(not satire – it’s UK today)
Please note – 3UK haven’t flagged this site due to a mistake from over-sensitive filtering. They’ve said it’s flagged as policy because it contains what they call ‘mature content’.
UK internet service provider and mobile network 3UK have admitted they are now censoring – flagging or blocking – websites like this one which include satirical and critical political content.
They admitted in a tweet that they now flag and block not just sites with ‘adult content’ but also sites which include what they bizarrely call ‘mature content’:
This means that if 3UK don’t already know your ID – for example you’re on PAYG – when you try to visit a website 3UK have flagged as containing ‘mature content’ it will be blocked with a warning similar to the one you might get for adult content like extreme pornography.
When a site is blocked in this way, you can only enter it after you go through a process of proving your age which also often involves proving your identity or paying a fee.
Worried yet?
If not – you’re probably thinking the censorship is only going to be applied to sites with a lot of offensive content like swearing or violent images or whatever – not for political websites. So what’s the fuss?
After a LOT of pestering, 3UK have finally admitted they have flagged this site and have blocked it for anyone who can’t prove they are over 18:
Remember – it’s not blocked for just the under-18s. It’s blocked for anyone who hasn’t proven to them they are over 18 – and that means you will have to give your full identity to 3UK before they allow you to enter this site.
Which means 3UK now officially regard political satire as porn – and are censoring it in exactly the same way.
But why have they blocked this site you may ask? There’s not even that much swearing on it. Much less than elsewhere on the web for sure. And surely there are other sites with critical political content which are not blocked by 3UK?
It’s a good question and I’m not sure of the answer.
But could it be something to do with this post I wrote last year:
This article strongly criticises Chinese investment in British infrastructure – particularly water.
One of the biggest investors in UK water and other infrastructure is a Chinese billionnaire with close ties to Beijing by the name of Li Ka-shing.
And who is the main shareholder of 3UK?
Yes – you’ve guessed it – a man by the name of Li Ka-shing.
Coincidence?
Could be. Although also coincidentally, only last month, the ruling Chinese Communist party leader Xi Jinping, announced moves to force internet users in China to fully identify themselves to service providers before they are allowed to visit politically sensitive sites.
Sound familiar?
We know the Chinese government and its allies don’t like criticism – but I didn’t realise its censorship of the internet was now extending to the UK.
Did you?
.
Please share this article as widely as possible. My only defence against this kind of censorship is to show the owners of our internet service providers that they may be able to censor at will elsewhere in the world – but in the UK we won’t put up with it. Thank you.
If you’re on Twitter, you can ask 3UK yourself why they’re censoring this site by sending a message to them at @ThreeUK and @ThreeUKSupport.
Update: someone’s just informed me that O2 are blocking the site in the same way.
By the way, if you click on any of these buttons below, you’ll be doing me a favour by sharing this article with other people. Thanks:
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Ron Graves (@rantsfromron) said:
Well, I’ve been highly critical of 3 on my blog (they’ve owed me £99 since last August), so I suppose I’m blocked too. No way of knowing, though, as I don’t know anyone who uses them.
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Steve Connor said:
I am using 3 mobile braodband and I had no trouble accessing this site. But I’m not using their software. I’m using Linux.
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Steve Connor said:
That should have read broadband – sorry for the typo.
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Tom Pride said:
It could be Linux – or probably 3UK already know your identity. Actually I’m sure the blocks are pretty easy to get around for techies but of course most visitors won’t bother and will simply go to another site.
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Adrian Wainer (@Adrian_Wainer) said:
With regard to Three UK it is more likely to be cretinous stupidity or a relatively junior employee going off on a solo run than a definite company policy to attempt to suck up to the PRC Government on what the PRC authorities don’t like seeing on the web. What is more worrying is that given the resources of GCHQ in Cheltenham, MI5, MI6 and the London Metropolitan Police SO 15 and the United States’ NSA and CIA it would be highly unlikely that the UK Government is not aware that Facebook is massively hacked at a system level by Islamists or Islamist fellow travelers with numerous official UK Facebook pages being compromised including pages operated by HM Armed Forces and the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and if HM Government is aware of that issue are HM Government deliberately hiding that issue from the British public in order to support Islamist efforts to collapse the UK and murder British subjects ?
