The Censorship Thread

Retro

Founder
Staff Member
Joined
4 Jun 2021
Messages
5,611 (4.51/day)
Anything about censorship from the likes of governments, big organisations etc goes here. I'll get the ball rolling.

The British government is censoring access to a New Yorker article questioning the validity of Lucy Letby's conviction for killing babies (see NZ thread at bottom for details) skeptical of the evidence used. I've tested this and it's real as I see a 404 error, apparently from the New Yorker website. However, by using a VPN set to America, I can then view the article just fine.

What's interesting, is that the Huffington Post article discussing this censorship that links to the article is the opposite as it works just fine without the VPN, but the article page simply doesn't load at all with the VPN active, the browser instead hanging indefinitely with a blank page. Note that even if I set the VPN to the UK, it still won't load.

This New Yorker page displays a fake 404 error from the UK without a VPN, or the VPN set to a UK location.

Without VPN. Note that viewing other pages on this site works ok.

Censored.PNG


With VPN set to America:

Uncensored.jpg

This HuffPost article won't display through a VPN, possibly due to a site policy.

The Guardian explains the apparent reason for the block as being due to her upcoming retrial and doesn't link to the article.


Note that clearing browser cache and cookies isn't necessary to see the blocking effects turn on or off: just refresh the browser page.

I'd really like to know how that censorship is being done, since I use Quad 9's DNS (9.9.9.9) which gets around UK-based DNS blocks, plus my ISP is anti-censorship and claims not to do deep packet inspection. Therefore, I can only think it's based on that specific URL, maybe. If anyone has a definitive answer to this one, please share it.


I despise most acts of censorship and this falls squarely into that category. The excuse of avoiding compromising the retrial seems paper thin to me, especially when a VPN easily gets around it. What the hell is the government afraid of? That corruption will be exposed, perhaps? What other reason could their be for this blatant abuse of their powers and I do wonder if Labour would do the same thing. This is classic nanny state at work. I wonder what other sites, or specific pages on sites are being blocked that we don't know about.

Here's NerdZone's thread on her conviction. I still believe she did it and deserves her whole life order sentence, regardless of the opinion of that New Yorker article.
 

Tiffany

Web Diva
Staff Member
Joined
13 Apr 2022
Messages
2,420 (2.60/day)
Great thread starter discussion. Same issues in the US. I'll read your articles as soon as I can and return back to comment!
 

Retro

Founder
Staff Member
Joined
4 Jun 2021
Messages
5,611 (4.51/day)
Tiffs, can you see the censored article and the HuffPost article from where you are?

@Geffers this thread will interest you.
 

Geffers

Linux enthusiast
Joined
1 Jul 2021
Messages
558 (0.46/day)
This bears a lot of similarities to Dutch paediatric nurse Lucia de Berk who was convicted in early 2000s of killing seven patients but subsequently cleared on appeal. Both convictions actually had no compelling evidence of murder but verdict was made mainly upon the fact that it was millions to one chance against that both nurses were present at all deaths unless they had murdered them.

I am not familiar with the intricate details of both of the trials but this guy's videos on the matter are well researched.

These are different videos but same thumbnail image.

Video from last year
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Latest video
To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Geffers
 
Back
Top Bottom