O2 installs 18+ filter on the mobile web | Hacker News Reader

O2 installs 18+ filter on the mobile web

wired.co.uk

35 pointsadam-_-27 comments

The restrictions are at the DNS level

8.8.8.8.

But can you change that on a phone?

Easily. Edit /etc/resolv.conf, write an HTTP proxy, write a web browser, etc. There is probably some GUI way of doing it too.

Oh, and here I thought it would be difficult even for someone tech savvy. :)(

In case anyone was misled by jrockway's snark, it is actually possible: https://sites.google.com/a/imnuts.net/android/custom-dns-ser...

This is just for Android devices, right? People with iPhones, blackberries, etc. are still screwed?

You can usually set a http-proxy in the APN Settings.

This article was published on the 4th March and at this moment I can access all sites mentioned in the article and tube8.com without entering any details. I'd suggest the article is a little out of date.

I'm a contract customer so they may have updated their policy to exclude all contract customers (who are all over 18) or they may have dropped it. I don't know.

I used to get this years ago on an O2 pay as you go with old school crappy mobile internet. Can't remember exactly what sites triggered it, but it was something pretty innocuous, perhaps gambling/lottery related.

The switch from PAYG to contract made it disappear but it would be foolishly tin-foily of me to assume that this is exactly what O2 wanted to happen.

It came into effect for me about a week ago.

For 3 years I've topped up with a credit card, so O2 already know my details. I thought it was a scam the first few times I saw it.

Try urbandictionary.com - I've haven't really looked for sites blocked but that's what was pointed out to me.

Sending this to the few of my friends who still think Net Neutrality is a bad idea. If blocked porn can't convince them, nothing will.

Because using the police power of the state against otherwise peaceful organizations is more convenient than taking your business elsewhere, and allows you to substitute your preferences for the revealed preferences of other consumers.

Which works great, if the organizations in question don't have a virtual monopoly on what should be considered a public utility. There is no "elsewhere".

Does O2 have a monopoly on wireless internet access?

The IMCB is a collaboration between Vodafone, Orange, T-Mobile, 02, 3 and Virgin Mobile.

Perhaps I wasn't clear. Does O2 have a monopoly on wireless internet access?

It's blocking porn for kids - is that _really_ such a bad thing? Anyone who wants to can unlock it

Blocking porn for kids is great, that's why devices have parental controls. This is an involuntary, arbitrary blocking of content.

If you actually read the article, you'd know that they're not just blocking porn sites. They're blocking Google Translate, Jalopnik, a sexual health charity, and anything else THEY deem "indecent".

This is who's behind this: http://www.imcb.org.uk/ and here are the details of the filtering policy: http://www.imcb.org.uk/pdfs/ClassificationFramework.pdf

For one specific mobile service provider.

Actually I have been using Vodafone Mobile Broadband here in London and it has the same kind of filter. Somehow it disappeared after three weeks. It didn't seem to be as bad as this one from O2 since I did some tests and I was able to see erotic images without a problem, only porn sites seemed to trigger the filter. That and also maybe 5% of all the different sites I have visited on the last month.

There is definitely a filter on Vodafone contracts (I use my netbook tethered to my phone), or at least there was in the past. It blocked reddit at one point. I access things via my VPN when I'm mobile anyway these days (to keep non-HTTPS connections from prying eyes when I'm on public wireless) so I'd not notice a filter these days.

From the headline, I thought this was some sort of government initiative.

Moral panics have a long history here; a lot of it is due to the sensationalist media culture. Government clampdowns are usually the result of whipped-up public hysteria.

This happened to a colleague of mine, but I'm on the same network and it didn't happen to me.

You can turn it off by either going into an O2 store with some ID, or paying £1 on a credit card - you'll be given £2.50 in credit to your phone bill to compensate.

O2 have had this on my phone for quite a while.

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