Is AT&T Blocking 4chan in SoCal?

By Sean Bonner
July 26th, 2009 @ 3:26 PM Uncategorized

1248644639270sThis is kind of a developing story, but according to a thread on Reddit, AT&T is currently blocking parts of 4chan. As you should know 4chan has been described as the very best and the very worst of the internet all rolled into one (be careful clicking links to the site as some parts of it are NSFW) though it’s pretty much accepted that they created LOLcats as well as many other noteworthy memes. 4chan is not good, or bad, it just is. So far it can confirmed that:

  • Calls to http://img.4chan.org are being blocked at the ISP level for AT&T customers.
  • Other subdomains on 4chan seem unaffected.
  • AT&T has confirmed they are blocking this to customers who have called their help desk.
  • So far this seems limited to Southern California though some in other areas are complaining of the block as well.

I’m a Time Warner customer so I can’t check this myself, and while I have AT&T for mobile service I think that is different than their home internet service. I just asked on twitter and a few LA folks with AT&T confirmed the site wouldn’t load for them. The two obvious questions now are why does AT&T think they can censor parts of the web, and how quickly will 4chan retaliate?

Update 11:37PM: Many people who were reporting that they were blocked can now access the site, possibly meaning the block has been removed as stealthfully as it was installed?

Final update: Block has been removed.

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51 Comments so far

  1. Ryan Paul (segphault) 's status on Sunday, 26-Jul-09 23:08:32 UTC - Identi.ca (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 4:08 pm

    [...] http://la.metblogs.com/2009/07/26/is-att-blocking-4chan-in-socal/ [...]


  2. mattazuma on July 26th, 2009 @ 4:21 pm

    It being blocked by AT&T in Chicago as well.

    Lame.


  3. David Markland (markland) on July 26th, 2009 @ 4:29 pm

    Disturbing. Did AT&T offer an explanation for the block to anyone who called?


  4. Sean Bonner (seanbonner) on July 26th, 2009 @ 4:49 pm

    I’m not a customer so they won’t talk to me, but from the folks I’ve talked to they are not offering any explanation, only confirming they are blocking it.


  5. Internet Wars – Episode 1: 4Chan vs AT&T « Adventures in Reality (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 5:07 pm

    [...] %$&. Reports have been rolling in all morning that across the USA AT&T is blocking access to [...]


  6. charonn0 on July 26th, 2009 @ 5:16 pm

    Looks like they’re blocking it in San Francisco a well >:(


  7. Matt Mason (mason) on July 26th, 2009 @ 5:41 pm

    I’m not surprised. AT&T *allegedly* set up “spy rooms” accessible to Bush administration officials so they could illegally spy on Americans without warrants. See here, for example.


  8. AT&T Blocks 4Chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 5:55 pm

    [...] of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get [...]


  9. AT&T bloquea el acceso a 4Chan - Que 2.0 (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 6:01 pm

    [...] Vía| LAMetblogs [...]


  10. AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4Chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. | TechDozer.Com (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 6:02 pm

    [...] of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  11. Report: AT&T blocks 4Chan - Social Media Guru (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 6:13 pm

    [...] doesn’t seem to like 4chan, though. According to the Los Angeles Metblogs, AT&T DSL users are unable to access anything on the img.4chan.org subdomain if they live in [...]


  12. Mash123 » AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4Chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 6:18 pm

    [...] : Reports of the blocking began to surface on reddit this aft&#101&#114&#110oon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick &#117&#112&#32on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have [...]


  13. AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4Chan. that Is Going To Get Ugly. | Cellphone Ultra (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 6:20 pm

    [...] of the blocking began to surface on reddit that afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  14. AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4Chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. | My Blog Channel (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 6:22 pm

    [...] of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  15. AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4Chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. | Family Learning Center (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 6:39 pm

    [...] of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  16. Report: AT&T Blocking 4chan (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 6:40 pm

    [...] doesn’t seem to like 4chan, though. According to the Los Angeles Metblogs, AT&T DSL users are unable to access anything on the img.4chan.org subdomain if they live in [...]


