[crossmd]

I looked to ensure that this wasn't already posted, but could have missed it, all apologies if it has.

This: AT&T blocks 4chan « Erling Løken Andersen has been on going for the last 36 hours or so, I guess.. and while I'm not by any means a regular there, or at all condone what comes out of there.. I have to hand it to them for standing up a ISP titan(provider of a major Tier 1 bandwidth backbone), and coming out on top.

This is not a discussion of whether or not 4 Chan is a morally repugnant entity, but rather what this means for net neutrality and the like.

Thoughts?

 

[Moontan13]

AT&T dropped the block, saying they only did it because 4chan was being hit with a dos attack.

 

[KONAKONA]

I heard something about attacks coming from the server that /b/ was hosted on. Everyone knows moot is the worst sysop in the world so I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if someone got in there and started launching attacks from the server.

That being said, AT&T just stuck their finger in a hornets nest, gonna be fun to watch.

 

[crossmd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Moontan13 /img/forum/go_quote.gif AT&T dropped the block, saying they only did it because 4chan was being hit with a dos attack.

Is that what they call it these days? I'd put money on the fact that it's a censorship test run disguised as a DOS excuse.

Why they'd choose the helldog from the internet's underbelly for this is beyond me though..

 

[KONAKONA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by crossmd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Is that what they call it these days? I'd put money on the fact that it's a censorship test run disguised as a DOS excuse. Why they'd choose the helldog from the internet's underbelly for this is beyond me though..

I quite liked the description of "The anus of the internet" myself.

 

[billybob_jcv]

I'm for net neutrality and against censorship - but - I would like to take malware writers, spammers, botnet admins, script kiddies and the rest of the 'net scum out back of the house with a hickory switch.

I also think that there is a much bigger problem on the 'net than ISPs - and that is the private corporations that actively monitor and use 'net activities by their employees as cause for discipline and termination. IMHO this is the single greatest threat to freedom of expression, anonymity and privacy in the world today. If you think this doesn't happen - I'm here to tell you it does - I know first hand!

 

[KONAKONA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by billybob_jcv /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm for net neutrality and against censorship - but - I would like to take malware writers, spammers, botnet admins, script kiddies and the rest of the 'net scum out back of the house with a hickory switch. I also think that there is a much bigger problem on the 'net than ISPs - and that is the private corporations that actively monitor and use 'net activities by their employees as cause for discipline and termination. IMHO this is the single greatest threat to freedom of expression, anonymity and privacy in the world today. If you think this doesn't happen - I'm here to tell you it does - I know first hand!

Al gore invented proxies, you know.

 

[Gatto]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KONAKONA /img/forum/go_quote.gif Al gore invented proxies, you know.

you do realize if an employer is watching your internet usage they'll also see you're using a proxy and that doesn't look too good for you

as somebody in IT I can tell you that somebody is always watching what you're doing and it's usually me. I have access to everyone's email, passwords, internet histories and hard drives, this is because here the computer you use belongs to the IT department so all the data is right at my fingers. This is why it's a silly idea to put personal data on any company machine unless you want IT laughing at your vacation photos while installing your new software.


edit: eh just because that might come across wrong, IT isn't some psycho spy that stalks your every move, I am required to search hard drives and check internet histories when things are looking odd. Just saying.... every company has a few people that can get into any data they want.

 

[KONAKONA]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gatto /img/forum/go_quote.gif you do realize if an employer is watching your internet usage they'll also see you're using a proxy and that doesn't look too good for you as somebody in IT I can tell you that somebody is always watching what you're doing and it's usually me. I have access to everyone's email, passwords, internet histories and hard drives, this is because here the computer you use belongs to the IT department so all the data is right at my fingers. This is why it's a silly idea to put personal data on any company machine unless you want IT laughing at your vacation photos while installing your new software. edit: eh just because that might come across wrong, IT isn't some psycho spy that stalks your every move, I am required to search hard drives and check internet histories when things are looking odd. Just saying.... every company has a few people that can get into any data they want.

What's this? Oh, it's just DSL on my usb drive.

 

[Gatto]

how do you intend to get past device lock? it disabled all of your USB ports and your CD drive

 

[KONAKONA]

You boot from the drive. If I can't work somewhere that let's me boot from a USB drive on work computers then I won't be working there.

Not like disabling a lock in windows is that hard, just the fact that it has nothing to do with a bootable device.

 

[MCC]

It really depends on where you work and how much IT trusts their users. I administer a small network of about 15 machines (physical and virtual) and I trust the users not to be stupid. In fact they're all local admins of their own machines, and if they mess something up they lose productivity and hence income. The network runs smoothly and everyone's happy that they're not locked in a cage.

