Report Highlights 10 Sites Unfairly Blocked By UK Mobile Internet Censorship

Mark.JUK writes "The Open Rights Group (ORG), which works to raise awareness of digital rights and civil liberties issues, has published a new report that examines the impact of internet censorship on UK mobile networks and lists an example of 10 legitimate websites that often get unfairly blocked (PDF) by adult content filters (over-blocking). The study is important because similar measures could soon be forced upon fixed-line broadband ISP subscribers by the UK government. Some of the allegedly unfair blocks include censorship of the 'Tor' system, a privacy tool used by activists and campaigners across the globe, and the website of French 'digital rights' advocacy group 'La Quadrature du Net.'"

ORG?

[tocsy]

Am I the only one that was hoping their website was www.org.org?

Re:The 10 blocked sites

[discord5]

Shelfappeal.com was reported blocked on 15th February 2012 on Orange. This is a blog that features items that can be placed on a shelf.

While at first this may seem innocuous, the truth behind this website is that it is a vipers nest of Al Qaeda militants, making money off of selling miniatures of the British flag burning and pictures of the queen with a bullseye painted on her. The proceeds of these shelf-items then go to an Al Qaeda trainingcamp hidden deep in the wastelands of Sussex where they are trained in operating micro-UAVs (preferably capable of resting on a shelf while not in use) aimed at miniature Big Bens (also preferably shelf sized).

Yes, laugh now, but you'll rue the day when someone told you about this vile plot to collapse British society as we know it and it actually happens.

Exquisitetweets.com

And nothing of value was lost.

Re:The 10 blocked sites

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, maybe we should cut them some slack at this early stage while their filtering algorithm is still being perfected.

After all, it's not hard to see how their blocking software could innocently misinterpret the misleading, double entendre, and possibly purposely misspelled names of these sites. It is difficult to write such "fuzzy" matching software that will accurately detect all possible cases, and of course they need to err on the safe side in order to protect the children.

1. Tor (www.torproject.org) - misinterpreted as "torpedo projectiles", a site for male member comparisons.

2. La Quadrature du Net (www.laquadrature.net/en). - misinterpreted as menage a quatre

3. Shelfappeal.com - misinterpreted as a subtle reference to "sex appeal"

4. Septicisle.info - misinterpreted as an obfuscation of "testicle" to get around their filter

5. The Vault Bar (www.thevaultbar.co.uk) - misinterpreted as a pole dancing site

6. St Margarets Community Website (www.stmgrts.org.uk), - misinterpreted as a kinky nun sex site

7. eHow.com - misinterpreted as a sex education site

8. Biased-BBC (www.biased-bbc.blogspot.co.uk) - BBC stands for Big Black C*ck (really, look it up)

9. Yomaraugusto.com - misinterpreted as a site featuring eating yogurt off of nude bodies

10. Exquisitetweets.com - misinterpreted as a sexting site

Re:Some of the most popular sites...

[Zero__Kelvin]

He didn't specify at what age he read the story, but from your post I think we can reasonably conclude that you still believe that The Cat in the Hat is a true story.