Storm gathers around CDN Cloudflare after doxxing allegations, Pirate Bay deal

UK ISPs have recently blocked access to The Pirate Bay yet again after a deal with controversial security and hosting company CloudFlare briefly opened them up. CloudFlare is, among other things, a popular choice for operators of pirate sites which profit from using copyrighted material without permission or payment to the …

[NoneSuch]

"The more you tighten your grip, the more systems will slip through your fingers."

[frank ly]

Really?

"... one ISP put the cost of maintaining a block at £3,600 a year per site, ..."

I find that hard to believe if it's "per website blocked". Once you've set up the blocking mechanism, you only need technical admin effort to add new ones or remove 'cleared' ones as needed, surely?

[Graham Marsden]

Re: Really?

I was just wondering whose arse they pulled that figure out of...

[Nextweek]

Re: Really?

"Once you've set up the blocking mechanism, you only need technical admin effort to add new ones or remove 'cleared' ones as needed, surely?"

You clearly work in tech support, the cost of doing something is not limited to just keeping hardware up.

The block would generate support calls (taking staff time and angering others), it would need to be reviewed by a lawyer on a regular basis (lawyers know how to keep themselves busy), project managers would need to be involved (because when are they not) and directors would have to make decisions. All those people cost a business money.

[phil dude]

language skills..

If you can read Chinese (which we all can with modern browsers!!), almost everything from the West can be found on their "super exciting house of pictures" websites.

And the good thing is the Chinese subtitles does not interfere with the English dialogue...

But just as visiting the Asian pleasure resorts can result in unwanted affliction, infection and regret, best to double-bag the browser...

P.

[Frank Bitterlich]

I wonder...

... how compatible it is with the DMCA rules to make a complainant accept arbitrary conditions in order to "accept" a complaint.

"By submitting this complaint, you agree to your SSN and credit card details being sold on a chinese black market website. And also, we sign you up to our newsletter."

[Oninoshiko]

You should have to release your infomation to make a complaint

Everyone should have the right to answer their accuser.

[Anonymous Coward]

It's all good

The more pirates they prosecute, the better.

[Martin Summers]

Doxing

I can't decide if I am with Cloudflare on this one but it does quite clearly say they will pass your details on. As they rightly state they are not a hosting provider and how on earth are they meant to pass on your complaint to the hosting provider for you without passing on your details for reply? It's a bit of a mess but presuming domain registrant details are BS Cloudflare are the only ones who really know who the site is hosted by. Is it up to them to devise an anonymous reporting mechanism whereby replies can go back and forth? I would say can only rely on not using very personal details or use a forwarding address if you are going to submit a complaint and don't want hassle.

[boboM]

How can it be legal in the first place for ISPs to be made to block sites? Isn't this in direct contravention of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights? Freedom of reception of information.

I believe similar court orders in the Netherlands have been overturned on precisely these grounds.

Somebody should challenge these blocks.

[ZippedyDooDah]

Human Rights? What are they?

""I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it" .

That famous phrase was written in 1906 by Evelyn Beatrice Hall. Of course it is laughable now seeing as expressing your opinion online can land you in jail. Pirating is still quite easy by comparison.

Personally I blame the Twatosphere for everything. Oops, did I just overstep the line?

[Andrew Baker]

https://torrentz.eu/

and

https://thepiratebay.se/

(and all the rest) working fine here, via Virgin and as of a few moments ago). No proxy required.

Of course we run our own DNS service here rather than use the pitiful one provided by Virgin, that might be relevant.