The only thing I do care about is that media files are NOT to be stored on the server. There are server based filters in place to enforce this.

 

[billybob_jcv]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KONAKONA /img/forum/go_quote.gif Al gore invented proxies, you know.

Yeah, assuming you can find a proxy that isn't someone's honeypot, or compromised, or slower than a 28.8K modem, then a proxy can overcome most of the technical issues. If TOR wasn't so slow, it would be a fairly good solution.

But, the technical side is just part of the issue. I still need to be very careful with my online persona - and hope that I've covered my tracks well enough to keep the company from linking a forum or blog post back to me. I've been on the 'net a loooong time (longer than you've been alive!) - and I know that I have NOT been that careful with *this* identity. I shouldn't let my meatspace friends & coworkers know who I am on the 'net and I shouldn't share my blog posts with any of them. What kind of freedom of expression is that? I also can't send emails to my peers at work that are critical of other peers or management.

Back in the dark ages of IT, there used to be an unwritten code among IT employees to NOT break an employee's privacy barrier unless there was a VERY good reason (like a court order or evidence of criminal activity). IT always had access to everything - but we never used to abuse that privilege. I think things have changed considerably, and now the IT access *is* being used by the more holier-than-thou corporations to attempt to control the image of both the management and the corporation by controlling the 'net activities of their employees. All it takes is one overzealous or prudish network admin to decide that a manager needs to be brought down (even his own), and all of those emails they may have sent to a close friend in a pique of frustration from their company blackberry may mean the end of their career.

It has gotten to the point where the only people who can truly speak their minds are self-employed - like Cory Doctorow. IMHO that's a sad state of affairs!

 

[KONAKONA]

TL;DR

Fresh news from moot,

Quote:

This page will be used to communicate with the 4chan userbase should the main site be unreachable. Monday, July 27, 2009 Here's what happened: For the past three weeks, 4chan has been under a constant DDoS attack. We were able to filter this specific type of attack in a fashion that was more or less transparent to the end user. Unfortunately, as an unintended consequence of the method used, some Internet users received errant traffic from one of our network switches. A handful happened to be AT&T customers. In response, AT&T filtered all traffic to and from our img.4chan.org IPs (which serve /b/ & /r9k/) for their entire network, instead of only the affected customers. AT&T did not contact us prior to implementing the block. Here is their statement regarding the matter. 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. As always, I can be reached at moot@4chan.org. --- PS: If any companies would like to hook us up with some better hardware, feel free! The architecture we've got powering this large and influential beast is really quite embarrassing. ( ._.)

Source,

http://status.4chan.org/

So,

Quote:

Originally Posted by KONAKONA /img/forum/go_quote.gif Everyone knows moot is the worst sysop in the world

 

[Gatto]

Quote:

Originally Posted by billybob_jcv /img/forum/go_quote.gif Yeah, assuming you can find a proxy that isn't someone's honeypot, or compromised, or slower than a 28.8K modem, then a proxy can overcome most of the technical issues. If TOR wasn't so slow, it would be a fairly good solution. But, the technical side is just part of the issue. I still need to be very careful with my online persona - and hope that I've covered my tracks well enough to keep the company from linking a forum or blog post back to me. I've been on the 'net a loooong time (longer than you've been alive!) - and I know that I have NOT been that careful with *this* identity. I shouldn't let my meatspace friends & coworkers know who I am on the 'net and I shouldn't share my blog posts with any of them. What kind of freedom of expression is that? I also can't send emails to my peers at work that are critical of other peers or management. Back in the dark ages of IT, there used to be an unwritten code among IT employees to NOT break an employee's privacy barrier unless there was a VERY good reason (like a court order or evidence of criminal activity). IT always had access to everything - but we never used to abuse that privilege. I think things have changed considerably, and now the IT access *is* being used by the more holier-than-thou corporations to attempt to control the image of both the management and the corporation by controlling the 'net activities of their employees. All it takes is one overzealous or prudish network admin to decide that a manager needs to be brought down (even his own), and all of those emails they may have sent to a close friend in a pique of frustration from their company blackberry may mean the end of their career. It has gotten to the point where the only people who can truly speak their minds are self-employed - like Cory Doctorow. IMHO that's a sad state of affairs!

Don't forget about students and the unemployed! We can still say what we want too. It is painfully true though about corporate emails, although everybody in the company I work for abuses their emails, while working on someone's PC last year I saw emails about looking for a new job... brilliant of him, he's still here too