First shots fired in net neutrality war

[NoOneLikesUs]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,534941,00.html

The largest ISP in the USA tried to block access to the Internet's most notorious image message board for most of its users. It's unclear why AT&T did this, but the ban was lifted during the late morning hours. Perhaps AT&T didn't have the stomach for war.

 

[mustangj17]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,534941,00.html

The largest ISP in the USA tried to block access to the Internet's most notorious image message board for most of its users. It's unclear why AT&T did this, but the ban was lifted during the late morning hours. Perhaps AT&T didn't have the stomach for war.

This can't be the first shot. ISPs have been slowing down CraigsList for years.

 

[Sleeper]

It's unclear why AT&T did this

Actually it says why AT&T did what it did in the third graf:

Many bloggers were quick to decry the act as a form of censorship, but the real reason was duller: 4chan was the victim of a still-ongoing cyberattack, and AT&T was just trying to protect its servers.

Maybe I'm missing something, but it sounds pretty reasonable to me.

 

[NoOneLikesUs]

According to what I've read on various message boards, the entire 4chan was not blocked. It was only the random image board or /b/.

If that was the case, what AT&T did was the equivalent of blocking only the Politics forum on SportsJournalists.com. I don't see how that would deter any attack. Their explanation isn't up to snuff.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

4chan gets hit with DDoS attacks once a month or so, from what I know. With tens of thousands of active posters and something like 300,000,000 posts on all their sub-boards, they make a tempting target. Who the hell knows.

 

[Beaker]

4chan is just bizarre.

 

[Mystery Meat II]

It really is, and it's NSFW in ways most people here can't imagine.

On the other hand, everything from Rickrolling to lolcats (Caturday) to facepalm.jpg flows from that river.

The sports board, or /sp/, isn't as extreme, but it's still pretty damn NSFW.

 

[Sleeper]

Somehow I'd never even heard of 4chan before this thread.

 

[RickStain]

Somehow I'd never even heard of 4chan before this thread.

You just failed the internets.

 

[expendable]

Somehow I'd never even heard of 4chan before this thread.

Me neither. Don't feel so bad.

 

[mustangj17]

Somehow I'd never even heard of 4chan before this thread.

Me neither. Don't feel so bad.

Ditto, and I'm usually ahead off the game on things that are internet related.

 

[RickStain]

4chan.org, among many far more horrible contributions to internet culture, is responsible for the invention of LOLcats.