CYBERSPACE — ”First they came for the 4channers, and I did not speak out, because I was not a 4channer,” begins a comment on DailyKos.com in response to a story concerning the roughly 12 hour block of 4chan.com by AT&T. For many, the temporary form of corporate censorship is a reminder that the battle over net neutrality is still ongoing. Broken by DailyKos.com blogger Demosthenes’ on Sunday evening, the story is still developing, with largest ISP in the United States, AT&T customers still sharing their experiences.
Although subscribers in Kansas, Florida and Ohio reported being able to connect with 4chan.org during the blackout period, subscribers in other states apparently were not as fortunate.
According to Demosthenes, AT&T Mobility and AT&T Uverse customers were not affected by the site block and OpenDNS tests indicated that it was not caused by a DNS issue. Traceroute tests indicated that the URL was visible until it reached the AT&T network, at which point it became unavailable and that AT&T’s tier 1 backbone had access to the domain.
Demosthenes indicates that feedback from AT&T has been inconsistent on the issue, with customer service reps supposedly confirming a block but not providing additional information.
For those unaware of what 4chan.org is, Wikipedia describes it as “an English-language imageboard website” launched in October of 2003 and primarily used to post images and discuss anime and manga. Users traditionally post anonymously and “the site has been linked to internet subcultures and activism…” The website itself adds that discussion topics include videogames, music, photography and culture, with the site model based upon Japan’s Futaba Channel.
As mentioned above, 4chan users are generally tapped into various aspects of internet culture and enjoy circulating memes and less savory things. Posts number in the hundred million and have been associated with the manipulation of Twitter’s trending topics, the YouTube porn prank, Time 100 poll hack and Church of Scientology protests by Anonymous.
The Guardian once described 4chan.org community as being “lunatic, juvenile… brilliant, ridiculous and alarming,” a view that may be shared by the minds behind AT&T and may explain its temporary decision to block access to the site’s contents.
AT&T released a statement today claiming that the blockage was due to “a denial-of-service attack stemming from IP addresses connected to img.4chan.org. To prevent this attack from disrupting service for the impacted AT&T customer, and to prevent the attack from spreading to impact our other customers, AT&T temporarily blocked access to the IP addresses in question for our customers. This action was in no way related to the content at img.4chan.org; our focus was on protecting our customers from malicious traffic.”
Given that 4chan.org receives as many attacks as it may inspire, this may be a valid excuse.
Nonetheless, PCWorld.com reports that 4chan.org founder, Christopher “Moot” Poole posted a notice yesterday claiming that AT&T was “filtering/blocking img.4chan.org (/b & /r9k/) for many of [its] customers” and urged subscribers to complain.
Good, bad or indifferent, AT&T’s decision to block 4chan.org without notice or explanation has struck fear in the heart of those who believe that the net neutrality issue must be resolved, especially with a new – and net neutrality friendly — FCC chairman in place.
Meanwhile, 4chan.org finds itself under DDoS attack, with Moot both denying that AT&T ever made an attempt to contact him and opining that the newest attacks are related to attention gained due to the 12 hour blockage.
In an attempt to put as positive a spin as possible on the matter, Moot posted, “In the end, this wasn’t a sinister act of censorship, but rather a bit of a mistake and a poorly executed, disproportionate response on AT&T’s part. Whoever pulled the trigger on blackholing the site probably didn’t anticipate [nor intend] the consequences of doing so.
We’re glad to see this short-lived debacle has prompted renewed interest and debate over net neutrality and internet censorship—two very important issues that don’t get nearly enough attention—so perhaps this was all just a blessing in disguise.
Aside from that, I’ll also add that there is some big news due later this week. Keep an eye on the News page, Twitter, and global message for updates.”