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Gareth said:
I think you might find that other mobile providers do a similar service. It wasn’t that long ago that an advice and support site for 16-25 year olds was blocked by most mobile networks because many of the adult themes on it http://www.thesite.org it’s not just three that do this.
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Chris said:
“3UK are bringing Chinese-style political censorship of web to UK”
“you can only proceed to the site after you go through a process of proving your age”
Despite not agreeing with web blocking, I think I may have spotted a slight hole in your comparison. Suddenly the title seems very sensationalist.
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Meg Howarth (@howarthm) said:
Out of curiosity, took this up with ThreeUK @ThreeUK. Here’s the result:
‘Interesting convo b/ween @ThomasPride & @ThreeUK which has admitted blocking sites w/ ‘mature content’ like politics.’
21h ThreeUK @ThreeUK
‘@howarthm @ThomasPride Not mature content ‘like politics’. That’s incorrect. MC based on key words contained therein.’
‘@ThreeUK Grateful for an example of a ‘key word’. Thanks. @ThomasPride’
20h ThreeUK @ThreeUK
‘@howarthm @thomaspride Hello we don’t have access to a list as such, I imagine an example would be a swear word’.
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Adrian Wainer (@Adrian_Wainer) said:
Three Mobile Broadband my butt. If the regulatory environment will allow them get away it with it, then Hutchinson Three Whampoa will load up HSDPA towers with user load until the system is in a near collapse state during business hours. If you are a Three user the chances are is that it is not going to make a hell of a lot of difference what they censor as you will have died of old age before their so called mobile broadband has downloaded a pop tune from YouTube in low definition. Even on Release 7 21,100KBPS HSDPA you would be very lucky to get a consistent 800KPBS from Three.
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Steve Connor said:
Actually Three’s speed does improve considerably after midnight. Also a lot depends on your location. I have downloaded a YouTube video in just a few minutes with Three at about 640×480. There’s a lot of variables here.
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Adrian Wainer (@Adrian_Wainer) said:
” “3UK are bringing Chinese-style political censorship of web to UK”
“you can only proceed to the site after you go through a process of proving your age”
Despite not agreeing with web blocking, I think I may have spotted a slight hole in your comparison. Suddenly the title seems very sensationalist. ”
Chris
Often with web censorship there is a lot more to it than it would seem at first sight. For example go on to an Islamist Facebook Fanpage which is supporting the mosque build project at Park Place NYC NY USA and question is building a mosque on that site properly in accordance to Islamic values and one will probably find that Facebook moderation has kicked you off Facebook for good. Whilst on the other-hand if one is an Islamonazi or such like, one most likely be able to do stuff on Facebook like threatening to kidnap other Facebook users and murder them by rigging them up to intravenous drip of hydrochloric acid, without having problems with Facebook Moderation. Yet Facebook stridently claim to support legitimate freedom of speech and to be proactive in opposing the use of Facebook for unsavory activity according to Western liberal values.
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Tom Pride said:
Chris – not sensationalist at all. If 3UK don’t have your id you are blocked from this site. Exactly like porn you have to go through a process of proving who you are and pay a fee – all just to look at a political site.
Of course, virtually no-one will do that. They will just presume it’s porn and go to another website. That’s a pretty devastating form of censorship for a blog.
The comparison I made to Chinese-style censorship was deliberate. In China censorship of the web is sophisticated. Sites are widely available – the authorities don’t as a general rule just blanket ban everything. But they control it – by making sure they know the IDs of everyone who visits certain sites. The main method of doing this is to make sure people are registered before they visit certain sites. Sound familiar?
But why – for now – are other political websites not being treated in the same way as this one?
The real reason this site is being flagged is most likely because of the article on it criticising 3UK’s main shareholder (see the end of the article above).
