Two

from the internet-censorship-at-work dept

Mon, Aug 22nd 2011 8:12am — Mike Masnick

And people wonder why we worry about plans to censor websites. Every time it happens, the censorship ends up being much broader than planned. The latest example comes from Argentina, where a court order to block two specific sites -- leakymails.com and leakymails.blogspot.com -- actually resulted in over a million blogs being blocked. That's because some ISPs, in order to cut off the blogspot site, simply blocked the IP address 216.239.32.2, which is used across Blogger's blogspot offering. As the EFF notes:

IP blocking is a blunt method of filtering content that can erase from view large swaths of innocuous sites by virtue of the fact that they are hosted on the same IP address as the site that was intended to be censored. One such example of overblocking by IP address can be found in India, where the IP blocking of a Hindu Unity website (blocked by an order from Mumbai police) resulted in the blocking of several other, unrelated sites.

Filed Under: argentina, blocks, censorship, filters, ip addresses

25 Comments

Pakistan Hasn't Banned Facebook Yet... But It Might Soon

Free Speech

from the overreact-much? dept

Wed, May 18th 2011 1:09am — Mike Masnick

Last year, we reported on an attempt to ban Facebook throughout all of Pakistan, due to a group on the site that some Muslims found offensive (the group was supporting an "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day!" following a controversy on that subject). It seemed positively silly to ban an entire site based on how one small group of people used that site, but we've seen it happen in a number of countries. Apparently there was a ruling on this that was made back in February, but was just released, which, while sympathetic to the idea of banning Facebook, decided not to issue the ban. Of course, the EFF report on this also notes that a new petition to ban Facebook is going to be heard later this week anyway, so there will be yet another chance to completely block the site due to how a few folks used it. That original post from last year got a bunch of comments from Pakistan defending the idea of blocking Facebook, but I'm still at a loss to see how it makes sense to block an entire site over a single particular use.

Filed Under: blocks, pakistan
Companies: facebook

11 Comments

Chicago Politicians Say Mobile Phones Should Block Kids From Texting While Driving

Wireless

from the technological-realities dept

Thu, May 5th 2011 12:10pm — Mike Masnick

A few years back, there were some reports of tools that would "block" people from texting while driving by simply disabling the feature if the phone was moving over a certain speed. It was targeted at parents to put on their kids' phones, but we haven't seen much of an indication that it's gained any traction. No worries, politicians to the rescue. Gregil10 points us to the news that "an influential group of Chicago aldermen," are pushing for a law that would require such software be placed on any mobile phone sold in Chicago, which could then be enabled by the parents (or, I guess, by the user themselves).

Of course, the same problems that we discussed a few years back apply (and haven't been solved). If you think kids won't figure out how to get around such things, you haven't seen kids and their mobile phones lately. They understand the devices better than parents. Even if a parent can figure out how to enable the software, you can bet kids will figure out how to disable it.

An even bigger issue is that blocking texting based on the speed of travel is a really broad brush for trying to stop texting while driving. Speed of travel isn't a very good proxy for whether or not someone is driving. It may be a good indication that someone is travelling in a vehicle, but that hardly means they're controlling the vehicle. And, it really doesn't make sense to block texting for passengers. In fact, allowing passengers to communicate in this way often serves as a good way to stop drivers from texting, because they can ask a passenger to handle the texting instead. Or if someone's on a bus or a train, should they really be stopped from texting? Often, that's when people use such functionality the most, letting others (such as parents!) know that they got on the bus or train and would be arriving on time/late/early/etc.

I certainly recognize the risks of texting and driving. And it's no secret that many, many kids do engage in this incredibly risky and stupid behavior. But laws like this don't solve the real problem. Instead, they just create even more problems.

Filed Under: blocks, chicago, driving, kids, mobile phones, texting

44 Comments

India's Plan To Block .xxx Shows The Pointlessness Of Specialized TLDs

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the open-the-whole-thing-up dept

Wed, Mar 30th 2011 1:21am — Mike Masnick

For many years, we've wondered about the wisdom of ICANN slowly doling out totally pointless new top level domains (TLDs) -- like .jobs and .mobi -- that seemed much more focused on getting companies to pay up for domains they didn't need, rather than serving any useful purpose. With the recent approval of .xxx, the same thing is happening. Various porn companies feel the need to buy up .xxx domain names, even though they already have domains they're happy with. And making things even worse is that various countries, with India taking the lead, have declared plans to block all access to the .xxx domain anyway.