  17. AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4Chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 6:40 pm

    [...] of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  18. The World Condensed » Blog Archive » Report: AT&T Blocking 4chan (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 6:43 pm

    [...] doesn’t seem to like 4chan, though. According to the Los Angeles Metblogs, AT&T DSL users are unable to access anything on the img.4chan.org subdomain if they live in [...]


  19. AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. | UpOff.com (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 6:49 pm

    [...] side). Reports of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  20. AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. | ScooperNews.com (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 6:55 pm

    [...] of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  21. Report: AT&T Blocking 4chan | TechDozer.Com (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 7:00 pm

    [...] doesn’t seem to like 4chan, though. According to the Los Angeles Metblogs, AT&T DSL users are unable to access anything on the img.4chan.org subdomain if they live in [...]


  22. Report: AT&T Blocking 4chan | I R Here (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 7:01 pm

    [...] doesn’t seem to like 4chan, though. According to the Los Angeles Metblogs, AT&T DSL users are unable to access anything on the img.4chan.org subdomain if they live in [...]


  23. Report: AT&T Blocking 4chan | BlogAngle (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 7:06 pm

    [...] doesn’t seem to like 4chan, though. According to the Los Angeles Metblogs, AT&T DSL users are unable to access anything on the img.4chan.org subdomain if they live in [...]


  24. AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. | Viningmedia Nieuws (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 7:40 pm

    [...] of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  25. AT&T is Apparently Filtering/Blocking 4chan for Many Customers « TechWorthy (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 7:44 pm

    [...] doesn’t seem to like 4chan, though. According to the Los Angeles Metblogs, AT&T DSL (NOTE: if you use this service, please leave a comment below stating if you can [...]


  26. Random Thoughts » AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 8:03 pm

    [...] side).Reports of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  27. AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. « ArsShaw (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 8:45 pm

    [...] of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogsare beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  28. Seo-Marketing-Tips - Report: AT&T Blocking 4chan (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 9:08 pm

    [...] doesn’t seem to like 4chan, though. According to the Los Angeles Metblogs, AT&T DSL users are unable to access anything on the img.4chan.org subdomain if they live in [...]


  29. 4chan is being blocked by AT&T! SAVE /B/ (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 9:28 pm

    [...] [...]


  30. The Far Edge » Blog Archive » AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 10:18 pm

    [...] of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  31. Geek News: AT&T vs 4chan, AP vs Everyone, & a Not So Comic Con « The_Geek_Whisperer (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 10:27 pm

    [...] Reports are coming in that portions of the website 4chan.org are being blocked by AT&T in SoCal. [...]


  32. AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. « Ancavge (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 11:18 pm

    [...] of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  33. Report: AT&T Blocking 4chan  (pingback) on July 26th, 2009 @ 11:24 pm

    [...] doesn’t seem to like 4chan, though. According to the Los Angeles Metblogs, AT&T DSL users are unable to access anything on the img.4chan.org subdomain if they live in [...]


  34. Report: AT&T Blocking 4chan | Business feed (pingback) on July 27th, 2009 @ 12:02 am

    [...] doesn’t seem to like 4chan, though. According to the Los Angeles Metblogs, AT&T DSL users are unable to access anything on the img.4chan.org subdomain if they live in [...]


  35. Lulu of the Lotus-Eaters (lotle) on July 27th, 2009 @ 12:13 am

    If AT&T is doing this–or even if they are not, but some ISP might do something like it–this is a great reason to do two things:

    (1) Support Net Neutrality! Write to your Congresscritters letting them know this is an important issue to you. ISP’s should not be able to play these shenanigans on paying customers who don’t want an ISP’s opinion on what sites are “best” to look at.

    (2) It may help to use OpenDNS. Often ISP malice is performed by misdirecting legitimate requests rather than outright dropping the bytes from the intended site. It amounts to ISP’s doing DNS poisoning, frankly. I have no idea what AT&T did specifically, but using a 3rd party DNS avoids one avenue of attack on ISP customers by ISPs.


