American ISP giant AT&T has incited a storm of criticism for blocking parts of Futaba Channel clone 4chan, with users launching a hateful campaign against the company’s “censorship”, even as it appears that the move was a technical measure taken in relation to sustained DDoS attacks against the site.
Users of 4chan’s notorious /b/ boards began reporting connection issues to the img.4chan.org server which powers that particular board, though initially this was restricted to certain areas of the AT&T network. Soon the blocks spread, and AT&T customer service supposedly confirmed the block was in place.
Apparently, AT&T’s rationale for blocking the server in question is mitigating the effects of a DDoS attack against it. Certainly, from an ISP’s perspective much of 4chan is a frequent target for such attacks (due to the nature of the userbase), and also serves to originate them; the principal cause of downtime for 4chan also appears to be attacks on it.
This discussion explains matters:
There has been alot of customers on our network who were complaining about ACK scan reports coming from 207.126.64.181.
We had no choice but to block that single IP until the attacks let up. It was a decision I made with the gentleman that owns the colo facility currently hosts 4chan.
There was no other way around it. I’m sure AT&T is probably blocking it for the same reason. 4chan has been under attack for over 3 weeks, the attacks filling up an entire GigE.
If you want to blame anyone, blame the script kiddies who pull this kind of stunt.
Regards,
Shon Elliott
Senior Network Engineer
unWired Broadband, Inc.
Whilst blocking sections of a network in order to eliminate or isolate such attacks is standard practice, desperate 4channers have immediately attempted to curry sympathy by proclaiming the issue one of free speech versus evil corporate censorship.
One of the main preoccupations of most /b/ denizens, perhaps second only to posting random Photoshops or child pornography, is attempting to hack or deface sites which the groupthink of the moment deems objectionable.
Already the board and various external sites (for the sake of those blocked) are alive with talk of how best to crush AT&T’s network or customer service infrastructure in an effort to force the company to reinstate access to the site; much talk also centres on waging a terror campaign against the CEO and top executives of AT&T, who are now unfortunate enough to be having their personal details widely circulated online.
Whether this is an act of censorship based on the content of the server (which would indeed be highly reprehensible), or a transient effort to control the headache for the company’s network infrastructure which /b/ must at times represent is not completely clear, but it seems most likely to be the latter.
In either case, the hysterical response of 4chan users and their immediate resort to tactics of vandalism and intimidation hardly elicit great sympathy…
You can’t ‘crush’ AT&T’s customer service infrastructure because there is none. Their customer service is absolutely terrible. Take it from someone with both an iPhone and AT&T internet. They installed it, it didn’t work, and it took them two weeks to get someone out for a five minute job.
Then come to find out that hooking it in to our linksys router for wifi doesn’t work. I call their customer service only to be told, “That’s weird, it should work.” Turns out you have to use THEIR router.
Now couple that with the fact that I barely get a phone signal in my own house, despite the fact that their’s an AT&T building about a mile away, and you can see why I don’t like AT&T.
Honestly? I hope 4chan destroys them. I almost never root for them when it comes to stuff like this, but somewhere in the back of my mind is a glimmer of hope that 4chan brings AT&T to their knees, regardless of why.
AT&T:We did it for the lulz…
WTF is a “Colo Facility” ?
And once again, it NEVER fails with the incessant lying, as lying is a way of life for these hacker creeps. I salute AT&T for blocking viruses, trojans and nasty spider scripts, as that is what the REAL truth is as to WHY AT&T has flashed the middle finger [blocked] to 4 Chan. Why should AT&T waste time and energy in dealing with viruses, trojans and uncontrollable script programs emanating from the 4 Chan site?
I don’t condone censorship and I certainly don’t condone lies “in the name of lulz”. The only thing 4 Chan has proven again and again, is that they are infantile and violent. A bunch of two year olds who go on tirades. And just like an out of control two year old, they need some REAL hard slaps from the school of hard knocks.
Any consequences or denial of internet access to AT&T customers due to NAZI actions emanating from 4 Chan [or any other hacker creeps for that matter], I pray that they are caught, rounded up, prosecuted beyond the extent of the law, thrown in a windowless cell and locked up forever until the day they die.
I commend AT&T for taking the step forward and I sincerely hope that other ISP’S follow suit ASAP. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Hackers cause destruction, chaos, waste everyones time and energy. Normal people on the net are SICK AND TIRED of these two year old tantrum antics that 4 Chan displays on a daily basis. These hacker creeps really and truly need to GROW THE F*** UP.
lol ‘violent’.
AT&T: I accidentally by 0, is that dangerous?
4chan: FFFUUUUUUUUU