Begun, the chan war has.... AT&T censor's img.4chan.org, this is going to be ugly

[Sgent]

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/26/att-blocks-4chan-this-is-going-to-get-ugly/

As if AT&T wasn’t already bad enough. In an act that is sure to spark internet rebellions everywhere, AT&T has apparently declared war on the extremely popular imageboard 4chan.org, blocking some of the site’s most popular message boards, including /r9k/ and the infamous /b/. m00t, who started 4chan and continues to run the site, has posted a note to the 4chan status blog indicating that AT&T is in fact filtering/blocking the site for many of its customers (we’re still trying to confirm from AT&T’s side).

Reports of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogsare beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a comment from AT&T (we’ve reached out to the company and will update once we hear back).

4chan has been called many things, most of which aren’t particularly flattering. Some parts of the site are entirely unmoderated, leading to a wild-west, highly NSFW environment where irreverance, mischief, and lewdness thrive (I like to think of it as the Mos Eisley of the web). But that doesn’t mean the site isn’t extremely influential on web culture. Many of its exploits are famous, including taking over the Time 100 list, and it’s also where some of the Internet’s most famous memes got their start, including the Rick Roll and LOLcats. It’s also known as the main hub for Anonymous, a group that has held a very public campaign against Scientology.
------------

4chan is one of the bastions of free speech on the internet. Its a horrid place that I've been to a grand total of twice (once of them today), but it also is one of the finest examples of what makes the internet great.

This could get very ugly (and it should) unless AT&T relents.

[bkkyosemite]

1. Sounds like China and Iran.......

[ShamelessHussy]

2. The WWW interprets censorship as damage and routes around it - John Gilmore

Will the big corporations ever learn?

[snot]

30. yeah: they've learned that if they own it, they can control it--and they get closer every day.

[lurky]

3. Pissing off a bunch of vile, maladjusted hackers...

How could this possibly come back to haunt AT&T? :shrug:

[Strong Atheist]

5. !

:rofl:

[Timbuk3]

6. It's too bad I can't recommend a post

Cuz I sure woulda put an "attaboy" on that one! ;->

[tjwash]

43. Please...

...no real hacker worth his or her salt would have a fucking thing to do with any of the chans or the /b-tard universe.

The chans are nothing more than a dumping ground for losers, pedo's, and shitheads that have already gotten banned off of every other board that anyone would take seriously.

[SleeplessInAlabama]

4. Why was Big Brother Bell ever allowed to take over the country's utilities again?

They think they own the internet. They might have half the damn lines but they can't control the content.

[Naturyl]

7. AT&T's public image is toast

Those 4chan kids own the internet. AT&T is asking for a flood of public ridicule and maybe worse. The 4chan community has successfully trashed the public image of such a previously-untouchable organization as Scientology.

[kenny blankenship]

18. You're talking about the company that set up surveillance of every phone call and inet packet in US

and they're going to worry about what 4chan will do to their public image.
Edit: that's supposed to be a rhetorical question, so it really needed a ? at the end. But just for show.

[anigbrowl]

25. Yes, yes, but that's just business

With the greatest respect, only bleeding heart liberals care about bleeding heart liberal issues. To really get people's attention you have to go fictional. DU's problem is that it has no sense of lulzworthiness. It's twice as funny to get people outraged about stuff that isn't remotely true, like the details of Randall Stephenson's lucrative side business of smuggling cocaine via DSL modem.

[Truth2Tell]

8. Frankly, this is great news for free speech.

I suspect AT&T has no idea what they have bitten off here. The backlash from this will break open wide the entire Web censorship debate. And that can only be good. I hope /b/ punishes Ma Bell severely.

[Raster]

9. Quite frankly, I hope ATT gets the cyber buttfucking it so richly deserves. With NO cyberlube!

4chan rocks!

[Truth2Tell]

10. Just saw this image graphic on Reddit:

What someone says the CNN website will say tomorrow. Left side.

