UK IP addresses banned by US social media company

Geffers

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US social media company gab.com has decided to withdraw from the UK by banning access from UK IP addresses.

They refuse to comply with OFCOM and make user data available to the UK Government.

If one tries to access the site this message appears;


Geffers
 

Retro

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That's pretty bad. I see the UK restriction message. If I then try another browser with the VPN set to America, it shows a new VPN policy message. If I switch back to the original browser with the VPN on, I get their UK block message.

The upshot is that there's no way for me to view this website now. Perhaps there's some other indirect way, but I don't know it.

All this is due to the Online Safety Act, in force to supposedly protect kids. It's not, that's mostly the pretext, with only some truth to it. According to gab.com it's about suppressing dissent. I'm not sure that's actually the primary reason, but it's about censorship and control alright, which is equally dark.

Great find, @Geffers. I've moved this thread to the politics section as this is a political issue.
 

Retro

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Turns out that this is a right-leaning forum about free speech and would have been interesting to browse and see what they're about. Can't do that anymore thanks to the OSA.

@Astro What @Tiffany you might be interested in this thread.
 

Retro

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Sounds like a plan. Perhaps post a few screenshots of the site?

Thinking about it, I think I might know a workaround to access that site from England, but I'd rather not say it in public. I don't know if it will work unless I try it.
 

Hitcore

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Alright, give me some time. Gotta register 'n all, and see what's what. I'll post some juicy screenshots of things, all within reason of course. Or I'll just blur out the more naughty bits. We'll see..
 

Retro

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Thanks, no rush. Don't worry about censoring anything that you find unless it's obviously illegal like how to get away with murder etc.
 

Hitcore

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I'm back already. Boy... it did not take long to find the juicy bits. They're all over, geez. 😐

So upon entering, as a first time user, I got a few suggestions for groups to join. There was a group for British politics, so obviously I went into that one.

1000011372.webp

*Click*. Alright, so far so good. Then I entered. Ho-ly shit.....
Retro, they dislike The Donald just as much as you do. But uhm..... for different reasons... 🫤

1000011374.webp

1000011377.webp

These screenshots are the more tame bits. There's also a bunch of swastika stuff, which I won't post here for obvious reasons, of course. I had to scroll back and forth to see if I was really on the British section and didn't accidentally land on some page that's about Israel or something. But this page really is the Brit-section.

After some scrolling I did find something more Britain related. They mention Starmer. So I was like: Ah, finally, we're getting to the more relevant parts. But nope... same thing... 🙄

1000011376.webp

This all makes me scratch my head a bit. Like, everywhere I look, there isn't really much of a discussion going on. Like, I strongly believe in freedom of speech 'n all, but with that I do feel that whatever you have to say, make sure to elaborate on it with arguments that are content-related. Ya know, back things up with evidence and whatnot, make your words count. This however is all just "DA JOOS, IT'S DA JOOOOOS!", with stars of David almost randomly plastered over every picture. I did a tally, in fact.

1000011373.webp

49. Fourty-nine times "jews", on just the front page alone. The thing is, I've seen this sort of stuff before. It's not that I'm shocked by it. I've been around, you know. But I can honestly say that this is even worse than /pol/, the political section of 4chan. Much worse. There you will find anti Israel sentiments too, and yes, they don't mince their words. But at least they do also make an effort of explaining *why* they feel that way. And they throw in a bit of humor and memes. It may not be your kind of memes, but it's memes nonetheless, adding at least a sense of something human.

The stuff I find on gab.com however, at least as far as this page goes, is devoid of even that. There's nothing graceful about it, it's just full head-on collision, of schizos just shouting and yelling the same thing over and over again, without really getting deeper into anything. It feels soulless, and sad. Like mental patients in padded rooms in the looney bin, banging their heads on the walls.

I disagree with the whole banning access measure, as I inherently do not believe in censorship, but transparency, for openness in discourse, that would hopefully lead to something fruitful.
But bloody hell... you Britishes aren't missing out on much with not being able to go to gab.com. What an absolute toilet. It makes X look like a forum of Mensa level scholars.
 

Mars

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......I disagree with the whole banning access measure, as I inherently do not believe in censorship, but transparency, for openness in discourse, that would hopefully lead to something fruitful.
But bloody hell... you Britishes aren't missing out on much with not being able to go to gab.com. What an absolute toilet. It makes X look like a forum of Mensa level scholars.
Couldn't agree with you more; 'absolute toilet' indeed, a stinking cesspool of effing Neo Nazis. To hell with them.
 

Retro

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@Hitcore omg what a grotesque cesspit of a forum! 🤮 So much racism (antisemitism is racism) I have no doubt that more serious, illegal stuff is on there too, please don't reveal it here. While I still don't agree with the OSA censorship, this is one forum that I'm not gonna miss, I tell you.

Funny how anti-Ukraine one of those posts is, isn't it? Almost like it was written by a Russian shill who'd totally flourish on a forum like that...

