Slashdot Mirror
Report Highlights 10 Sites Unfairly Blocked By UK Mobile Internet Censorship
Mark.JUK writes "The Open Rights Group (ORG), which works to raise awareness of digital rights and civil liberties issues, has published a new report that examines the impact of internet censorship on UK mobile networks and lists an example of 10 legitimate websites that often get unfairly blocked (PDF) by adult content filters (over-blocking). The study is important because similar measures could soon be forced upon fixed-line broadband ISP subscribers by the UK government. Some of the allegedly unfair blocks include censorship of the 'Tor' system, a privacy tool used by activists and campaigners across the globe, and the website of French 'digital rights' advocacy group 'La Quadrature du Net.'"
...could be blocked! What about www.expertsexchange.com? Oh yeah, forgot the hyphen: that should be experts-exchange.com.
No, no sig. Really.
ThePromenader
Am I the only one that was hoping their website was www.org.org?
On the contrary, those in favour of the censorship plans consider the blocking of these sites to be quite fair.
Only an idiot would think these measures are about protecting children.
Having the highest density of CCTV cameras anywhere in the world (London) isn't enough. Toying with biometrics (face-recognition specifically) at every opportunity isn't enough.Trying to pass national data retention laws that would log and store every little thing any UK person does on the internet in a data center for 24 months isn't enough. Trying to extradite Julian Assange to the United States on nebulous charges isn't enough. Putting anti-aircraft missiles (2012 Olympics) on the rooftops of London housing estates isn't enough. Putting a battleship on the river Thames (also 2012 Olympics) isn't enough. ---------- Now add to that list UK mobile/cellular phone operators randomly censoring websites you can('t) access on smartphones. --------- All of this and more makes me glad at times that I don't live in the UK. ------ What's wrong with the UK these days anyways? I used to think that Britain was the "cradle of democracy" with its televised Parliament debates, quality newspapers, speaker's corner and such. -------- What happend to you, UK? Why is all this negative stuff happening in the UK?
Why did the chicken cross the road? Because Elon Musk put an AI chip in its head.
Any sort of selection or filtration system is going to have TWO very different forms of error: false negatives and false positives. Missed badguys and caught goodguys. Most of the testing is done to reduce false negatives, so that you're not embarrassed by a glaring badguy getting though. As a result, lots of false positives are generated because they are less unacceptable. Do not expect rationality from censors -- that is not their objective.
The real customer's objective is to minimize the total cost both of false negatives and false positives. It doesn't help until people realise the [often high] cost of a false positive -- a large sales order that was missed & lost by a spam filter.
Some areas like police, do not have any notion of a false positive -- "It's all good -- they needed a warning".
Sure, but they blocked the website for the project.
It's easy enough to get it unblocked. I tried to find the D&D cartoon on http://www.chick.com/default.asp and found the site blocked on Vodafone. It's just a case of phoning them and removing the block if you're over 18.
You're a temporary arrangement of matter sliding towards oblivion in a cold, uncaring universe
What Tor is is a network allowing for file exchange which makes it impossible or very difficult to tell the identity of the file sharers
Who told you that? Tor is an anonymity system for TCP/IP, which is primarily used for HTTP. It is frequently used to defeat national firewalls in countries like China and the UK; it is no surprise that these countries try to block it. It is embarrassing that a member of the free world is resorting to the tactics that we see out of China, but that is sort of the point of TFA.
Palm trees and 8
1. ‘Tor’ (www.torproject.org). We established that the primary website of this privacy tool (meaning the HTTP version of the Tor Project website, rather than connections to the Tor network) was blocked on at least Vodafone, O2 and Three in January.
2. La Quadrature du Net (www.laquadrature.net/en). The website of this French ‘digital rights’ advocacy group was reported blocked on Orange’s ‘Safeguard’ system on 2nd February. La 13 Quadrature du Net has become one of the focal points for European civil society’s political engagement with an important international treaty called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement.
The block was removed shortly after we publicised the blocking.
3. Shelfappeal.com was reported blocked on 15th February 2012 on Orange. This is a blog that features items that can be placed on a shelf.
4. Septicisle.info was reported on 7th February, and was blocked on Vodafone, Orange, and T-Mobile. This is a personal blog featuring political opinion pieces. It does not contain any adult content.
5. The Vault Bar (www.thevaultbar.co.uk) in London. We established that the home page of this bar was blocked on Vodafone, Orange, and T-Mobile on 6th February.
6. St Margarets Community Website (www.stmgrts.org.uk), is a community information site ‘created by a group of local residents of St Margarets, Middlesex.’ Their ‘mission is simple - help foster a stronger community identity.’ We established it was blocked on Orange and T-Mobile on 8th March.
7. eHow.com is an advice and educational site. It provides tutorials on a wide range of everyday issues, from ‘navigating after-school care’ to ‘small space garden tips’. We established it was blocked on Orange on 9th March.
8. Biased-BBC (www.biased-bbc.blogspot.co.uk) is a site that challenges the BBC’s impartiality. We established it was blocked on
O2 and T-Mobile on 5th March. It is classified as a ‘hate site’ by O2’s URL checker
9. Yomaraugusto.com is the home page of a graphic designer, offering a portfolio of his art and design work. This was found to be
blocked on Three and Orange on 6th February.
10. Exquisitetweets.com allows users to create one-page threads to save or share from conversations on Twitter. This site was
blocked on Vodafone, Orange, and T-Mobile on 15th February.
(Posting anon to avoid karma-whoring)
Really, what were they thinking on the 10 legitimate websites that often get unfairly blocked pdf? It's horrible trying to read it on a screen, and I'm using a desktop. Good luck to anyone on a smartphone...
Seems painfully ironic that they're excluding mobile users in this way.
We use HTML for a reason, ORG...
The state knows best. The state always knows best.
Om, nomnomnom...
>>>Tor is a network allowing for file exchange which makes it impossible or very difficult to tell the identity of the file sharers
What the fuck is wrong with that?
Bastard. Way to defend censorship. Go saluite your EU flag and then burn in hell, you anti-free speech bastard
My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
>>>Tor is a network allowing for file exchange which makes it impossible or very difficult to tell the identity of the file sharers
What the fuck is wrong with that?
Well for one it's a wildly inaccurate description of the tor network. File sharing has grown more accepted on the network but it still discouraged as it strains network resources. It's mainly a way to access (exit nodes) and share (.onion sites) information in an anonymous manner.
On the Oregon Cost born and raised, On the beach is where I spent most of my days
Let's not forget the infamous Scunthorpe problem. Does anyone, anywhere, know of a time when blocking domains actually did anything useful?
You are doing it wrong. First you set up censorship systems and only block really hardcore illegal and semi-illegal porn. Then you say 'look it works all the nay-sayers were wrong'. Then you wait until it is in widespread use in every country. THEN you start blocking political speech. Honestly quit being so impatient.
If I try access the national lottery website (presumably blocked as it is gambling) over Virgin Mobile's 3G/GPRS connection I get the "adult content" block page, which invites me to some soft porn and a betting site that happens to pay for a spot on that page. Like so: http://imgur.com/6iLPN
(that image mentions reddit, as I've lost the pre-edited screenshot and can't be bothered to take a new one, but it was the same page for any page that trips the adult content warning)