[ReverendDeuce]

11. It works here... for now... on AT&T

Just went and looked via AT&T's 3G mobile network. As a matter of fact, I am posting from their network too... <shrug> Not doubting, but just my experience this evening...

[Sgent]

13. Its only effecting

the landlines, not the 3G network.

[blogslut]

12. Time to buy stock

in E-Popcorn. :popcorn:

[Posteritatis]

14. Now to see how many DUers reveal themselves to be pro-censorship types

I wouldn't shed a tear if a meteor struck moot's house one day - well, I might if I didn't get to see it - but this is doubleplusuncool in the extreme.

[-..__...]

15. .

[anigbrowl]

16. Talk is it might not be censorship at all

There's nother site called anontalk that has been DDOSing 4chan (if you don't know what means, this isn't the thread for you; if you do, there's been a low-grade lazor war since last year) and it's thought that AT&T may have been just choking incoming connections to break the DDOS. Opinion seems divided and not especially inflamed at present, so I'm not breaking out the LOIC or similar yet.

[Posteritatis]

19. 4chan is under constant, 24/7 DDoS

By people trying to bring it down, by the bandwidth use of its own subscribers, and by dumbass /b/tards who click the wrong link and get their computers zombiefied by people in the first group.

[LLStarks]

17. Expect a massive backlash and raids by 4channers. nt

[Odin2005]

20. LOL, this won't end well for AT&T

Tip: NEVER piss off 4channers! :rofl:

[LLStarks]

24. 4chan: The undisputed anus of the Internet

Truth.

[anigbrowl]

27. Yes, but you'd be in trouble if you didn't have one

[backscatter712]

21. Reserving judgment, for now...

It could indeed just be a technical issue, maybe as mentioned a couple posts above, technical problems, such as an anti-DDOS tactic going wrong.

I'll just say that it's extremely unwise for AT&T to incur the wrath of the /b/tards...

[and-justice-for-all]

22. Here is some conversation about it..

http://img.4chan.org/b/imgboard.html
Oh, the board is rather, uh, well...I guess adult.

[tkmorris]

28. WARNING: If you have one single neuron that isn't jaded yet

Don't click the above link. You could see anything there, anything at all. You might luck upon a photoshop that makes you laugh until you cry, but it's actually more likely you'll see a beheaded infant, or worse. /btards don't bother with regular old internet porn, it has to have an added dimension of outrageousness for most of them to bother posting it. The place is not for the faint of heart.

BEWARE. I ain't kidding.

[backscatter712]

29. They don't call it the Asshole of the Internet for nothin'...

I lurk there occasionally, but generally don't stick around. Yeah, some of the stuff there is pretty damned vile.

That said, FUCK CENSORSHIP!!!

[and-justice-for-all]

32. Strange place I must say...nt

[tkmorris]

33. Oh yes, I should have added that

FUCK CENSORSHIP!!!

As awful as 4chan can be, if we let them censor that they will soon be censoring everything in sight, and believe me that is exactly what they want to do. TPTB despise the wild west nature of the internet, it prevents them from packaging and selling it in the fashion they are used to. Preventing censorship and supporting neutrality for the internet go hand in hand.

[and-justice-for-all]

31. I have never even heard of the place until this OP..

I swear.

[XemaSab]

40. I was going to say that 4chan is juvenile

:shrug:

[Touchdown]

23. Ummm. Who has the money in this fight?

4chan may have some skills, and some hutzpa to do damage to a handful of AT&T's network elements, but one router too far and it's...

In congress demanding that net neutrality be removed immediately because of industrial espionage and a risk of losing a major American corporation that has 300,000 employees, and disrupting the American telephone network (ain't going to happen, but they can say anything to congress and they'll believe it). With a pocketful of cash and $13Billion in profits, versus a bunch of rowdy torch bearing villagers with no money, who's Congress going to listen to then?

[Iggo]

26. 4chan is the end of the internet...

...but, lord, do they fight dirty.