If you’re OK with all of that Chris – why not move to China?
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Adrian Wainer (@Adrian_Wainer) said:
” Actually Three’s speed does improve considerably after midnight. Also a lot depends on your location. I have downloaded a YouTube video in just a few minutes with Three at about 640×480. There’s a lot of variables here. ”
Steve Connor
” Actually Three’s speed does improve considerably after midnight “, should be good then for vampires in the countryside round Whitby then.
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bobchewie said:
I got booted off Twitter for some reason but tom I am concerned why I have been singled out mate
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bobchewie said:
Tom I notice they actually use the word censored too
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bobchewie said:
Actually I do t get a warning it just says site not retrevable
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bobchewie said:
Ton thus bugging. Me
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Tom Pride said:
Bob – 1) Have you checked your adult filter is set to off? 2) Do you use PAYG? If so, you won’t be allowed to enter the website unless you prove your age to 3UK first.
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Grumpy Bob said:
As I said via Twitter, I can reach your blog using a PAYG SIM card in a Huawei portable router. I bought the SIM via Amazon, maybe the credit card purchase was used to verify my identity?
The question I’d like the answer to is: how are they scanning the web for supposedly offensive sites? If they are intercepting content between the web host and the user, then they are probably breaking the law (not that the ICO will do anything about it). Or are they assembling a massive database of supposedly offensive websites? Also, what is your right to an appeal over this?
I can’t actually see any place on the 3 account website (or its spectacularly bad iPad app) where one can adjust blocking settings.
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bobchewie said:
Tom no because its such a rigmorale to go through almost Kafka esque not only that but I never had to go through it with any other provider ever plus the fact why should I have to go through it for your site ? Also when registering with 3 I gave my date of birth so why all this shit ?
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Tom Pride said:
Grumpy Bob – I have no idea the answers to your very pertinent questions.
I’m a bit surprised to be honest with you that 3UK have admitted to blocking the site.
Mind you, it took a LOT of pestering on my part to get the information from them.
As for my right of appeal – no. None.
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Tom Pride said:
Bobchewie – the rigmarole is deliberate of course. They surmise – quite rightly – that very few people will bother – thereby effectively blocking the site to visitors.
It’s a very effective form of censorship of a purely political blog.
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Andrew Birss said:
‘Pride is Purged’ from the net-A disgrace it is Tom. Will retweet your message straight away
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bobchewie said:
@Tom Pride…the rigmararole involves you paying 3 99p using you debit/credit card..whethete they pay you pay i am not sure..the idea is to ‘prove ‘ that by holding a debit/credit card you are over 18…apar from the fact that daddly may lend you his card or whatnot..but i dont rememeber having to go throught this crap before with other providers…also i registered with them thus giv9ng my DOB and paying for the 3 SIM with my debit card…so what the arse is this about then?
what riles mr is nit just the fact they have blocked you,,,but also whilst claiming to be careful in blockimg adult content is such a bizarre way…they have not addressed the more serious issue of CHILD ABUSE CONTENT SITES…
notice how twitter (again again again failed to act where that material was found on their site..) despite it being reported and acted upon by no less then hacktivist groups…and yet the seem deem to think its ok to to block your site???
something is not right here Tom is it?
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bobchewie said:
apologies to you all for typos…typing away on handset when i am steaming furious…
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bobchewie said:
@grumpy bob exactly i paid for the 3 sim using my debit card..also upon registering i gave my DOB..so whats the fuss? its horse-shite..
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bobchewie said:
@Tom Pride..good thing you did pester them…am puzzled why in their reply to you they used the word ‘censored’.too…
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bobchewie said:
@Andrew….good for you…am just wondering if that David (arsehole) Rose is connected…just a thought..
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weareallreallydoomed said:
Oh dear, as a Slogger, they must already know me as an old fart as they didn’t block me!
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weareallreallydoomed said:
And justifiably so IMHO.
