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tihZ_hO
Shanghai Royalty
Joined: Feb 17, 2004
Posts: 8745
Location: Jakarta - I got Paroled from Shanghai
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  Posted:
July 05, 2009 - 11:48 AM |
 
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| Post subject: WiTopia now blocking Mininova and other Torrent webs |
Just recently I found that when I am connected with my WiTopia VPN I could not access torrent webs such as Mininova.org. I assumed they have been taken down same as Pirate Bay. Then when I was NOT connected with WiTopia VPN I found I could connect to mininova.org, just the reverse of what I would expect! 
So thinking this odd I emailed WiTopia asking if they are blocking (censoring) torrent webs and got this reply:
yes. downloading of copyrighted material is against our terms of use and there has been a lot of abuse (causing a lot of damage to our business and customer use of the service) so we were forced to start blacklisting sites that illegally trade in copyrighted material.
Support from WiTopia
So now no matter what you do you now you are being filtered - damn!
I replied:
"I understand your reasons however this is internet censorship, the same as China, Iran and others who have deemed that certain sites are illegal and must be blocked.
Laws are laws and WiTopia is a method to circumvent laws so people can access illegal web sites in many countries. Do you not see the difficulty in this?
Who is to judge which laws should be ignored and circumvented and which laws should be enforced? This is the fundamental argument for a free internet. If there are sites involved in illegal activities they should be dealt with by due process of law as with the recent Pirate Bay case. "
I expect if I get a reply it will be along the lines of "this is our policy" end of story.
Aside from this WiTopia has been great for me...
...unless their CEO finds Jesus and they begin to block webs not suitable for Christians.
(Tongue planted firmly in Cheek) 
I thought you should know. |
_________________
 "I can throw toilet paper into the toilet again! Thank you GTFO of China(tm)!!" |
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cshlin
Squeeker
Joined: Oct 20, 2008
Posts: 10
Status: Offline
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July 06, 2009 - 11:10 AM |
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So that was the reason, thank you. Disconnected, added torrent, then reconnected again.
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Bassie
Barker
Joined: Jan 16, 2009
Posts: 160
Status: Offline
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July 06, 2009 - 11:55 AM |
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that's ridiculous, mininova doesn't even offer copyrighted content, just some torrent files that are not copyrighted at all -_-
I think mininova does remove links on request, so I don't really see a problem...
Really hard point, if I open a shop and sell screwdrivers can i be closed because they can be used to break in?
Google (or any search engine for that matter) offers many links to torrents and even direct links to copyrighted material too, should they be blocked too?
I really hope the record labels and movie picture companies lose this battle, as all they want is to hold on to their old ancient system, that's so horribly flawed... If only they actually invested the money to prevent this kind of stuff in a better new system... |
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tihZ_hO
Shanghai Royalty
Joined: Feb 17, 2004
Posts: 8745
Location: Jakarta - I got Paroled from Shanghai
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July 07, 2009 - 12:37 AM |
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^ Exactly!
My point to WiTopia is their own personal VPN is used to circumvent laws in various countries by accessing webs deemed illegal in a country or region.
With WiTopia blocking torrent sites on the grounds that someone may download copyrighted material is the same as WiTopia's personal VPN may be used to access webs illegal in a country or region.
What has happened is all the music and film industry has to do is threaten a suit on the copyright issues and WiTopia caved in. Trial by the only the threat of legal action.
We need to get rid of all the lawyers...that's the real problem.
Here is another issue when you start to block webs, someone gets blocked when they shouldn't.
I CANNOT access this Chinese company's web site using my WiTopia's VPN. (They are a manufacturing equipment manufacturer)
http://www.tmjq.com/En/index.asp
I CAN access this site WITHOUT WiTopia's VPN!
Those of you with WiTopia VPN try accessing that web and post your results - maybe it's just me.
Blocking webs is a slippery slope... |
_________________
"I can throw toilet paper into the toilet again! Thank you GTFO of China(tm)!!" |
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Cylon
PopStar
Joined: Mar 28, 2006
Posts: 1195
Location: Hongkou, Shanghai
Status: Offline
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July 07, 2009 - 03:04 AM |
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tihZ_hO
Shanghai Royalty
Joined: Feb 17, 2004
Posts: 8745
Location: Jakarta - I got Paroled from Shanghai
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July 07, 2009 - 10:03 PM |
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^ Strange - I still cannot even switching servers... |
_________________
"I can throw toilet paper into the toilet again! Thank you GTFO of China(tm)!!" |
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MoonOverMiami
PopStar
Joined: Jan 07, 2008
Posts: 1025
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July 07, 2009 - 11:24 PM |
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Was looking into WiTopia and found an article from last year with this quote:
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13554_3-9894851-33.html
"Same with WiTopia as governed by our privacy policy. We absolutely do not record or monitor customers' data, sites visited, etc. and also certainly do not share customer information with any third party. Again, we take the privacy aspect of the service deadly serious."
If they don't record or monitor customer usage, then why block torrent sites? Guess things have changed over the past year. |
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I will tell you what just happened in there. That chick just frosted me like a f****n cake!!! |
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cantcheckemailnopw
FooJay
Joined: Dec 27, 2006
Posts: 1615
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July 07, 2009 - 11:26 PM |
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i need to block some users from using BT, which ports should I block? |
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leidelaohu
Board Royalty
Joined: June 11, 2007
Posts: 7062
Status: Offline
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July 08, 2009 - 12:26 AM |
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| MoonOverMiami wrote: |
"Same with WiTopia as governed by our privacy policy. We absolutely do not record or monitor customers' data, sites visited, etc. and also certainly do not share customer information with any third party. Again, we take the privacy aspect of the service deadly serious."
If they don't record or monitor customer usage, then why block torrent sites? Guess things have changed over the past year. |
If they don't monitor customers, then how do they know that people are using mininova which they now have decided to block ? |
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Rumpelstiltskin
PopStar
Joined: May 13, 2009
Posts: 1291
Status: Offline
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July 08, 2009 - 12:49 AM |
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If they don't monitor customers, then how do they know that people are using mininova which they now have decided to block ?
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They do not need to monitor to block it. They just block it apriori without checking who is trying to access it. |
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leidelaohu
Board Royalty
Joined: June 11, 2007
Posts: 7062
Status: Offline
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July 08, 2009 - 01:12 AM |
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| Rumpelstiltskin wrote: |
| They do not need to monitor to block it. They just block it apriori without checking who is trying to access it. |
You're right, they don't need to. Would you like to place a small wager on whether they are or not, tho ?
btw, your PhotoShop work is even worse than mine  |
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Rumpelstiltskin
PopStar
Joined: May 13, 2009
Posts: 1291
Status: Offline
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July 10, 2009 - 11:14 AM |
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| leidelaohu wrote: |
| btw, your PhotoShop work is even worse than mine |
It's Lview not PS...anyway it spreads the message and that's what counts |
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Chrisse
SuperStar
Joined: Feb 25, 2009
Posts: 1323
Status: Offline
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July 10, 2009 - 11:35 AM |
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Heard that The Piratebay will release a similar service soon, about 170k people have already signed up for it. IPREDator |
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