Verizon Wireless, Meet 4Chan > This will not end well...

said by Steve Jobs:

Good luck, Verizon.

said by fAcEtIOUs:

But rogue sites like 4Chan that initiate, and often encourage, DDos attacks and other hacking attempts should be blocked. In fact, they should be shut down and prosecuted. All legally, of course. This is just another case where the laws have been insufficient to police the internet and shut down bad actors.

said by fAcEtIOUs:

But rogue sites like 4Chan that initiate, and often encourage, DDos attacks and other hacking attempts should be blocked. In fact, they should be shut down and prosecuted. All legally, of course. This is just another case where the laws have been insufficient to police the internet and shut down bad actors.

said by fAcEtIOUs:

But rogue sites like 4Chan that initiate, and often encourage, DDos attacks and other hacking attempts should be blocked. In fact, they should be shut down and prosecuted. All legally, of course. This is just another case where the laws have been insufficient to police the internet and shut down bad actors.

said by PapaMidnight:

And here I thought I was the only one who was under the distinct impression that this wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Good to be disproved every once in a while.

Slight edit: I was in direct reference to 4chan's removal. I do honestly believe Verizon has done the internet a favor :P

said by funchords:

4Chan is no more rogue than any playground full of foul-mouthed 6th-graders. We don't shut down playgrounds just because some kids start giggling about anatomy or make up songs about teachers hitting with the ruler.

said by fAcEtIOUs:

But when they crossover from talking to ACTING then they must face the consequences of their actions. And when the venue hosting their ACTIONS does nothing to stop them, then the venue has to pay the price as well.

said by funchords:

I'm sure your computer has a "hosts" file.

The best censorship is self-censorship.

said by fAcEtIOUs:

But when they crossover from talking to ACTING then they must face the consequences of their actions. And when the venue hosting their ACTIONS does nothing to stop them, then the venue has to pay the price as well.

said by PapaMidnight:

I don't disagree with you, I just have a highly ingrained personal disdain for 4chan and specifically what occurs on that board that is somewhat affecting my typical impartial nature with regards to what is placed on the net. With that in mind, you'll understand my bias in this situation.

said by funchords:

So we shut down Google because someone can use it to search about how to burn down a house?

said by MxxCon:

4chan doesn't.
people that post there do.
now if you'll say 4chan admins should moderate their forums would be no different from saying Google should block 4chan.

said by bolt:

"The stories and information posted here are artistic works of fiction and falsehood.
Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact."

said by insomniac84:

What do you mean the venue does nothing to stop them? It shuts down any thread with illegal stuff in it. But outside of child porn, everything is legal. Welcome to america.

said by Chubbysumo:

freedom of speech(the first amendment to the US constitution)

said by EdmundGerber:

Judge, Jury, and Executioner you are. Typical...

said by The Inquisitr :

****Moot has posted twice on the 4chan status blog seemingly confirming that the lack of access was a conscious decision by someone at Verizon:

Over the past 72 hours, we’ve been receiving reports from
Verizon Wireless customers having difficulty accessing the
image boards.

After investigating, we found that Verizon is dropping traffic
to/from boards.4chan.org, only on port 80 (HTTP). No other
subdomain/IP/port is affected, which leads us to believe this
block is intentional.

A call was placed to their support staff last night, and we
were told that the ticket would not be looked at until
Monday at the earliest, and: “You’ll need the customer to
call to request it be unblocked…”

If you’ve been affected by this block, please contact Verizon
Wireless customer support. The numbers we were given are:
“Verizon Wireless NRB: (866) 298-5373″ and “Verizon
Wireless DSO: (800) 770-1179″.

Note: Users with mobile browsers that proxy (BlackBerry,
Opera) won’t necessarily have issues accessing the boards.

****And the follow up:

After an hour and a half on the phone, we’ve received
confirmation from Verizon’s Network Repair Bureau (NRB) that
we are “explicitly blocked.”

If you’ve been affected by the block, please call Verizon NRB
at (866) 298-5373 to file a complaint.

EDIT: If NRB can’t help you, try Verizon Wireless Support at
(800) 922-0204.

****The Washington Post reports that if the site was deliberately blocked due to off-color content, Verizon may be violating FCC rules:

If true, the move would violate guidelines by the Federal Communications Commission that prohibit Internet service providers such as Verizon, AT&T and Comcast from shutting down Web sites for their subscribers. FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski is crafting controversial regulations that would make those principles stronger and allow the agency to punish companies that don’t treat all content equally on the Web.

****However, a series of tweets just posted on the account of a man who describes himself as the “Verizon Wireless PR Guy” rapidly back away from the suggestion that the 4chan block was intentional:

@jlist No 4Chan block, but protecting network for users always top priority.

Buby23 4Chan has green-light again. Never a block on 4Chan but some of its other sites were launching network attacks.

@mediagadfly Some 4Chan web sites potentially disruptive of Verizon network now have green-light. We are monitoring network for harm

If that’s the position they’re taking, I hope they’ll take the time to explain why a representative for Verizon seems to have indicated otherwise.

****Update: The PR rep above denies Verizon blocked 4chan for content:

Verizon doesn’t monitor wireless web connections for content, communication type or style. We will ward off attacks on our network.