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Hundreds of Sites Blocked By Canadian ISP

Posted by Zonk on from the quite-the-smooth-move dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Last week Slashdot reported on the blockage of a union website by Telus, a leading Canadian ISP. Since that story, the company has restored access but the fallout continues. The move may lead to new ISP regulations in Canada and a study by the OpenNet Initiative has found that by blocking the union site, Telus also blocked an additional 766 websites including a breast cancer fundraising site." From the article: "While there are a number of different ways to block access to Web sites, the method Telus chose to block the Voices for Change site -- blocking its IP address -- produced massive collateral filtering. Filtering by IP address is efficient since ISPs can quickly and effectively block access to the target site using their existing routing technology. Many ISPs already block certain IP addresses to combat spam and viruses. Large networks, like Telus, have mechanisms in place to block IP addresses almost instantaneously, simply by updating their routers with a "block list" of addresses. However, it is common for many different, unrelated Web sites to share the same IP address."

4 of 302 comments (clear)

  1. Oh Canada!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    I love you man. Screw those bastards. Block those sites. Piss on these whiny liberal shites!

    Canada is teh coolest!

  2. the ultimate hypocrisy of slashdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    uhm, slashdot bans IPs all the time. and many 'open source gurus' would ban entire IP subnets off of their irc channels without a second thought.

    their argument? their space in cyberspace is 'private property' so they can do whatever they want and everyone is a guest on that property.

    the ISP has the same argument, and if you disagree with that logic, then examine
    your own actions, you hypocrites.

  3. Re:Illegal, reckles, and dangerous. by cannuck · · Score: 0, Troll

    Illegal?! Huh. "Rule Bending" is the norm up here in Canada (just like it is in the USA). Once a business gets large enough - run by a bunch of rich wannabes - the business is protected by unwritten "laws" - only enjoyed by the self selected eiltes. The "normal" laws do not apply - and they even get even away with murder.

  4. Canadians are Socialists; This is Normal by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    In a socialist state, the government must maintain the status quo by controlling what the citizens see and understand about their environment.