Of course, this is kind of silly. It's as if they're pretending that porn doesn't exist elsewhere on the web. But, the other silly thing this highlights is the idea of slowly rolling out specialized TLDs. For years, we've been asking why ICANN doesn't just do away with specialized TLDs and let anyone register anything.anyTLD. It really would not be that difficult to set up a system to allow that, and then you get away from this idea of having to set up all these expensive special TLDs. It also makes it silly for any country to target a specific TLD to block. But, of course, it won't happen, because it doesn't involve the companies wishing to be registrars of these new TLDs getting tons of cash.

Filed Under: .xxx, blocks, domain names, india, tlds

35 Comments

DoD Blocking Access To Techdirt Because It's About 'Computers And Internet'?

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the say-what-now dept

Wed, Jan 19th 2011 3:57pm — Mike Masnick

Sent in by an anonymous person in the Defense Department is the notice that they were unable to read our recent story about customs and border patrol harassing Wikileaks volunteer Jacob Appelbaum as he flew into Seattle from a vacation in Iceland. What struck me, however, was the hilarious wording explaining the block:

This Page Cannot Be Displayed

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Based on DOD access policies, access to this web site ( https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20110112/16054412641/customs-hamfisted-attempts-to-intimidate-wikileaks-volunteers.shtml ) has been blocked because the web category "Computers and Internet" is not allowed, your IP address and username have been recorded and forwarded to your IA staff for review.

As the reader notes: "Who'd have thought that "Computers and Internet" would be banned when they give me one, and an Internet connection, to work with?" Nice to see that the DoD is so concerned that DoD workers see what their own government is up to.

Filed Under: blocks, defense department, denial

58 Comments

Apple The Latest To Convict Wikileaks Despite No Charges Or Trial; Kills Wikileaks App For Violating Unnamed Laws

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the say-what-now? dept

Tue, Dec 21st 2010 12:01pm — Mike Masnick

There's been a lot of attention paid this morning to the fact that Apple, in its typically arbitrary manner, has pulled a Wikileaks app from its iTunes store just days after it was approved. While there was a variety of speculation as to why it did so -- from the claim that it was useless to the claim that it allowed users to donate money, Apple released a statement giving similar reasons as Visa, MasterCard and Paypal did before, falsely claiming that Wikileaks obviously violated the law:

"We removed the WikiLeaks app from the App Store because it violated our developer guidelines. Apps must comply with all local laws and may not put an individual or targeted group in harm's way."

The thing is, Wikileaks hasn't even been charged with a crime yet, let alone found guilty of one, so it's not clear why all these companies claim that the app does not comply with he law. Also, while we're still waiting for evidence of anyone actually put in "harm's way" due to Wikileaks, that reasoning doesn't make any sense either. The information found on Wikileaks is being written about in all sorts of major news publications -- so if a Wikileaks app is putting people in harm's way, then so is the Safari browser on the iPhone that can be used to access all the same information. And, before anyone says it, yes, Apple is absolutely free to do whatever it wants with the iTunes store, including blocking apps if it doesn't like them. I'm just pointing out that it's stated reason for doing so doesn't make much sense.

Filed Under: app store, blocks, iphone, wikileaks
Companies: apple, wikileaks

73 Comments

UK Politicians Want People To Have To Apply For A Porn License Before Viewing Online Porn

Free Speech

from the blacklists-don't-work dept

Mon, Dec 20th 2010 11:37am — Mike Masnick

Just as France is looking to implement an internet blacklist, it appears that politicians in the UK are pressuring ISPs to create a blacklist themselves, blocking all porn sites, and not letting anyone access them unless they "specifically request access." In other words, if you want to view porn, you have to first get your porn viewing license. The reasoning, of course, like that behind all clueless internet legislation, is to "protect the children." What's ignored is that if filters really work (and they don't), parents already have the opportunity to use them themselves, without the government stepping in.

Filed Under: blocks, filters, porn, uk

87 Comments

Bank Of America -- Thought To Be Wikileaks Next Target -- Suddenly Tries To Block Payments To Wikileaks

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the barn-door-back-there dept

Mon, Dec 20th 2010 7:28am — Mike Masnick

This is pretty amusing. Back at the end of November, Wikileaks had indicated that its next leak involved a very large US bank that was apparently doing some bad things -- and many people zeroed in on Bank of America as the target. And then, just a few weeks later, Bank of America announces (late on a Friday night, in an attempt to hide it) that it will join Paypal, Visa and Mastercard in trying to block all payments to Wikileaks.

Of course, I don't quite see how Bank of America does that. Is Bank of America really saying that it can block you from spending your money the way you want to? About the only thing it can really do is stop direct wire transfers, but I'd imagine not too many people are doing that. As for systems like Flattr, which is currently a way of supporting Wikileaks financially, I really don't see how any of the above firms can block people from using Flattr to support Wikileaks. All anyone knows with Flatter is that they're supporting Flattr, so you can use Visa or MasterCard via Paypal to pay Flattr, and then Flattr Wikileaks, and those financial firms won't know the difference.

