What is this supposed to achieve?

This is like blocking an entrance to an anthill. They'll just move, and they'll still eat your lunch.

Uh oh. I predict a riot. You dont mess with goons, madness and lulz shall ensue.

4chan has been back up and running since midnight. http://bit.ly/duKzGe

I do not foresee this going well for Verizon. If there's one thing I've learned about 4chan its that you do not piss off Anonymous.

Uhh... to anger Anonymous?
No explanations from Verizon?

This will be lifted in a week like the last time this happened.

So, censure isn't only happening in China? Oh no. So, what's next for Verizon? They could censure comcast.com, why not? Since they are at it they could censure anything that's not Verizon approved and then they could create their own internet and call it the new "Verizon BBS"

I just used my blackberry storm via verizon to look at cute animals, cartoon boobs, and real boobs (/an/, /e/, and /b/, respectively) with no issues.

From JNels at Verizon. http://bit.ly/9Ez9eO

Protecting Our Customers And Our Network

The most important thing we offer? Our network. When our network is attacked, or at risk of attack in a way that could harm our customers' ability to make and receive calls, or use wireless multimedia and data services, we jump to action.

Recently, Verizon Wireless security and external experts detected attacks from an IP address associated with the 4Chan family of web sites that was disruptive to our customers and our network. To protect both, we eliminated connectivity to the IP address. At no time was 4Chan itself blocked. Ongoing network security team monitoring has now determined there is no longer an immediate threat. Connectivity to those sites is being restored later today.

Typically, these attacks involve someone sending hundreds of thousands of messages to wireless devices to round up active customer addresses for follow-up activity including hacker attacks. These “sweeps” can jam our network and deliver unwanted electronic messages that also can drain customer devices’ battery life and slow their operation.

Verizon Wireless PR guy here. We take being the nation's most reliable wireless network seriously. Seriously enough to protect our customers and our network from malicious attacks, even if we get dinged in the blogosphere. It's easy to complain about "blocking" when your wireless data connection is stable, fast and reliable. But try connecting to the web from your Droid or Blackberry when attacks slow - and potentially block - use of our network all together.

We monitor against attacks and potential attacks to ensure the integrity of the Verizon Wireless network. Our customers expect nothing less.

I'd be interested to know what particular behavior was so heinous that Verizon felt it was preferable to make itself the target du jour for the Internet's permanent floating riot club than allow said behavior to continue.

Verizon's Network Repair Bureau (NRB) uses the internet right? What would lead them to think blocking the /b/tards would result in anything positive? Grabbing popcorn and waiting on forthcoming lulz.

One word: Tor

There's a part of me that thinks this isn't much of a great loss to society. It's like pollution controls. Maybe a few less hateful, vicious "kill it with fire" organized raids/invasions from 4chan users on disabled/deformed/homosexual people for a spell would be nice?

That said, I still hate widespread corporatism/fascism far worse overall than 4chan raids from bored, sociopathic teenagers (and complete loser adults who live in Mom's basement) and I hope and expect Verizon will get what it deserves.

And yes, kids, I am aware that not all 4chan users are griefers so don't choke on your Cheetos in anger and rage.

If they were fighting raids, they would have blocked one of the other sites in the 4chan ecology, not 4chan itself. It's been three or four years since a real raid came from 4chan.

I do agree with the "nothing of value was lost" sentiment, just not with the reason.

It always starts with the people everyone loathes. But it doesn't end there, alas.

I wish all griefers would choke and die, right now. Seriously. But if they can do it to griefers they can do it to trolls, and if they can do it to trolls they can do it to dissidents.

It's been three or four years since a real raid came from 4chan.

How do you know for sure, Chevan? Did you check with the latest stats at raidstats.org? And how do you define a "real" raid? By scale? By how many disabled children are repelled from YouTube?

Well, whatever, I doesn't really matter anyway.

