Censorware Blocking Methods Using Akamai

Snatch Freedom writes "Peacefire has discovered a way to block censorware using Akamai's servers. For example you can see Yahoo! using http://a1.g.akamaitech.net/6/6/6/6/www.yahoo.com/. C|Net had a story about. Censorware cannot block akamai; that will piss off all the advertising people. Akamai says (in the cnet story) that they are not in the filtering business and they won't block anything. The makers of ``Bess'' wan't Akamai to filter it but Akamai says no. "

Comments

Update: Later article say Akamai WILL fix

[Seth Finkelstein]

Akamai acknowledged today that the technique is effective but said it would be short-lived.

"Akamai has a lot of mechanisms in our system that would render this approach ineffective immediately," said company representative Jeff Young. "Akamai will shut down the delivery of content that is accessed in this way, so users that would follow these instructions would very quickly be served broken images and downed sites."

http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/cn/20000822/tc/akamai _caught_in_net_filtering_cross-fire_1.ht ml

Re:Update: Later article say Akamai WILL fix

[Anonymous Coward]

This has been going on forever. Akamai has known about this hole since they started. I can tell you for a fact that their "fix" will be to block sites that people complain about being able to reach via Akamai. You will still be able to Akamaize other sites that have not been blocked.

Another interesting note: You can charge your free Akamaization to whichever customer you want. For example, visit CNN and get an Akamaized URL: http://a388.g.akamai.net/7/388/21/866499aaf3f4c0/w ww.cnn.com/images/hub2000/main/cnn.com.l ogo.gif . Strip out everything after the first 4 numbers, and replace with your site of choice.

You now have http://a388.g.akamai.net/7/388/21/866499aaf3f4c0/s lashdot.org/ . Congratulations, you just viewed Slashdot and placed it on CNN's bill! Play around with the numbers. I've found that the long number can be safely changed to 0; the other numbers control which customer is charged, and perhaps some other variables.

The real solution to protect children online (OT)

[b0z]

Parents, teachers, etc need to get off their fat lazy asses and pay attention to what their kids are doing.

The internet should not be censored to "protect" anyone. If you don't like your kids seeing porn online, then you should stop them. Teachers should do the same. Review the history files afterwards also just in case, and let them know ahead of time you are going to check what sites the kids visited. I know that won't work against everyone but nothing is fullproof. Especially censorware.

It all goes down to our society not wanting to be responsible for anything. Parents want to blame video games, tv, the internet, music, etc. for how they fail to keep their own children in line. Smokers commit slow suicide by putting fire into their lungs, then sue tobacco companies because these people are too stupid to know better.

Sometimes I wish that some people would help us all out by killing themselves. If you feel that you can't be live up to any of your responsibilities and just want to cry how the world has done you wrong, jump off of a tall building...it should be great! You will leave your impression on the Earth, and we will all be thankful to have one less semi-hairless monkey jumping around and screaming about everyone offending and hurting them.

Ok, back on topic a bit more. I wonder how many other sites like this will prevent censorware from working. I was shown something yesterday that triggers censorware that is completely innocent:
This tip is sure to not work.
Various censoreware programs don't like it. Let's look at it again through their eyes:
This tiP IS Sure to not work.

It's pretty interesting...but shows how ineffective this type of software is.

isn't it a parenting issue.....

[bdavenport]

This makes about as much sense as a parent going to congress and telling them the networks can't show sexual content because he's afraid his kid might see it.

this was the exact issue that popped in my mind as i read these articles. i don't want to sound like jon katz or get on a stump, but...

is it only me who recognizes that PARENTS today want to use technology to cover the gaps in their role as a parent? ultimately, any control placed to hamper web sites loading can be over come - save one: how about the parents take some responsiblity and turn off the PC?

yeah, yeah. i've heard it before. "we work." "we can't police our children 24/7." "society should set some acceptable norms for all to live by." etc. etc. etc.

look, if you have children, you made a CHOICE to propigate your family linage (and don't give me that bullshit about 'accidents.' there are no accidental births - what did you think the act of sex might result in? free beer?) it is your responsiblity to raise your child. if work gets in the way - well maybe you need to quit your job.

QUIT MY JOB! yeah, wtf do you think is more important - work or family (god, i hate asking that question to some people....)

and before you ask me my wherewithall to rant on this subject - my wife and i chose NOT to have children b/c we have other things we want to accomplish. we made that decsion based on NOT wanting to be part-time parents and full time employees. and also, my 13 year old sis recently got into some adult level chats with some questionable people. the result? no unsupervised PC usage (yeah, my mom actually sits there as she does homework research) and some stearn talk about the world, people, and growing up.

look, sorrry for the rant, but i am sooooo tired of people thinking technology has morals. people have morals. technology is just a means to an end.

Corporate Affirmation of Benefit of Hackers?

[GeekLife.com]

"Although it is a challenge to keep up with hackers who attempt to undermine filtering software, the result in the long run is a better product," SurfControl vice president Kelly Haggerty said in a statement.

Which is to say "Hackers help us improve our product."
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