NNSquad - Network Neutrality Squad
[ NNSquad ] Re: Brits' Failed Heavy Metal Censorship AttemptDisrupts Wikipedia Edits
I'm not sure David's indignation is aimed in the correct direction. In the UK, as in the US, the government is trying to 'shame' ISP's into censorship. In the US this is being pushed by (amongst others) the new york state attorney general. [e.g. see http://techliberation.com/2008/11/24/state-ags-ncmec-the-nets-new-regula tors/] In this model, the ISP is being asked to block any URL on the NCMEC (national center for missing and exploited children) list. Similarly in the UK this is the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) list. First to go in the US was newsgroups (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/nyregion/10internet.html?_r=2) Then HTTP filtering was tried. Court's have also required ISP's to block websites in the US, e.g. wikileaks (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7250916.stm) > The techniques used to mess up the communications with wikipedia > involve > *massive* tinkering with communications - redirecting packets based on > protocol and content. This is actually not typically how it's done. Instead, the 'block list' is resolved to a set of IP(s). Those IP's host many sites and URL's not on the block lists. All packets destined to those IP are sent to a 'transparent' content filter, which then proxies. This is why the Wikipedia thing got noticed in the UK: the proxy has the same IP for many users. The root problem here is not the ISP's, who have little desire to get involved in this Sisyphean task. They take heat from their customers, from the press, from people like you. However, the censorship request comes from other directions, and that is where the focus should be placed. The special interest groups who drive the FCC to require a 'no-porn-internet' (http://voices.washingtonpost.com/posttech/2008/12/fcc_to_propose_free_n o-porn_in.html?nav=rss_blog) who cause the state AG's to drive content filtering, those groups are the issue. We didn't blame libraries for book burning people bent on censorship, why should we blame ISP's for right-wing special interest groups forcing legislation on them? --don