It seems like all these financial firms are really doing is highlighting how they, too, don't quite understand the nature of a distributed internet, and a distributed payment infrastructure -- even if they think they power it.

Filed Under: blocks, payment, wikileaks
Companies: bank of america, wikileaks

100 Comments

Congressional Research Service Analysts Complaining About Blocked Access To Wikileaks

News You Could Do Without

from the can't-do-their-job dept

Wed, Dec 15th 2010 9:41am — Mike Masnick

With the Library of Congress blocking access to Wikileaks over some misguided notion of what its legal responsibilities are, Copycense points us to a report about how librarians across the nation are now arguing over whether or not this was the right move, with many feeling that it was decidedly a bad move.

However, perhaps more interesting is the claim, in the middle of the article, that analysts at the Congressional Research Service are negatively impacted by this as well:

"Since the Congressional Research Service is a component of the Library, this means that CRS researchers will be unable to access or to cite the leaked materials in their research reports to Congress. Several current and former CRS analysts expressed perplexity and dismay about the move, and they said it could undermine the institution�s research activities."

"It's a difficult situation," one unidentified CRS analyst told Aftergood. "The information was released illegally, and it's not right for government agencies to be aiding and abetting this illegal dissemination. But the information is out there. Presumably, any Library of Congress researcher who wants to access the information that WikiLeaks illegally released will simply use their home computers or cell phones to do so. Will they be able to refer directly to the information in their writings for the Library? Apparently not, unless a secondary source, like a newspaper, happens to have already cited it."

In other words, as expected, all the block is really doing is making it more difficult for our government to do its job. That's what you get when your reaction to information like this getting out is to pretend it's not actually out.

Filed Under: blocks, congressional research service, wikileaks
Companies: wikileaks

11 Comments

Air Force In Super Denial Mode: Blocks Access To News Sites Covering Wikileaks

(Mis)Uses of Technology

from the head-in-the-sand dept

Wed, Dec 15th 2010 7:41am — Mike Masnick

And we thought the Library of Congress was in denial mode for blocking access to Wikileaks. It appears the Air Force has gone a step further into denial, as it's now blocking access to over 25 sites, including major news publications covering Wikileaks, such as the NY Times and The Guardian. Apparently, anyone on an Air Force computer who goes to the NY Times is being told: "ACCESS DENIED. Internet Usage is Logged & Monitored," Along with a notice warning people that anyone accessing an "unauthorized" site may be punished. Apparently none of the other branches of the military have the same thing in place, though we've heard from others in the military that Defense Department computers are blocking websites with "Wikileaks" in the title.

As Jeffrey Toobin notes in the CNN link above: "Our enemies can see the documents, but not those whom we trust to defend our country." How does that make sense?

And, of course, to make matters even more ridiculous, this is the Air Force... the supposed "cyber" expert branch of the military, these days. A little while back, the Defense Department announced that "cyber" issues were to be handled by the Air Force. Yet, they can't figure out that blocking their own access to mainstream media news sites is a dumb idea? These are the guys we've tapped to handle our country's "cyber defense"?

Filed Under: air force, blocks, guardian, ny times, wikileaks
Companies: wikileaks

28 Comments

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Argentine ISPs Block Over A Million Blogs In Response To Court Order To Block Two

from the internet-censorship-at-work dept

Pakistan Hasn't Banned Facebook Yet... But It Might Soon

from the overreact-much? dept

Chicago Politicians Say Mobile Phones Should Block Kids From Texting While Driving

from the technological-realities dept

India's Plan To Block .xxx Shows The Pointlessness Of Specialized TLDs

from the open-the-whole-thing-up dept

DoD Blocking Access To Techdirt Because It's About 'Computers And Internet'?

from the say-what-now dept

Apple The Latest To Convict Wikileaks Despite No Charges Or Trial; Kills Wikileaks App For Violating Unnamed Laws

from the say-what-now? dept

UK Politicians Want People To Have To Apply For A Porn License Before Viewing Online Porn

from the blacklists-don't-work dept

Bank Of America -- Thought To Be Wikileaks Next Target -- Suddenly Tries To Block Payments To Wikileaks

from the barn-door-back-there dept

Congressional Research Service Analysts Complaining About Blocked Access To Wikileaks

from the can't-do-their-job dept

Air Force In Super Denial Mode: Blocks Access To News Sites Covering Wikileaks

from the head-in-the-sand dept

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