[starroute]

34. Here's a work-safe link my son sent me with some internal discussion

Here's a sample from a longer page of discussion and suggestions (some of them a lot more extreme than what's quoted below).

http://encyclopediadramatica.com/AT%26T_Blocks_4Chan

The Gameplan

Listen up, Anon, this is serious business. We don't want to go all LOL LEGION FREE BOXES TILE SAMPLES on them. That won't solve shit. It'll probably justify it. We need to approach this with legitimate means. Flood the callcenters and inboxes of AT&T. Make them confirm that img.4chan.org (make sure its img.4chan.org and not just 4chan.org) is down. Then make the honest threat of service cancellation if this censorship isn't undone. We also should contact the FCC, (Or whichever federal body is the people to contact about this kind of censorship.)

Also, contact the National Coalition Against Censorship. http://www.ncac.org/

Digg to raise awareness. http://digg.com/tech_news/AT_T_blocks_4chan/

Basically, cause a stink.

The objective of this little operation is to basically make sure that this precedent is not set. Make it absolutely abundantly clear that this is NOT acceptable to American consumers and this WILL NOT be allowed to happen, or else face financial and political suicide. Acting like an idiot and trying to DDoS them will only end with you being persecuted, and your actions being used as a justification.

Fight with what works: this is David and Goliath. this is the little man and the big evil corporation. this is the honest consumers fighting back by being consumers: by stop giving them money, by making them look horrible, by causing a PR shitstorm. By having the consumerist press have headlines disparaging AT&T.

One idea for fighting back here: http://www.reddit.com/r/reddit.com/comments/94pf2/att_is_now_blocking_all_access_to_img4chanorg/c0bf7y6

[Feron]

37. Another work safe link:

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r22769846-ATT-blocking-img4chanorg~start=20

[Onceuponalife]

35. 4chan (and all the other chans)

is a meeting place for losers, chantards and pedophiles. Guarantee you will lose IQ points if you spend any amount of time there. It is quite often taken over by pedophiles although they have rules against it. There are occasional funny posts and images but you may also see some of the most vile things imaginable. Racism is also rampant with Obama being the most frequent target. I'm all for free speech and against censorship but I don't need this garbage on my internets.

[Quantess]

38. I don't need it either, and that's why I don't go there.

I have never spent any time on 4chan and I don't plan to. You don't have to go there, either.

[Onceuponalife]

57. You're right. I sure wasn't looking for it when I stumbled on to it

I just wanted to warn others who might think to check it out.

[tkmorris]

39. I agree with you to a point

Your evaluation of the cultural worth of 4chan is pretty accurate. However, you then go on to say "I'm all for free speech and against censorship but..."

And that's where you lose me. That single solitary but. If you start letting them decide what is allowed to be on the internet and what isn't pretty soon they will come after something you do think is valuable, and at that point the precedent will be too firmly cemented for you to object. Being against censorship means supporting ALL speech, not just the stuff you like.

[Sgent]

41. I absolutely agree!

I wish I could recommend replies...

[Posteritatis]

51. "I'm all against censorship but" = "I'm not all against censorship." (nt)

[Onceuponalife]

58. I agree with your point. But ask yourself...

do you want unfettered child porn freely available on the internet? Because that's what you will get with the chans if left ignored. If the government doesn't step in, the FBI will anyway.

[MattSh]

36. If these 4chan people want to be really, really, useful...

maybe they should take on those companies blocking health care for all.

After all, they just might need it some day, just like us old fogies...

[LeftyMom]

42. They actually do plenty of useful shit.

Recent stuff that I know of:

-setting up proxies to allow the Iranian protesters to use the internet to coordinate their activities with less risk of discovery and arrest
-tracking down the identity of people who post videos of animal abuse on youtube so the authorities can deal with them
-counterprotesting the Phelps crew
-posting internal documents from the Scientology freaks so nobody gets suckered into that scam

[agentS]

44. I declare myself officially NEUTRAL in this fight

This isn't David Vs Goliath. This is Doctor Doom vs The Joker. This is Cell vs Buu. This is the Sith Lord vs Evil Dan. This is Dracula vs Carnage.
This is Lawful Evil vs Chaotic Evil

Save yourselves for a fight worth fighting for.

