Are ISPs allowed to block websites? [Archive]

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smileyscout

May 25th, 2003, 10:03 PM

Hey, I finally have good reason to post here... :;)

I was wondering if anyone here knows if an ISP can legally block a website?

There is this ISP called Global Net Inc. in the southwest Montana area that one of my friends has. Great connection, great service, one problem... They are scared shitless by the RIAA THEY BLOCKED KAZAA AND SERVAL SITES AND ALL THE PROXIES I TRIED... I know blocking the proxies and Kazaa is probably legal but is blocking websites legal. They blocked http://www.http-tunnel.com and the Socks2HTTP website... (This consipered while I tried to bypass there damn good block of Kazaa probable using a packet shaper)

Heres the big question: Does anyone know of a obscue legal document i could throw at them to discourage this behavior or any way to get past this evil blocking? Would a Smoothwall box work or a different Fasttrack client?

PS Bittorrent worked fine but it is a bad subsitute because most torrents are dead in a month and eDonkey is too F@@king slow!!! Also mIRC works but the person with the connection is a lazy ass :shy

Undying Wizard NHD

May 25th, 2003, 11:09 PM

didnt know ISP's are blocking Kazaa lol-- tht site works for me-- if u want me to send you the program they have I will just ask and I'll put it on my FTP

andy013

May 26th, 2003, 06:31 AM

hey buddy ... i don't abt ur place ... but in india an ISP can block an website only if he can classify it as an adult site or anti indian site. I don't believe Kazaalite is adult ... nor does it seem to be anti- any country ........... so buddy u have a case
All the best
Andy:fire

Winphuk

May 26th, 2003, 07:55 AM

I would just dump that service and explain to them why.
Are there any others you can use? Is it high speed?

crazytrain

May 26th, 2003, 08:04 AM

thewhitrbbit

May 28th, 2003, 03:20 PM

you could sue them but unless they r the only isp u can get, it's cheaper to change ISP's.

Have you tried changing the port. Your ISP can't block the entire range of internet ports.

Alterantly, try putting kazaa on port 80 or port 21 or port 23, or i think it's port 123.

80 is Http so they can't block it
21 is ftp which they shouldn't block.
23 is pop3 e-mail
123 i think is SMTP.

smileyscout

May 30th, 2003, 06:12 AM

I learned that the ISP is using a packet shaper so what ever I do they can block Kazaa??:fire

Any idea how to fool a packet shaper??? :shy

FileHoover

May 30th, 2003, 06:24 AM

Originally posted by thewhitrbbit
you could sue them but unless they r the only isp u can get, it's cheaper to change ISP's.

Have you tried changing the port. Your ISP can't block the entire range of internet ports.

Alterantly, try putting kazaa on port 80 or port 21 or port 23, or i think it's port 123.

80 is Http so they can't block it
21 is ftp which they shouldn't block.
23 is pop3 e-mail
123 i think is SMTP.

Every home ISP I ever had had "no servers" as part of their contract so they can block any incoming connection requests they want. In fact, i've always wondered why they did not.

Changing your port number is not going to change your ability to download via a pull type request. That depends on the user at the other end.

Try the above but don't be surprised if it doesn't help.

FileHoover

May 30th, 2003, 06:27 AM

Originally posted by smileyscout
I learned that the ISP is using a packet shaper so what ever I do they can block Kazaa??:fire

Any idea how to fool a packet shaper??? :shy

Find a protocol they don't restrict, like ftp, http, streaming video etc. Get p2p software that can make itself look like one of those.