BT / NTL /b/ Block - Stuff we know.

What follows has been posted in various other threads and has been repeated in IRC - but I thought it was probably an OK idea to post it all together in one place if only so I could point them to it - anyway:

As far as we have been able to work out someone has informed and organisation in the UK called the Internet Watch Foundation http://www.iwf.org.uk/ of our little place on the net and they have deemed it to be unacceptable due to either race hate OR childporn... probably both. They have place ONE SPECIFIC URL on a block list.

Seemingly NTL and BT subscribe to this block list to different degrees (although oddly some people are still getting through from at least NTL not sure about BT). The URL they are blocking is the main /b/ http://img.4chan.org/b/imgboard.html one which is why you are seeing a 404/403 on that one, but are still capable of seeing links within /b/.

There are quite a few ways to get around this, the two that I employ when Im on my work BT line is by using the IP address of the of the /b/ server, so then the URL would be: http://66.207.165.178/b/imgboard.html - this also works for NTL users. NTL users can also just add a '?' mark to the end of the normal URL to get around it thus: http://img.4chan.org/b/imgboard.html?
You can also use proxies and tunnelling an other crap, such as http//securebar.secure/...
or installing your own copy of squid maybe.

BT users only are currently finding them selves banned completely from the img.4chan servers, I have no idea what that is about as I dont think anyones said.

Are BT/NTL logging failed connects to the boards? No idea. How long is this gonna last? No idea. Is there anyway to ge the block lifted? Having read the IWFs complaints procedure... only if you want the police at your door if its still found to be CPy.

I think thats it, be brave /b/tards. You can get through this.

D.

Sorry to bump this after it's been stale for a month, but it seemed somewhat apropos.

U.S. users are about to get something similar, it seems:

"US net firms to block child porn"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7446637.stm
"Three of the biggest US internet service providers have agreed to block access to bulletin boards and websites that carry images of child sex abuse."

The ISPs in question are Verizon, Sprint, and Time-Warner.  The article goes on to say that New York's Attorney General (who is spearheading the campaign) is in negotiations with other ISPs, as well, so we will probably soon have no choice.

What it DIDN'T say was that these ISPs are also notifying their customers that their net use is to be monitored, and that any CP or SUSPICION of CP will be reported to the authorities.  As impractical as this seems, it is still a privacy issue (yes, I know we've BEEN being monitored for anti-terrorism purposes for some time now, but this purpose is new).

This is odd to me, as I always understood that ISPs, being common carriers, were not legally allowed to filter or monitor content.  I'll be a little surprised if there isn't a legal challenge to this (last I knew, the monitoring issue was ALREADY being challenged).

I'm not in favor of CP, but I don't like censoring the internet, either.  A further, practical problem lies in WHO determines what is and isn't "child sex abuse," and what it means to "carry" those images.  Will I soon lose access to 4chan, despite its best attempts at being anti-CP?  What about 420chan, which has had run-ins with hosting services before?  Will not4chan be blocked and browsing it risk being turned in to the police, despite the fact that it is full of drawings and not photos?  Furthermore, where does it stop?  Today it's CP at issue, will it be piracy tomorrow (Comcast is already doing that, aren't they?)?  These issues, even more so than the basic question of censorship, seem to be glaring problems to me.