WAD
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bobchewie said:
@wad thanks….thanks wad…(i never thought in all my years i would be saying ‘thanks wad’ )….oh well…
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bobchewie said:
@Tom Pride and all, perhaps we should all ask what 3 mobile track record is on curtailing child abuse sites and content?…might be interesting to see that reply…
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bobchewie said:
sorry Tom I am being a pita again..but can anyone decipher this lot?
it look like another form of workfare..it seems to be adopted by Eric (call me fatbastard)and Callme Dave,,,,so what is this ‘pay to work’ part of it?
http://www.truevolunteer.org/
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baconzombie said:
Looks like 3 Ireland are not blocking this site.
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Tom Pride said:
Interesting. But do 3 Ireland already know your ID?
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Antony Goddard (@d4maths) said:
I use a dongle and the service is often too slow to be any use, but over Christmas and New Year it was fine.
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minou999 said:
The comment regarding child porn sites is relevant, business as usual there for the obvious reasons that our “betters” are mostly paedophiles, but concerned citizens wanting to access intelligent, fact-gathering sites being prevented from doing so is indicative of wholly fascist/communist knee jerk reactions. I hope Mr kershing gets my name right.
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bobchewie said:
@minou999 yes it makes you wonder especially as this comes after the McScalpine debacle too…
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bobchewie said:
I FOUND THIS THREAD
http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1249580
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bobchewie said:
“Don’t go with Vodafone; I’ve got the same problem on their mobile broadband. I personally don’t think anything should be blocked, after all they’re just an ISP, but I wouldn’t lose any sleep over the blocked-out porn because I wouldn’t waste my mobile data transfer on mucky pictures.
However, on Vodafone all manner of other useful sites like Flickr, Photobucket and Google Talk are blocked out – they seem to censor anything that might be used to upload pictures or for “chat”. They will unfilter the internet if you use a credit card and pay them £1 to “prove you’re 18”, but there’s a snag – I don’t have a credit card!
I too would be interested to find out which mobile broadband providers don’t do this, because I find that I can’t rely for work on a connection which allows something like Audioboo one day and then bans it the next. It’s like being in China. “
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bobchewie said:
MAYBE THIS MIGHT HELP:
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/ourwork/reports/mobile-internet-censorship:-whats-happening-and-what-we-can-do-about-it
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bobchewie said:
YOU COULD TRY THIS TOM..
http://blocked.org.uk/
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Christopher (@chrsmi) said:
I have the same issue with EE – i cannot access Kickstarter bizarrely!
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bobchewie said:
@christopher you could try this:
http://blocked.org.uk/
and
http://www.openrightsgroup.org/ourwork/reports/mobile-internet-censorship:-whats-happening-and-what-we-can-do-about-it
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bobchewie said:
“1. Filters often catch the ‘wrong’ content
Mobile filtering is mainly implemented through blacklists. The filtering system itself is often a product developed by a specialist Internet filtering company.
Sometimes filtering systems can lead to the wrong people being denied access to the wrong content. That can happen through mistakes, if a site is incorrectly categorised, or through abuse, if a site is deliberately added to a blacklist for reasons other than the stated purpose of the blocking. Mobile networks in the UK are more likely to suffer from mistaken blocking than deliberate abuse.
When the wrong content or site is blocked by a filtering system, it is called ‘over-blocking’. In Australia, for example, it was reported that “a Queensland dentist, a tuckshop convener and a kennel operator have been included on a secret “blacklist” of sites to be banned by Australia’s communications watchdog.”
In the past few months we have been contacted by members of the public about sites they considered were blocked incorrectly by mobile Internet filtering in the UK. They also reported that they found the response from mobile networks was inadequate when they tried to report problems such as incorrectly applied blocks. Some did not want filters completely removed, but found some sites blocked that they felt should not be.
For example, O2 blocked the website of a Sheffield church throughout the second half of 2011, claiming it features adult content (see Open Rights Group blog). The church member who noticed the blocks tried to report the error, and at first all he managed to achieve was getting the blocks on his own phone removed – with a text informing him he could ‘now access 18-rated content’. He was told that the church website itself could not be removed from the filter.