[mamaleah]

45. The same 4chan losers that tormented those with epilepsy?

They can piss off.

Some 4chan posters though it would be a great idea to head over to the Epilepsy Foundations forums and posted large, flash gifs. Why? Because its fun to cause someone to have a seizure? So causing physical harm to people is now free speech? Really?

[depakid]

46. Amusing comments on the site:

>"The biggest mistake 4chan could make right now is in attempting to undermine our corporation. Any hostilities, be they intentional or incidental, will be met with a proportional response." - Randall Stephenson, chairman of AT&T, early morning over 9000/27

I don't get it. Does this guy realize that he's dealing with some of the most determined psychopaths on the Internet?

[comtec]

47. The problem with the corpse types is they think they can kill all the wasps

No argument from me about *can being the asshole of the internet.
but consider this... if there wasn't a place online for people to let loose (vile as it is) what are the chances they'd take it to real space? plenty of people do, but how many don't because they can do it safely(?) online?


Another thing .... this is script kiddy home. Some legitimate (and I use that term as loosely as an Amsterdam whore) crackers and hackers reside there as well.

They are happy to live in the sewers, away from everyone else - and trust me this will exist no matter what - as long as they are not disturbed.

but this.... o m f g this is just BEGGING for an all-out war.

They think this only effects a bunch of losers in the US... they are so far wrong it's not even funny.
This will not stay restricted to US hackers fighting back, this will go - if it hasn't already - global. ATnT are going to get the ever living SHIT kicked out of them from every illegal 'net haven online and then some.

I'm amused to watch this fight... from very very far away.
The moon comes to mind actually.

[WeDidIt]

48. This is analogous to stripping naked and kicking over a fire ant hill.

It's not going to end well.

[pleah]

49. This is going to be very interesting.

I can't wait to see what 4chan does.

[Papa Boule]

50. LoLcats and pr0n are the chirping canaries of the Internet freedom mine...

.. which is a paraphrase of a Dennis Miller line. But the idea comes from a talk given by Ethan Zuckerman at ETech, in which he made the point that pictures of cute cats and porn are both indicators that you have a viable, working participatory communication system, a system which will also be used for activism:

Web 1.0 was invented to allow physicists to share research papers.

Web 2.0 was created to allow people to share pictures of cute cats.

I had a front-row seat for this transition, working with Tripod. We sincerely believed that the purpose of the web was to give college graduates helpful information about renting apartments, applying for jobs and investing their money. Our users rapidly told us that what the web was really about was publishing their own information… which left us with the difficult challenge of figuring out how to make money off of people’s collections of cat pictures.

User-generated content, on average, is a lot less interesting than professional content. But there are a lot more people creating their own content for fun than those doing so for a living, and in aggregate, that content is at least as interesting.

Based on my Tripod experience, I’d offer the hypothesis that any sufficiently advanced read/write technology will get used for two purposes: pornography and activism. Porn is a weak test for the success of participatory media – it’s like tapping a mike and asking, “Is it on?” If you’re not getting porn in your system, it doesn’t work. Activism is a stronger test – if activists are using your tools, it’s a pretty good indication that your tools are useful and usable.

In late 1996, we noticed that Tripod was receiving a great deal of traffic from Malaysia. Searching through the server logs, we found lots of pages in Bahasa Malay talking about “Reformasi” and “Anwar Ibrahim”. I had to visit the Political Science department at Williams College to figure out that we were apparently hosting much of the Malaysian opposition political movement, dedicated to helping deposed and imprisoned deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim return to power. Malaysian media was largely closed to opposition voices, but investment in internet infrastructure meant that the opposition was able to access the internet and publish material that couldn’t be disseminated any other way. (Several of these pages still exist on Tripod.)

