Ask Slashdot: Cyber Patrol Censorship?

John R. Johns II submitted this issue which many of us might be faced with in the future: "I found out today that my entire ISP's primary web server is blocked by Cyber Patrol. Cyber Patrol blocks the web server because a few users have adult content, but the result is that all accounts on the server are blocked regardless of content. Cyber Patrol won't remove the ban (I guess they have no method of only partially blocking a server), and my provider won't boot the users with the adult material. I support my ISP for keeping the users with the adult materials, because it is a matter of freedom of speech, but I believe it is wrong for them not to provide a separate web server for the stigmatized users, so that not everyone is blocked due to the content owned by a few. What can you do when faced with a situation like this? Click below for more.

There's more to the situation, however...

"I am more upset that my ISP never told me that Cyber Patrol was blocking their server... they have known for some time and they chose not to spread this information to their customers. I only found out when a job hunter couldn't access my resume and wrote me an e-mail to alert me to the problem. What can I do about this situation, aside from move to another ISP? What sort of compensation can I seek, either from Cyber Patrol or my ISP? It's impossible to measure what sort of hits I have lost due to this block, and I don't know how long it's been this way.

I suggested to my ISP that they set up 2 web servers, one for unregulated content and one "safe-surfing" where people could sign an agreement to keep content clean in trade for an unblocked server, and to co-ordinate this effort with companies such as Cyber Patrol. My ISP responded that they would take my comments into consideration, but that they did not even know whether their web server alone was blocked, or the entire domain, and that my solution might not be feasible."

Such behavior scares me. Is it legal for ISPs to behave this way? Will we all have to worry about being silently censored in this manner?

Comments

Re:No one is at fault

[Brian Knotts]

I disagree. Cyber Patrol is, in essence, libeling the fellow's content. They are falsely suggesting that his content is not suitable for all ages, because of their rather imprecise methodology.

This kind of thing should not be tolerated. If you ran a technical book store in a medium size town, and because there is one adult book store in your town, someone in another town started running ads in the newspaper that said "DON'T VISIT THE BOOK STORES IN HAPPYVILLE; THEY PEDDLE FILTH," don't you think that might be improper, and possibly actionable?

--

Similar Problem with n2h2's Bess Censorware

[Brian Ristuccia]

I'm sorry to say that I've experienced similar problems with n2h2's Bess censorware. Bess is popular in many public schools and libraries in my area.

Shortly after I published information on my web site criticizing n2h2's Bess product and similar products, along with software that helps censored users work around such products, n2h2 blocked every web site on my machine. Despite repeated attempts to get them to rectify the situation, it goes uncorrected. At one point, they even went so far as to modify their program to provide false unblocked results when accessed from hostnames I commonly browse the web from!

N2h2 has ignored or dismissed my requests to narrow the scope of their blocking. Through carelessness, negligence, or malice, they have chosen to block the entire 978.org domain and any other site hosted on my machine (ie, http://fiero.978.org/, http://tendafoot.978.org/, http://www.drumhillford.com/) and to tell third parties that contact them about the blocking that these sites are blocked due to pornographic content, information about circumventing their product, or because I offer free, anonymous, and instantaneous web access. None of these claims are true.

The fact that n2h2 has chosen to not only prejudicially block every web site that I'm involved in but also to spread lies about the nature of content on hosts in the 978.org domain and sites hosted on my machine is particularly disturbing.

Shortly after I discovered the blocking, I sent several letters similar to the following, asking them to rectify the problem.

Excuse me:

My machine at http://978.org/ does not offer free web hosting to anyone as you claim. Web site service and DNS hosting are extended only to personal friends, business associates, and family. This claim is false, and I urge you to stop making it at once.

Furthermore, there is no objectionable content in the "loophole" category at the URL http://978.org/. These claims are false and I urge you to discontinue them at once. My attempts at verifying your unblocking claims using publicly accessable bess proxy servers have hinted that these claims are also false.

I have contacted you in good faith to resolve an issue regarding inappropriate blocking. Because n2h2 is unhappy with the nature of one particular web site I maintain (because it basicly renders your product useless), I feel you have blocked every other web site I am involved with. Evidence of this prejudicial blocking includes the entire 978.org domain, Drum Hill Ford http://www.drumhillford.com/ car dealership, and all hostnames in other domains that point at my machine. I urge you to discontinue this overzealous blocking at once and only block URL's that have been verified by a human and found to meet your criteria.