The story illustrates a number of key issues. First, although the blocks tend to be described as being for adult content, implying adult sexual content, in fact they apply across a much broader spectrum of material. Second, often the customer services teams are not well briefed on the issues and as a result seem unhelpful. Third, it is difficult if not impossible for a site that considers itself to be blocked incorrectly to have itself removed from the filter.”
Tom I think the question is – are you on a ‘blacklist’ if so, why????
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bobchewie said:
“Blocked.org.uk
Following these reports, we wanted to understand the scale of the over-blocking problem. To help do this, we created a reporting tool that allows people to submit reports of blocks they consider to be inappropriate.
Working with a small group of volunteers, we collected over 60 reports of incorrectly blocked sites between 1st January and 31st March 2012. (A full list of the reports submitted to Blocked.org.uk between January 1st and March 31st can be downloaded (.xls)) The reports included bars and personal and political blogs through to political advocacy sites. These are ten examples of reports of inappropriate blocks we received via Blocked.org.uk:”
POLITICAL, EH?
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bobchewie said:
ACCORDING TO 02 YOU ARE BLOCKED UNDER ‘PARENTAL CONTROL’TOM
http://urlchecker.o2.co.uk/urlcheck.aspx
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bobchewie said:
Defining Policy
O2 customer profile O2 policy
Open Access Allowed
Default Safety Allowed
Parental Control Blocked
Category: Politics
O2 customer profile O2 policy
Open Access Allowed
Default Safety Allowed
Parental Control Blocked
Blogging
O2 customer profile O2 policy
Open Access Allowed
Default Safety Allowed
Parental Control Blocked
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Lucy Brown (@CharmedLassie) said:
Response I got from their Twitter account: “@charmedlassie Content filter is opt in for contract customers, in line with guidance on certain key words from the IMCB >Ros”
Talk about not answering the question properly!
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Tom Pride said:
Evasiveness by 3UK over this issue is typical. I tried for 2 days to get a straight answer from them. Just shows they know what they’re doing isn’t right.
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minou999 said:
The “filtering” algorithms are apparently unsophisticated enough to block and filter totally innocent sites, so a veterinarian might mention a dog’s sex and be blocked presumably for bestiality and therefore under parental controls!!!!
If internet sites can be turned off so easily then why is it so many child porn sites are allowed to operate? The “freedom” of the internet is always attacked on the basis of porn but usually it’s other sites that get blocked – funny that!
Tom is probably right to be concerned that previous criticism of Ka-ching may be the trigger here, The uber-rich elite do not have a sense of humour or humility and are quite irked when the oiks start seeing them for what they are.
The rise in mobile phone use is possibly a boon for censorious twats and cloud computing is on its way making it even easier to control users of the internet.
The ptb have always had the power to switch certain sites off but to them porn is not the real problem, it’s the power for self expression and communication of ideas inimical to the corrupt system imposed on the rest of us that is the real danger.
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Mark (ISPreview) said:
I just covered your post in our article on Orange and Virgin Mobile’s censorship of an online gift store, which was blocked purely because it happened to sell products that are tobacco related (but not tobacco!).
http://www.ispreview.co.uk/index.php/2013/01/virgin-mobile-and-orange-uk-ignore-wrongful-block-of-online-gift-shop.html
Mobile website censorship really is a joke.
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guy fawkes said:
so much for freedom of speech – freedom of anything appears to be banned in this dictatorship of a country.
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Tom Pride said:
Thanks Mark. Of course the big difference between businesses like the gift store being blocked is that this is a case of a mistake – the filters being too harsh. In the case of this site – the blocking is deliberate. ThreeUK say they’ve flagged it according to ‘guidelines’.
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skwalker1964 said:
Reblogged this on skwalker1964 and commented:
I was writing the other day about something pernicious. Well, this definitely fits that description – please take a look.