A more economically rational company would have likely removed the Malaysian content, as we had no way of selling ads to Malaysian advertisers. Economic rationality was never Tripod’s strong suit, and we ended up sponsoring Malaysia’s olympic team instead. (They took the silver in Men’s team badminton.)

With web 2.0, we’ve embarced the idea that people are going to share pictures of their cats, and now we build sophisticated tools to make that easier to do. as a result, we’re creating a wealth of tech that’s extremely helpful for activists. There are twin revolutions going on – the ease of creating content and the ease of sharing it with local and global audiences.

Zuckerman's point was that cute cats and porn indicate the technological environment is working, but it's also an indicator that the freedom environment is working -- an environment for activism to thrive too.

Yeah I think a lot of 4chan stuff is beyond sick, and attention seekers post it there simply because it is disturbing, like the little twerps who used to show gore and monster pictures from Fangoria magazine to little girls in the neighborhood just to make them cry.

Sure I'd like to see /b/ go away on its own, ignored until it starves into obscurity.

But to block it, and for people to be okay with it because the content is really bad and upsets people... that's a chirping canary falling silent and being okay with it.

It's not too big a step from there to blocking an activism site because the content upsets people.

[Hydra]

52. Update for those interested

Since /b/ was surprisingly not frothing at the mouth when I checked.

http://status.4chan.org/

SFW, btw, and very informative. It's possible that it was a real screwup or a trial balloon...but why start there if you wanted to test the waters?

[NecklyTyler]

53. About two years ago Comcast discontinued their USENET service

They said it was because of all the pedophiles posting pictures, but most USENET posters thought it wasn't making any money for Comcast.

Trying to subscribe to a USENET group through Google is a load of trash.

[-..__...]

54. Once the world wide web started to expand...

usenet was unprofitable... especially when high speed cable became available and bandwidth hogs would leech the servers.

"They said it was because of all the pedophiles posting pictures".

Sort of... Andrew Cuomo (citing child porn as a reason), used strong arm tactics to basically force ISP's to drop usenet services

Comcast, NetZero Limit Usenet to Block Child Porn

07.30.08
discuss Total posts: 1

by Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Internet service providers (ISPs) Comcast Corp and United Online Inc's NetZero have agreed to block access to child pornography, the New York Attorney General's office said on Tuesday.

The announcement comes a week after New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo threatened to pursue legal action against Comcast Cable Communications LLC if it did not agree to reforms.

Several other ISPs, such as Verizon Communications Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp agreed in June to block Internet bulletin boards and websites nationwide that disseminate child porn.

"I commend the companies for working with my office to aggressively eradicate online child pornography and strongly urge all outstanding Internet service providers across New York and the nation to get on board," Cuomo said in a statement.

Other major ISPs that have signed on with Cuomo's initiatives include Time Warner Inc's AOL unit, AT&T Inc and Time Warner Cable Inc.

The companies have agreed to completely block access to all child porn news groups and said they will purge their servers of all child pornography websites identified by the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.

United Online corporate counsel Brooke Squire said the company was "dedicated to eradicating this serious problem."

Representatives for Comcast were not immediately available for comment.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2326779,00.asp

[NecklyTyler]

55. What ever the reason, to me it just stinks

I developed some relationships with people I never met in person. I would almost call them friends of mine. Is was a true free for all on some of groups, people you love, people you hate, sock puppets and trolls.

Aha, the good old days, back when a person had to know how to use a computer to be able to use a computer.

[-..__...]

56. Tell me about it.

I was a usenet junkie for a good 4-5 years before I even began to realize that the WWW could also be a medium for purposes other than pR0n.

Some give Anon//b/ too much credit for being the original Internets miscreants and hooligans.

Groups like alt.fan.karl-malden.nose, alt.alien.vampire.flonk.flonk.flonk, alt.flame, alt.romath, alt.usenet.kooks, alt.hackers.malicious, etc... were regaling in the same the sort of chicanery long before 4chan came along.

Fun times it was.

:smoke: