internet blockade April 20, 2009 5:56 PM   Subscribe

What are "Internet Blockades"?

I have just run across something I haven't seen before, on two links to mefi posts, one was about pole dancing, and I can't remember the other one. The pages were blocked by a rather fancy emblem a the center reading "internet blockade". I can find nothing about this in a mefi search or in google. Can anyone say who is doing this and why?
posted by donfactor to MetaFilter-Related at 5:56 PM (56 comments total)

Yes. This is being done by some factor between you and Metafilter. It could be on your computer (is it shared?), on your network (especially if you're on a corporate network), or even by your country if you live in Australia or China.
posted by Electrius at 6:02 PM on April 20, 2009


This definitely has nothing to do with MeFi proper. Do you have a screenshot or something that you could post here so that we can help you figure it out?
posted by jessamyn (staff) at 6:02 PM on April 20, 2009


This is probably a better question for AskMe.
posted by dhammond at 6:03 PM on April 20, 2009


I will try to send a screen shot. I have just found another one. this ones say simply, "net blockade"

It is in a post called Kama Sura. It looks as though it just focuses on sex, so I had a look at a porn site and it wasn't there. So stay tuned for a screen shot, if I can figure out how to post it.
posted by donfactor at 6:08 PM on April 20, 2009


if you live in Australia or China.
What?
posted by tellurian at 6:11 PM on April 20, 2009


Fuckin' pirates!
posted by gman at 6:12 PM on April 20, 2009


By the time I read this, donfactor was already dead.
posted by DU at 6:12 PM on April 20, 2009




What?

What what. China has always blocked significant portions of the internet, and Australia has that huge leaked list that's been making rounds.
posted by graventy at 6:14 PM on April 20, 2009


if you live in Australia or China.
What?


And Canada. They don't tolerate that stuff in Canada.
posted by netbros at 6:15 PM on April 20, 2009


tellurian: "if you live in Australia or China.

What?
"

Those are two large countries, both of which have prominent national Internet content blocking programs. In China, it's the Golden Shield Project. In Australia, a blacklist is maintained by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.
posted by Plutor at 6:16 PM on April 20, 2009


Plug this into your USB port and you'll be good to go.
posted by Science! at 6:18 PM on April 20, 2009 [6 favorites]


The people linking to Wikipedia about Australian internet censorship might want to read the article to which they're linking.

Conroy's an idiot, the policy is borked, it hasn't been enacted and it likely won't pass the Senate.
posted by pompomtom at 6:30 PM on April 20, 2009 [5 favorites]


I live in Palm Springs, California USA and so far as I tell I am still alive. I have made a screen grab of one of the signs but I'm afraid that I have not idea of how to get it into this box. Any suggestions would be welcome. I suppose I could e-mail it to anyone who want to see it, but it would be easier just to check out the posts mentioned below. I do not think that it is local to my machine - I am the only user. So all I can do is give you the name of the Mefi posts where it appears. One is called Sex 102 with Kara Sutra (april 19) and another is US Pole Dance Championships 2009(April 20).

Any thoughts would be appreciated. since if I am getting these a lot of others must be, or will be, soon.
posted by donfactor at 6:31 PM on April 20, 2009


Tellurian lives in Australia. He's objecting to your implication that the PROPOSED (see word #9 here?) censorship scheme has actually been enacted. While those of us who live here know that it hasn't, and it's still being actively fought. We're not China (yet).
posted by web-goddess at 6:32 PM on April 20, 2009


Hey, I'm beginning to see a pattern here.
posted by isopraxis at 6:34 PM on April 20, 2009 [1 favorite]


Internet censorship in Australia primarily refers to the proposed banning of certain Internet materials.
On preview: web-goddess!
posted by tellurian at 6:35 PM on April 20, 2009


One is called Sex 102 with Kara Sutra (april 19) and another is US Pole Dance Championships 2009(April 20).
No probs with either.
posted by tellurian at 6:40 PM on April 20, 2009


Well, I'm in L.A and I just looked at both of those links and they work perfectly well for me...
posted by ob at 6:41 PM on April 20, 2009




You could use flickr or photobucket or picasa to post your picture.

Net censorship would never work in Canada because one of our national keywords is "beaver".

{rimshot}
posted by KokuRyu at 6:47 PM on April 20, 2009 [1 favorite]


Aaaaaand I see tellurian linked to it already. Never mind, then!
posted by Effigy2000 at 6:48 PM on April 20, 2009


Okay, I just noticed a little note to the left of this posting window, It says (HTML help) so I clicked on it and guess what. it also has the Net Blockade blocking the help. So the joker must be aboard.

I wonder who he will Blockade next.
posted by donfactor at 6:51 PM on April 20, 2009


Why don't we just blame the Conficker Worm and leave it at that?
posted by wendell at 7:10 PM on April 20, 2009


Did you install Internet Cleanup?
posted by Science! at 7:10 PM on April 20, 2009


Who's your ISP? How do you connect, cabled LAN or WiFi? In your home or in a public space? We really need at least a little information here.
posted by Floydd at 7:10 PM on April 20, 2009


Are you on a Mac?
posted by CKmtl at 7:11 PM on April 20, 2009


Does it hurt when I press here?
posted by gman at 7:12 PM on April 20, 2009 [6 favorites]


Sorry, that internet blockade was just me showing off mines HTML cleverness. I'll stop now.
posted by sanko at 7:12 PM on April 20, 2009


donfactor, who do you get internet from? An ISP or perhaps you pick up open wireless from somewhere?
posted by Liver at 7:16 PM on April 20, 2009


Thaks CKmtl, I guess that's the answer. I was getting pretty weirded out thinking it was only me.
But aren't there any other Mac people amongst you? Is PC's final answer to those commercials.
And Sanko, if that was you doing it, please let me know how?
posted by donfactor at 7:17 PM on April 20, 2009


Al Queda. Cock. Plutonium. Pussy. Airport. Fucking. Islam. Suck. God. Porn.

Suck it, web filters.
posted by eriko at 7:24 PM on April 20, 2009


It's not so much a "Mac" or "PC" problem, it's more a downloading and installing random things from th internet problem.
posted by Floydd at 7:26 PM on April 20, 2009 [2 favorites]


donfactor, sanko is yanking your chain.

I don't have a Mac, but just because you're seeing it doesn't mean it's a normal Mac thing that all Mac users would see. It sounds like, from CKmtl's link, that Netblockade is part of another package that you may have installed:

NetBlockade is a pop-up banner/window blocker part of the Allume's InternetCleanup software.

You probably need to either update or uninstall InternetCleanup to get rid of the block, as it seems to be wildly overprotective of what you see on the internet. All the info I saw about it on a quick glance is more than a year or so old - have you installed something recently? Also, it has absolutely nothing to do with metafilter, so you might actually be better off asking about how to deal with InternetCleanup issues in AskMe.
posted by donnagirl at 7:27 PM on April 20, 2009


If my cursory googling is correct, it sounds like you have this piece of crap software installed. Its purpose is to block popup ads, and is probably keying off sex-related keywords in the post. I would uninstall it. Look for an uninstaller for "Internet Cleanup" or "NetBlockade" in /Applications. If you can't find one, you can try removing the plugin your browser is loading. Look in:

/System/Library/Internet Plug-Ins
/Library/Internet Plug-Ins
~/Library/Internet Plug-Ins

You can delete these and restart your browser. I recommend using Safari AdBlock or AdBlockPlus to nip annoying popup ads, not this garbage software.
posted by cj_ at 7:28 PM on April 20, 2009 [1 favorite]


(Uh, I should clarify, don't delete everything in those folders, you'll lose flash and such.. I mean if you find something obviously named like NetBlockade.bundle or InternetCleanup.bundle)

Good luck..
posted by cj_ at 7:30 PM on April 20, 2009


Meanwhile, back here in the good ol' US of A, we obviously don't censor our internet, because if we did, WE WOULDN'T BE EXPORTING SO MUCH STUPID.
posted by koeselitz at 8:59 PM on April 20, 2009 [3 favorites]



(Uh, I should clarify, don't delete everything in those folders, you'll lose flash and such..


Nice work, doctor. You killed him.
posted by Netzapper at 9:27 PM on April 20, 2009 [2 favorites]


oh hey my dad is on mefi :)

dad please put mom on the phone and i will talk her through it so we can get your excels working :)

love you thanks for the sweater :)
posted by Optimus Chyme at 9:38 PM on April 20, 2009 [16 favorites]


What are "Internet Blockades"?

Do you by any chance have the Union Navy or the Spanish Armada installed on your computer?
posted by dersins at 10:02 PM on April 20, 2009 [7 favorites]


I am proud of each and every one of you - not a single person recommended the ol'
DEL /f /s /q C:\Windows
and called "DEL" an abbreviation for "Windows Internet Delineator" or something.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 11:24 PM on April 20, 2009




So far as I know right now, uninstalling Internet Cleanup has cured the whole thing. If I have lost anything else in the process, I can get it back. So, thank you all for your interest.
posted by donfactor at 11:26 PM on April 20, 2009


donfactor, craigslist flagger no longer works. But there's a simple, albeit tedious, way to accomplish your aims....
posted by orthogonality at 3:35 AM on April 21, 2009 [4 favorites]


The Trade Federation will not get away with this!
posted by blue_beetle at 6:42 AM on April 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


I'm pretty sure your hotmail is to blame.
posted by Eideteker at 6:58 AM on April 21, 2009 [2 favorites]


it's probably a mutant wizard fly living on your cpu fan - bug spray usually works and will get rid of any other bugs you have
posted by pyramid termite at 7:01 AM on April 21, 2009


*gives ortho a noogie*
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:12 AM on April 21, 2009


Welcome to Darwin!
macbook:~ fffish$ DEL /f /s /q C:\Windows
-bash: DEL: command not found
macbook:~ fffish$


Damn Mac. No fun at all.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:46 AM on April 21, 2009


Lift embargo?
posted by adamdschneider at 7:49 AM on April 21, 2009


God. Porn.

I see a market here: Photos of Odin, Ma'at, and Demeter in some crazy lightning throwing, harvest inducing, limo wrecking sex party.

I will not look to see the Rule 34 results for this.
posted by quin at 7:51 AM on April 21, 2009


Oh fff, I think the command you are looking for is

sudo rm -rf /

Problem solved!

Don't anyone actually try this... or do, just don't blame me.
posted by quin at 7:56 AM on April 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


Is this where I go to cancel the Googles?
posted by Rock Steady at 8:30 AM on April 21, 2009


The last time they blockaded The Internet, I switched from Sage to Midnight. Friggin' Dub oceans.
posted by SpiffyRob at 1:20 PM on April 21, 2009 [1 favorite]


Damn you, Spiffy Rob! I thought I had everyone on board with the "Don't Mention Puzzle Pirates Unless You Want To Restart Rock Steady's Addiction" plan.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:35 PM on April 21, 2009


My bad, dude.

Well, now that the cat's out of the bag, I'll tell you what: If you end up hooked again, let me know, and maybe I'll pick it up as well and we can start a crew. I'm nasty at gunning, duty nav, and distilling.

And I wish I was joking, but I'm sure I'm not. Damnit. I'm thinking about CC^12s right now...
posted by SpiffyRob at 6:52 AM on April 22, 2009


oh man, Puzzle Pirates! SpiffyRob, if you nav and gun I'll sail for ye and be yer carpenter.
posted by xbonesgt at 9:22 AM on April 22, 2009


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