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stymaster said:
No Mark, *all* website censorship via a content filter is a joke 🙂
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Pete said:
This is illegal.
3UK are not entitled to interfere with, analyse, disclose, or censor the content of a lawful communication.
For example, ECHR article 8 entitles everyone in Europe to respect for the privacy of their communications.
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badger said:
Hi, I just tested access to this site with my 3 mobile phone PAYG (nokia e52) and was blocked. Then tried with mobile broadband (thinkpad x200, win 7pro, firefox) and it loaded no problem. I’m sure a techy could find an easy way through with the mobile.
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badger said:
Tested again with 3 mobile phone and, ‘sorry we were unable to retrieve access to this site’
Have used two 3 PAYG sim cards and access denied with phone but allowed over computer.
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@dubble0h said:
YUP I found myself suddenly censored by an AGE pop up this week to. I rang them (Orange now EE or some other stupid name) which uses 3 to complain angrily. The ban got taken off – Immediately. My argument ‘you had my details when I subscribed therefore you KNOW – I am over 18…..’
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Patrick said:
I’ve had this problem myself with 3UK. See http://patrick.seurre.com/?p=42
At least they seem to have stopped using Bluecoat (or rather at least the duplicate visits that would have occurred have stopped at any rate).
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Bob said:
This excellent news since it gives everyone a cast-iron reason to opt out of the filter: “Yes, I opted out darling, but that’s just so I could read satire”.
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Tom Pride said:
Ha – that’s true! There’s always a silver lining.
By the way, 3UK have sent me a message on Twitter saying they are no longer flagging the site for ‘mature content’.
I think they felt a bit bullied into it.
While it’s good news for this site it doesn’t mean they’ve dropped the flagging of ‘mature content websites completely. I feel I may have won a battle while we’ve all lost the war.
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bobchewie said:
Well we have Chinese style factories to look forward to. Where the boss can avoid paying minimum wage if you sleep on factory premises
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tom said:
There is another known reason why providers like to block a lot more than “adult content”: these “age verification systems” force people to sign in when they want to use the net more than casually. Not just connect where they are identifiable only by IP and the account they use to connect (which does not need to be their own) but personally with a verified and full ID. It also gives them a nice way to get credit card data tied to the same person. There’s a lot more “China” in there, then you might think…
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bobchewie said:
@Tom you could well be right. Its bugging me why 3 keep on insisting that I verify my age using some stupid complex procedure involving. Me giving then 90p using a credit card not a debit card mind you despite the fact that during registration I have given. . Them my date of birth .. what’s going on here ?
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Dough said:
You are still blocked by O2 parental control according to this O2 status checker:
http://urlchecker.o2.co.uk/urlcheck.aspx
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bobchewie said:
@dough yes I tried out the o2 checker who identified Toms blog as being political but was still categorized under parental control . Very odd.
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milo said:
Bwahahaha. Great. Can’t we just split UK from Europe and ship it to the US? All in the family! We don’t need that shit around here.
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Dough said:
You Britains seem to be ought to struggle even more for your freedom of expression. A short check of ~30 british newspapers and magazines via O2 website status checker prooves that all of them are blocked under parental control. Category: news. British news are not for children? Seems valid.
An interesting exception is http://www.bbc.co.uk. Not only they are parental controlled but the “default safety” for all visitors is dependent upon “real-time analysis of the requested page”. WTH?
The censorship framework seems to be maintained by http://www.imcb.org.uk/ but they insist to not be responsible because they only use the self classification of content providers. Someone has to dig more into this.
I really dont want this s*t to spread all over Europe.
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bobchewie said:
Jessops staff now new skivers .newsatse
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Nick said:
I’ve encountered content blocking myself with T-Mobile/EE. Last year I had to provide a credit card number (which wasn’t charged) in order to access philosopher Russell Blackford’s blog: http://metamagician3000.blogspot.co.uk/ . (Since moved.) I’ve never encountered any porn on Blackford’s site, but possibly pages like this — http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=5119 — were enough to scare the Mary Whitehouses who maintain 3UK’s filter.
