Some Users Unable to Reach The Pirate Bay
torrentfreak.com
torrentfreak.com
I'm in a chat with a Comcast rep now, who claims that if they were blocking the page there would be a branded error message. There's just nothing. Maybe (hopefully!) this isn't what it looks like.
Judging by the comments on the article it's not Comcast blocking, but some kind of network configuration issue, as multiple ISPs are impacted (though they could in theory be using Comcast as a carrier).
Like I said, it's possible these other ISPS are routing via Comcast, but that's pretty unlikely. More likely is someone has made a config change that's broken the connection for some ISPs.
"We don't block websites. But did escalate and looking into it"
I worked for AT&T and was regularly left in the dark, finding out later on that what I was told to say was in fact not the truth. I'm not putting on a tin foil hat just yet, but I'm suspicious.
By the way – the web experience is just that the page hangs. There's no 404, or 'server can't connect' or any other warning message. This type block is indicative of someone throttling the connection to the server. Likely Comcast hasn't outright blocked the site, they've just made the pipe so small that no one can get to it.
The wireshark would show you the TCP three-way handshake successful, then the GET request would go out, get acknowledged, and then nothing.
Edit: this post has been flagged to death. I guess that works...
Edit: And it's back, with a great title. Unflagged. :)
I don't use the site, but I also don't think comcast should determine which sites you have access to.
If they're intentionally blocking TPB traceroute data cannot be trusted.
Still working on Speakeasy and a local open wi-fi that seems to be on Verizon on my end.
I feel like Captain Obvious writing this, but apparently it's not clear to those advocating and implementing such measures.
However, there's always a chance that some legislation exists that allows to block access to sites very quickly upon complaints from allegedly discriminated parties. Not being from the US I don't really know, but it seems to be that that would be a worrying sign of an upcoming culture of information censorship.
And if it is, then I wonder if there are representatives in the country that would defend the Internet user's rights. Perhaps I am totally misinformed, but from what I've read it would be hard to find a politician in the USA that is not endorsed by one big company or another. If that is so, can one expect their help on behalf of the people?
Direct link for those already familiar with what's going on: https://www.torproject.org/
I can confirm that this solution works. Am on Xfinity and browsing TPB right now.
Now we just have to be concerned about tracker-blocking, if they were to choose to do so. As of now it's not an issue of any real concern, as most piratebay-related trackers have been unreachable anyway.
I'm not entirely sure if this makes a difference. I just wanted to add that information since I had not mentioned it before. This information may or may not be helpful. In case it is, here it is.
Or to play the conspiracy theory card -- the government is tapping the line and it's not able to receive a reply correctly.
On a serious note, though, what do you know about the legal issues around downloading through Usenet? Have there been prosecutions or lawsuits?
1. Most of them seemingly don't keep any logs of who downloads what, so the most info they have on you is: address, name, credit card, volume downloaded per month.
2. All of the prosecutions thus far for file-sharing have been for distribution. The pre-BitTorrent lawsuits were over files shared on Napster, LimeWire, Gnutella, etc. The more recent lawsuits over BitTorrent downloads are due to the BitTorrent technology which has you uploading and downloading at the same time, thus by participating in a torrent you are aiding in the distribution of it.
3. In addition, some Usenet providers provide NNTPS connections, thus (virtually) eliminating the ability for someone (i.e. ISP) to inspect what you were downloading from the server.
4. It might be possible to get sued for downloading something from Usenet, but the likelihood of extreme damages awarded by the court is pretty small. The most likely reason that someone would be sued in this fashion would be to prod them into taking a $2k-$3k settlement offer to avoid the hassle (and cost) of defending the case in court. If someone were to battle such a case through court, it would likely turn out in their favor (though IANAL). Though the cost of getting to that point would likely be higher than the settlement amount. So basically, such cases would be even more like Mafia shake-downs than they are now.
Though, none of this speaks to the recent push to criminalize copyright infringement. I have no clue if that would only cover downloading, distribution or both (or what the penalties would be).