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Publicity Leads to an unblock for TorrentFreak

2 days after TorrentFreak posted about Web filtering in the UK Sky has caved and admitted to yet another over blocking mistake and has recategorized torrentfreak.com so it is now reachable.

In the opening of their article the BBC clearly state that overblocking is affecting lots of other legitimate websites;

filters are intended to allow parents to ensure children cannot view adult content.

But the automatic blocking of all file-sharing sites meant that news site TorrentFreak and other legitimate sites were also blocked.

BBC

Whilst this is a victory for TorrentFreak.com there are still plenty of other site owners that may not know if they have been blocked and are losing revenue or being blocked from providing the help they are trying to provide.

Read the full story here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25638872

TorrentFreak Blocked

TorrentFreak.com the self described home of breaking news about File-sharing, copyright and privacy is the latest website to fall victim to UK Internet filter overblocking.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron wants all Internet providers to block porn by default, to protect the children. This filtering requirement is controversial for a number of reasons, not least due to ISPs’ filters targeting a wide range of other content too. Sky’s newly launched Broadband Shield, for example, blocks numerous legitimate file-sharing related sites including uTorrent and BitTorrent.com, download portals for Linux distributions, and even TorrentFreak.TorrentFreak.com

If you are able to reach the page you can read the full write up here, if you can’t reach the page maybe it’s time to start looking at ways to evade the filters?

Censor Pages Allow Injection Attacks & Arbitrary URLs

Censor Pages Allow Injection Attacks & Arbitrary URLs

BT, Sky Broadband and Talk Talk have implemented opt-out Network level filtering for their customers.

The thing is, as well as overblocking websites that should not be filtered the ISPs have poorly implementated their block pages.

http://makeyourispblock.me/ was registered at 2am on the 22nd of December but due to the badly designed block pages it can be made to be shown as blocked.

Sky Broadband Block Page
BT Broadband Block Page
Talk Talk Broadband Block Page

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BBC Newsnight exposes Filter Overblocking

As the four ISPs who are spearheading the ill-fated UK Internet filters are on the eve of rolling out their solutions the BBCs Newsnight program experimented the filters and unsurprisingly encountered distressing overblocking.

BT blocked sites including Sexual Health Scotland, Doncaster Domestic Abuse Helpline, and Reducing The Risk, a site which tackles domestic abuse.BBC

Let’s not forget that back in June Ms Perry dismissed concerns about overblocking as a “load of cock” and yet here is the BBC telling the world that at the behest of the UK Government our ISPs are preventing people from accessing help after being raped or having suffered from domestic abuse.

After being confronted by the errors the ISPs had the following to say for themselves;

Sadly there is no silver bullet when it comes to internet safety and we have always been clear that no solution can ever be 100%. We continue to develop HomeSafe and welcome feedback to help us continually improve the service.TalkTalk

We know that no one single technology currently provides all the answers. That’s why we have a quick and easy way for misclassified sites to be unblocked. Any Sky home has the ability to fully customise their filters.Sky

Categorisations are constantly updated to keep pace with changing content on the internet and we will investigate any concerns and make changes as necessary. BT Parental Controls can be customised to suit each individual family’s needs.BT

You can read the full article here.

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Further Proof Claire Perry Doesn’t Understand What She Has Created

Not content with accusing bloggers of sponsoring the hack of her website Claire Perry has further demonstrated her lack of understanding of how the Internet and indeed her own filters are going to work.

Whether she is confused, isn’t concerned about the details or just hasn’t understood what it is she has done the fact remains that ISPs are interfering with your traffic after it has left your modem and entered into their transit network.

They are mis-routing packets, spoofing DNS and who knows what else all in the name of filtering.

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Jimmy Wales: David Cameron’s porn filter idea is ridiculous and will fail

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales, one of David Cameron’s most high-profile technology advisers, has rubbished plans to introduce porn filters through the UK’s internet service providers, dismissing the proposals as “ridiculous” and saying money would be better spent on policing internet crime.

He went on further to say

We should be devoting a significant proportion of that to dealing with the real criminal issues online, stealing credit card numbers, hacking into sites … that is going to take an investment in real, solid police work.The Guardian

The ISPs hate the idea, consumers hate the idea and even the Governments own celebrity advisors hate the idea.

But they are going to go ahead, you know, for the children…