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BLADESMAN1889 said:
They have been doing this for years. I’ve been with them for nearly 5years now & was originally an PAYGO customer. As I didn’t own a CC I couldn’t lift the filter.
This incensed me as I was around 33 at the time. I had even bought the first phone I had with their Network direct from my local 3 store, so I went back to the store to ask the manager to remove it for me (he could clearly see that I was over 18.
He agreed and called the Head Office/dept required but they refused to do it. In the end I found a hack –
Simply go to your phones APN Settings and change/or create a 2nd address – the original should be three.co.uk now add three.com and this will bypass their server I believe.
Another option is to download Opera Mini this uses a similar hack. The only issue with the first option is you cannot access Planet 3 (to check your balance).
Thankfully I’m on Sim Only deal now after a 2 year contract so it was lifted (officially) I may be wrong but it may now be possible to pay the fee by Debit Card (as I still don’t have a CC.
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BLADESMAN1889 said:
That’s odd – they have 9M customers now. I find it amusing how clueless folk such as yourself STILL go around bad mouthing them. Yes they did have MAJOR ISSUES when they first launched 10 years ago which was to be understandable considering what they were trying to achieve at the time – the first true full 3g Network.
However that was a long time ago and things have improved hugely (otherwise they’d be out of business by now) I have been with ALL of the Networks and my backup phone is GiffGaff (O2) and 3 just blows O2 away and all the others.
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bobchewie said:
Well that’s odd because 3 still block some blog sites .I guess 3 dont pay you enough for doing their public relations
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Mike said:
Great Blog and much needed to spread the word. I have been with 3 for about 6 weeks and I loved them at first, fast and stable internet at work and home, always connected, reasonable price, great.
And then, this shit started.
Virtually every website I browse when I’m bored or on my free time has been blocked under the guise of “adult” content despite staff telling me that there is no adult content block on my account. Jokes websites? Blocked. Satirical rants? Blocked. File Sharing (not illegal regardless of what industry wants us to believe) Blocked. Porn? Blocked. Sites that sell shirts with swear words on them? Blocked. thebestpageintheuniverse.com? Blocked. Streaming sites? Blocked. Proxy sites? Blocked. The list goes on, and on, and on.
To be honest I’m fucking outraged, 26 years old having strangers dictate to me what I can and cannot do with my service is an insult.
Staff in the stores have all verified there is no content blocker on my site, and yet here I am, ranting and raving. Hell I found this site on a google search when I was at work, couldn’t read it until I got home.
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Tom Pride said:
Mike – 3 told me they’d lifted the ‘mature’ content block for this site after this article was shared widely.
Can you get a screen shot of the message or tell me exactly what it says when it blocks you?
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Mike said:
Yeah I’ll try at work tomorrow (as I don’t get any 3 coverage at home, brilliant) I’ll post a link to a screen cap for you.
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Tom Pride said:
Cheers!
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bobchewie said:
TOM I AM STILL BLOCKED ON OTHER BLOGS..
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NeilM said:
Looks like not even MPs are immune – doesn’t say much for parliamentary security or freedom of information to our elected representatives.
https://nodpi.org/forum/index.php/topic,5407.msg49440.html#msg49440
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Anony Mouse said:
http://www.speedtest.net/my-result/2868665026 – I’m on the old 7.2mbps network, not even on the 21mbps network yet, and would love to know what you’re talking about here? This connection speed is 24/7, not some “time of the day” thing.
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owenblacker said:
The Open Rights Group campaigns about mobile over-blocking. Their blog post at http://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2012/mobile-internet-censorship and their site http://blocked.org.uk may be of interest.
Disclaimer: I am an unpaid non-executive director of the Open Rights Group.
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Nick said:
you can only block sites for customers who are not computer literate most of the Chinese are computer literate and all websites for these groups are available by the use of Free Video Web Proxy
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Sue C said:
I use giffgaff, which is owned by O2 and runs on their network, and I had no problem getting here.
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