IWF denies wielding Pirate Bay banhammer The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) has denied involvement in blocking the Pirate Bay BitTorrent tracker site, after BT mobile broadband users were told they had fallen foul of a filter against "over 18 sites". The users were told to visit the IWF website for more information on the block. The ISP industry body curates a …
..and block Google. Filetype:torrent anybody?
Oh by the way, use https:// for your PirateBay requirements. Frankly I rather like getting Ubuntu in torrent form, and the IWF's Mary Whitehouse Filter doesn't cover secure HTTP. Neither does whatever BT and Vodaphone have done.
Mine's the one with a 16GB USB stick in the pocket.
.... should always be 'opt in' and never 'opt out'.
This is a slippery slope to a world where politically embarrassing material is deemed too controversial or unpleasant for the eyes of children.
Such as pictures of illegal torture, war crimes, and police violence.
Or policitally 'objectionable' opinions the Government of the day rejects.
Or reporting of crimes by corrupt, dishonest Government Ministers and Businessmen.
Of course, you can see it, if you identify yourself to the Government by opting out.
If there is such an overwhelming need to protect innocent souls of accidentally stumbling onto kiddy-fiddler material (after 10+ years on the web I haven't as yet managed to, must be doing something right), then such an organisation should be a judicial body, with full openness and a transparent process for claim and counter-claim, not some self-appointed do-gooders.
I wonder if this explains why I often cannot get sites like universities and colleges, even parts of The Reg are not found. I can get the home page but not some articles, they give either timeout errors or not found errors.
I'm on 3 mobile broadband and this has been happening intermittantly for some weeks now. Last night I was only able to get google and The Reg (home page and very few articles) just about everything else timed out. It seems to be OK. today -- are they experimenting with filtering? (or have they just got crappy DNS servers).
\\Alan
So BT, you are saying that it is your duty to block copyright infringements? And hence failure in future to block infringing sites will cause copyright holders to point to your previous blocking of Pirate Bay and want compensation.
Did you not think this through?
run a whois is, get the direct ip and easy to access
secure http is not blocked, nor is vpn, but not sure want to have to get vpn to look at websites like tpb
or even easier get an ISP that does not block you, although nu labour seems keen on blocking adults from seeing adult content just in case they have children
can only mean one thing
INVASION.
But this time it's not a hoard of moronic robots. Sorry Britain, but you have now been overrun by a hoard of righteous do-gooders who are intent on wrapping every one of you in bubble wrap and force you to watch G rated only programs (24/7 teletubbies). As you do not have the expertise to identify suspect material they will also now select the books, internet sites and all other literature that you are able to read.
Any voice of dissent will be dealt with harshly, well within the context of the new huggly feelly regime that is running the show over there now
I wish you all good luck on your highly regulated existance
I use 3 mobile broadband as well. Over the last month or so, I noticed that webpages for some sites don't load at all, or get timed out. Like you, I wonder if they are covertly tinkering in the background. This is the sort of stuff Phorm would be good at - find out what content users are accessing and then block the 'wrong' sites. A bit like China really!!
Privilege in Latin literally means private law, and just like the overlords in China, the privileged few don't want to share their knowledge and big houses/cars and sexual perversions with the peasants of the country who's sole job is to produce stuff for their edification and create more serfs for the future elite.
I don't know if it's the bankers, or the Illuminati or aliens - but some group is desperately trying to stuff everything back into Pandora's box.
At the end of the day I really really hope there is something after death and those privileged few arseholes have to face the suffering they've caused in their lifetimes.
Oh yea, BT, censorship and mobile broadband - well anyone paying £15 a month for a 1.5GB max download... well, I guess you could download Ubuntu twice a month then check your emails, but these torrents can as easily be found on Google...
<joke>and will somebody please seed the Bowie video discography, I've been stuck on 9% for days now</joke>
So Vodafone want me to log into my online account in order to disable the content filtering.
To do this you need credit card details. They charge you £1 to remove the filter (to check the credit card is valid). To make up for this, they give you £2.50 of credit for use in text messages or voice calls. Which I will never use. I have a phone for texting, and a computer for email. Why would I want SMS on my PC?
So I phoned them and ask the content filter be removed. Ready for an argument and everything, and the girl got it removed no problems.
Pity they've probably put the label PERVERT on my account now :-(
So the IWF didn't create the policy, the IWF doesn't determine the sites on the blocklist.
Yet, the IWF seems to advertise the code of practice on their website.
If this is nothing to do with the IWF then why the fuck are the IWF having anything to do with it?
Sorry, but the IWF has tested the water for a power grab in censoring beyond their remit twice in the last 6 months (Once on Wikipedia, once on the Internet Archive). I can't help but think this is almost certainly their power grab in action - pushing the adult content filter on mobile devices so that they can then eventually try and push it onto land lines and act as a general censor for the UK.
It's certainly what they've been gunning for, so I don't think it's too much of a stretch of the imagination to think that this might be a realisation of their dreams.
"So I phoned them and ask the content filter be removed. Ready for an argument and everything, and the girl got it removed no problems.
Pity they've probably put the label PERVERT on my account now :-( "
I just popped into a Vodafone store and they did it over the counter. My friends dared me to ask them if I could have porn access enabled, but I chickened out and asked for the content filter to be disabled.
Is it just me or does everyone seem to be over reacting here?
The block is on BT Mobile i.e SIM card connection, not the home broadband connection, and is simply the of the 'This content is deemed suitable for people over 18 only ' variety. So all you need to do is phone them up and tell them to lift the block. All very simple really and no hysteria involved. Gambling sites are also included in the block and I didn't hear much uproar when it was discovered that Goatse is unavailible to 10 year olds. It's not as if they've nuked the site from oribit, or anything.
Rtrdos comment sums it up quite nicely with "So I phoned them and ask the content filter be removed. Ready for an argument and everything, and the girl got it removed no problems."
panic over...
"...G rated only programs (24/7 teletubbies). As you do not have the expertise to identify suspect material they will also now select the books, internet sites and all other literature that you are able to read..."
Careful now... our friends across the Atlantic found Teletubbies offensive 'cos they thought that Tinky Winky was a gay icon. TV channels with just 100% pure advertising are the only way to go. As long as there are no Cadburys flake adverts.
>panic over...
'It's the only way to be sure.'
Oh, thank the Gods, panic over. No more draconian surveillance laws and cameras, no more paying our politicians to watch porn whilst we proletariats are denied the option, no more companies selling our viewing habits for 'targeted' advertising ('you have been caught perusing sites on our banned list, please report to room 101 for re-trainment.'), no more recession because the politicians allowed bankers free reign to chase after quick profit, no more police (possibly) murdering someone and getting away with it (Blair Peach, Tomlinson etc etc etc), no more...
Heh, only joking, the future is PH, ie TV and internet filled with our beloved celebrities and moronic storylines and politically palatable news.
'Welcome to the future, please remember to pick up your straitjacket and tracking biochip on your way thru.'
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