  36. AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. | The IT Chronicle (pingback) on July 27th, 2009 @ 12:28 am

    [...] of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  37. AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. | Technology (pingback) on July 27th, 2009 @ 12:31 am

    [...] of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  38. Click World News » Blog Archive » AT&T Blocks 4chan Over DDoS… But May Not Like What Happens Next… (pingback) on July 27th, 2009 @ 1:21 am

    [...] few folks have submitted the news that apparently AT&T is blocking access to a certain subdomain of 4chan. I just checked on my own AT&T DSL account and it’s true that I can’t get there via AT&T (I [...]


  39. AT&T Creates Hurdles For 4chan.org | Trends Updates (pingback) on July 27th, 2009 @ 2:23 am

    [...] Reddit, MetBlogs & 4Chan. RSS Feed Subscribe by Email [...]


  40. AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4chan. This Is Going To Get Ugly. | TopBlogs (pingback) on July 27th, 2009 @ 2:24 am

    [...] of the blocking began to surface on reddit this afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a [...]


  41. Report: AT&T Blocking 4chan | Blog13 (pingback) on July 27th, 2009 @ 3:41 am

    [...] doesn’t seem to like 4chan, though. According to the Los Angeles Metblogs, AT&T DSL users are unable to access anything on the img.4chan.org subdomain if they live in [...]


  42. Zwartbaard.nl ~ AT&T Blacklist 4Chan (pingback) on July 27th, 2009 @ 8:37 am

    [...] heeft een aantal uren 4Chan geblokkeerd, voor enkele delen van America. De reden van deze censuur praktijken is niet vrijgegeven niet [...]


  43. AT&T blocking parts of 4chan? (pingback) on July 27th, 2009 @ 9:00 am

    [...] [Metblogs] Read [...]


  44. jot*be :: Daily. (unregistered) on July 27th, 2009 @ 11:42 am

    Links des Tages…

    Keywords:
    Category: The.Web

    Angriff auf die Pressefreiheit: »Ich bin gespannt, welchen Stellenwert die Pressefreiheit und der Informantenschutz tatsächlich in unserer Gesellschaft haben.« – Nach Veröffentlichung von Informationen über die dubiose Fin…


  45. jot*be :: Daily. (unregistered) on July 27th, 2009 @ 11:53 am

    Links des Tages…

    Angriff auf die Pressefreiheit: »Ich bin gespannt, welchen Stellenwert die Pressefreiheit und der Informantenschutz tatsächlich in unserer Gesellschaft haben.« – Nach Veröffentlichung von Informationen über die dubiose Finanzierung des Freizeit- und G…


  46. Linkpost | 7.27.2009 - L&C Tech Talk (pingback) on July 27th, 2009 @ 12:00 pm

    [...] Is AT&T Blocking 4chan in SoCal? – If so, they’re doing it [...]


  47. Report: AT&T Blocking 4chan - Programming Blog (pingback) on July 27th, 2009 @ 5:14 pm

    [...] doesn’t seem to like 4chan, though. According to the Los Angeles Metblogs, AT&T DSL users are unable to access anything on the img.4chan.org subdomain if they live in [...]


  48. Report: AT&T Blocking 4chan « Internet Marketing KB (pingback) on July 27th, 2009 @ 8:21 pm

    [...] doesn’t seem to like 4chan, though. According to the Los Angeles Metblogs, AT&T DSL users are unable to access anything on the img.4chan.org subdomain if they live in [...]


  49. Report: AT&T Blocking 4chan | NASZAKLASA (pingback) on July 27th, 2009 @ 10:25 pm

    [...] doesn’t seem to like 4chan, though. According to the Los Angeles Metblogs, AT&T DSL users are unable to access anything on the img.4chan.org subdomain if they live in [...]


  50. Caprica » Blog Archive » AT&T blocking parts of 4chan? (pingback) on July 28th, 2009 @ 3:12 am

    [...] [Metblogs] Read [...]


  51. AT&T blocking parts of 4chan? | nuze.me (pingback) on July 29th, 2009 @ 4:20 pm

    [...] [Metblogs] Read [...]



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