Automated blocking of entire hosts (which may carry dozens of domains), blocking of DNS registries (even private ones like 978.org), and personal targeting of individuals like myself make it clear to me that you may have been less than honest with your customers and people who have contacted you regarding the current situation with *.978.org and drumhillford.com. If definite, verifyable steps are not taken to resolve this problem, I will be forced to pursue it through other channels. While I understand you have obligations to your customers, these obligations do not grant you a license to be deceitful to customers and business contacts, nor a right to defame my services or me personally by reporting falsely to these people.

Your prompt response and action will be appreciated.

--
Brian Ristuccia
webmaster@drumhillford.com

Freedom of Speech in the US of A

[SlashDread]

Besides indeed being the laughingstock of all of MY country (I live in The Netherlands, and our sexlives is our OWN bussiness, and the prez sex'life is his, but we cannot bear a knife big enough to peel a fish in public) I Just Dont Get It.
Why is that Americans think "love" (or sex) is something people should be protected against, and violence and Guns should be freely available?

Is the right to censor everything that collides with the American Way more important then the right of free speech? Is the right to use CyberCop (wich is obiously not even doing the cybercopping right) more important then the right to publish porn or lovestories or the adress of the neirest abortion clinique?

Its seemingly impossible for the anti-guns lobby to DO anything, apparently the right to bear arms is rigorously defended by a lot of people, but a headhunter who uses Cyberpatrol (what is this guy headhunting for? The Vatican?) gets a headline on SlashDot. And we are supposed NOT to laugh?

And then the US of A wonders why the whole world is scared shitless if you guys start policing the world again.

Face it. Their is NO Freedom Of Speech in the USA, there is only totally arbitrary court rulings, like the pro-life dudes who had to take down there abortionist list (dont get me wrong prolife is NOT my way, but LISTS dont kill people, people do, to paraphrase a pro-gun slogan, what list will be next?) and in the meantime almost all porn is produced in.. the USA
In the meantime, you are murder country #1
In the meantime, American highschool kids get the idea they are totally weird, for thinking about sex, but its ok if dad has a sawed off shotgun, and takes Brat out hunting every weekend.

Face it, The American Way needs a revamp.

Greetz and good luck, and who knows.. you might get it one day.

SlashDread from SlashHolland

Cripes..."what sort of compensation?"

[grot]

It's bad enough that us 'merikans are the laughingstock of the civilized world for our idiotic prudishness, but you had to go and tie in the other thing (well, one of the other things, anyway) that will be our downfall: litigiousness. Sure, in today's legal climate, you could "seek compensation" -- sue the bastards at your ISP. Sue CyberPatrol, too. Hell, you could even sue the job hunter (I assume you actually mean headhunter) for failing to have the technical savvy to access your résumé, thereby discriminating against you in some convoluted way. For that matter, why not sue me, too? I probably have some money, and I might settle just to avoid the stupendous legal bills you could threaten me with.

Certainly, there are some things worth going to court over, but this is not one of them. My advice is to just get over it. If you feel it's essential that your résumé be accessible to headhunters who are inexplicably using CyberPatrol, change ISPs. If your bacon is really burned over it, write a letter to the ISP and tell them why you're dumping them. But the idea that somebody owes you something because of this is simply ludicrous.

Clarifications

[John R. Johns II]

Some clarifications:

The person who could not access the resume is a headhunter working for a placement agency. Apparently, this agency does not trusts its' headhunters not to look for porn during lunch break, and I told the agent as much. The agency wouldn't have been the company where I'd have gone to work. This particular headhunter didn't even realize that their company had installed blocking software - they just told me, "I can't see your web page. It gives me an error." I asked what error, and that was when I found out what was going on.

So you see, claims that it's the user's fault, or that it's a voluntary product, don't really hold up to this situation. I did tell the agent that I'd be concerned if I worked for a company that distrusted me so, as her company apparently does not trust her.

To be honest, most headhunting agencies aren't filled with the most technical people - they rarely understand the very jobs they are helping to fill - and so I wasn't terribly surprised.

A lot of people have said, "Don't blame your ISP."

Although it isn't the ISP's fault that Cyber Patrol is blocking my site, it is my ISP's fault that they KNEW ABOUT IT and didn't tell me, or any of their users! They just wanted to keep it hush-hush. I think that was wrong. It was a shrewd business move... As in: "Customers might leave if they know they're being censored, and we're not willing to do anything about it!"

Anyway, I'm figuring I should just ask my ISP for my money back for the whole time they've known my pages were being banned. That should be fair enough. I'm moving on to DSL anyway, so the account will be thing in the past by the end of August.

- John