Can I offer another way to look at this?
Why can't Verizon decide that they do not want to be complicit in providing access to site that is is known to host child porn?
If a customer does not agree with that stance, they can take their business to another ISP.

When they came for the furries, I said nothing...

:D har!

Didn't AT+T try this a while ago?

Also, didn't that end badly (and 4chan ended up unblocked)?

I can't see this ending well (for Verizion)

anonymous does not forgive.

I neither visit 4chan nor endorse the sort of douchebaggery that festers there, and I agree that nothing of value is lost for lack of the site. But that's not the point. "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." I believe the quote goes.

A wretched hive of scum and villainy though 4chan may be, it is even scummier and more villainous to try to shut them down purely because you "disapprove" of them.

4chan wallpaper image scraper :http://nik.bot.nu/browse.fu (insert standard NSFW warning here.)

"It's been three or four years since a real raid came from 4chan."

...More like three or four *days*, based on their usual bragging. Prsnlly, 'd lk t s *physcl* rds cndctd n th 4chntrds. Kck dwn thr drs, zp thm n thr shrvld blls wth tsrs, slpp th cffs n thm, thn thrw thm n th nrst fdrl pntntry, nd lt thm ls n gnrl pplc. f thy dn't rsst rrst, gv thm bx f cndms nd tb f K-Y nd tll thm t kp thr bcks t th wll. f thy rsst, lt th mrdrrs nd rpsts hv fld dy wth thm.

Bust about a dozen of them like this, and it'll put a really quick freeze on 4chan games for a *very* long time...

Just so, actually.

I don't know who you are talking to, chip, but no one above your post is suggesting Verizon should try to shut them down because we "disapprove" of them or shut them down at all.

Reading and comprehension. It's an art.

I bet that again, the problem is that 4chan's misconfigured servers are attacking an IP at VZW, just like before at AT&T, and the administrators at 4chan are too confident in their abilities to figure out what is going wrong. This is not a free speech issue.

"How do you know for sure, Chevan?"

By going there. I'd say the last real raid was the Hal Turner raid. Granted, it's been a while, but to my memory discussion was closed down quickly on 4chan proper. Usually the hallmarks of a raid are concentration on one board with spillover onto other boards.

Raids have been banned on 4chan for years, and it's one of the rules that's actually enforced. When they were still permitted, the main raid board was /b/, but other boards had their turns as well. Actual raids do still go on, but they're coordinated from and carried out by users from other *chans. There is an obvious caveat to this - while there is some animosity between different *chans, there's also a lot of overlap. That's why I specified that it's been years since a raid came from 4chan, not since raids happened at all.

Basically, if raids are the issue, blocking 4chan is about as effective as trying to stop college students from drinking by closing a bar but not touching the liquor stores.

If Verizon is going to be censoring speech, then they can take their business to another country. Verizon profits plenty off of government-granted privileges like use of spectrum and eminent domain privileges to put their telephone wires all over the country. If they're not going to be net neutral, then they shouldn't have those privileges.

I would gladly pay $50 / month to badass "pirate" ISPs that encrypted, obfuscated, and/or acted as fast TOR nodes from random LEO satellites or mid-atlantic supertanker datacenters or botnet clouds. Essentially post-national ISPs.

There are boards other than /b/, you know, so the 'nothing of value' argument is not terribly relevant.

4chan is a very popular imageboard - and therefore an excellent source of more than just alleged raids and CP.

I neither visit 4chan nor endorse the sort of douchebaggery that festers there, and I agree that nothing of value is lost for lack of the site.

For someone who doesn't visit the site you have an excellent grasp of their memes. To me 4chan is a mixed bag. Anonymity seems to bring out both the best and worst of people.

A website that displays the magnitude of child porn, pictures of dead babies, racism, etc. that 4chan does will surely not be missed.

I think once word gets out as to how out of control it is over on that site, you will see more action by other corporations who, rightly so, will distance themselves from that kind of content.