It reminds me of another awful forum similar to this one that was discussed on xenforo.com some time back as it used XF software to drive it. It was so bad, that it was one of those rare times that XF the company invalidated their license so they couldn't get any more updates from them. Unfortunately, they can't do anything to stop them using the XF software that they already have, to run their forum.

I can't quite remember the name now, but if I do, I'll post it here and you can take a look. Be warned though, it's really gross and full of illegal posts that anyone can access, assuming it hasn't finally been taken down.
 

Astro What

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@Astro What @Tiffany you might be interested in this thread.
The UK (and other similar countries) and their asinine laws can lick my salty balls after a hard day of heavy yard work. And yes, that also applies to a few US states.
I don't live there, I have no desire to visit there (I would rather drop in Ireland or Scotland) and I am NOT under their laws since my site is NOT based anywhere near them.

But as for GAB and those type sites... have zero use for them also.
I'm generally more into interchange based upon fact/evidence. You have a personal opinion you want to share.. .go ahead, but realize they are no different than assholes. We all have them and they generally stink.
 

Retro

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Don't mince your words, AW. 😛

FTFW England is quite nice in most places, regardless of what government is in power and doesn't feel too different to Ireland or Scotland.
 

Retro

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This is the other cesspit of a forum that I was talking about. I've just posted an update in that thread, post 8.

 

Hitcore

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Lol, Kiwifarms. Been there once. Left after about 5 minutes. Seen one shitpost, seen them all. Just a bunch of edgy teens trying to 1up each other all the time with the most messed up things they can find or produce.
 

Geffers

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That's pretty bad. I see the UK restriction message. If I then try another browser with the VPN set to America, it shows a new VPN policy message. If I switch back to the original browser with the VPN on, I get their UK block message.

The upshot is that there's no way for me to view this website now. Perhaps there's some other indirect way, but I don't know it.

All this is due to the Online Safety Act, in force to supposedly protect kids. It's not, that's mostly the pretext, with only some truth to it. According to gab.com it's about suppressing dissent. I'm not sure that's actually the primary reason, but it's about censorship and control alright, which is equally dark.

Great find, @Geffers. I've moved this thread to the politics section as this is a political issue.
The only way I can see one can do it is if the user effectively has a computer under their control in US. Then VNC (not VPN) could be used or alternatively ssh using a socks5 proxy, Maybe a cloud based system if based in US would work.
 

Retro

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The only way I can see one can do it is if the user effectively has a computer under their control in US.
Yup. One way to do this is to set up a VM on AWS in the USA zone, or other unblocked zone, then log into that with RDP or similar like VNC and use that to browse the site. It's a good exercise to try from a technical challenge perspective and to learn a bit about how AWS works, but it costs money and I wouldn't waste it on that cesspit of a site that @Hitcore revealed it to be.

I've got some experience of using AWS as this site originally ran on it and liked it very much. Much more polished and integrated than Azure.

Note that it might still be possible to browse it just by using a VPN, but it looks like it would be hard going to achieve it.
 

Geffers

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Sites like these mainly evolved during the covid era when the likes of twitter, youtube, Linkedin and facebook started banning doctors, scientists, chemists and epidemiologists who advocated caution over the vaccine. Unfortunately when opinions differ there will always be some who think there is a trigger in the vaxs that can be initiated by a 5G phone signal to cause health issues. If a product is good then it can stand on its own merits and too many professionals were banned for voicing concern over the jab, hence they went where their opinion is not censored. Since X became (supposedly, though many question this) free speech again the popularity in alternatives has dwindled.

Bit like the weather manipulation, we know they are looking in to it, we know some experiments will occur but some think every aircraft contrail is actually a chemtrail.
 

Retro

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I think those doctors etc got banned because they were conspiracy theorists causing damage by stopping people from taking the vaccines with their misinformation. It's been 5 years now and while some issues have emerged, they're nothing like the wild assertions that conspiracy theorists have alleged, unsurprisingly. And no, it's not all a cover up.

Oh, I love the chemtrail one. So frigging stupid it's absolutely hilarious, but nothing beats flat earth. omg that one's batshit crazy! :ROFLMAO:
 

Astro What

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Yup. One way to do this is to set up a VM on AWS in the USA zone, or other unblocked zone, then log into that with RDP or similar like VNC and use that to browse the site.
Why waste that much money on AWS? Find a cheap $5 a month VPS in a country that is supported and install OpenVPN on it. In fact, several of the VPS providers I have used have an already configured VPN image that you can install.
 

Retro

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Yeah, I said that it costs money and isn't worth it. I just used AWS as an example as that's what I'm familiar with.

Also, I think you've missed the bit where I said it blocks the VPN too as I couldn't view it, hence Hitcore accessed it and took those screenshots above for me. Whether OpenVPN can get past their blocks remains to be seen.
 

Astro What

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Whether OpenVPN can get past their blocks remains to be seen.
If you were using a "web based" proxy solution that does not surprise me.
As long as the ASN is not registered to another country and shows US, it should work on any personally created VPN fine. It's easy enough to detect and block/control the paid VPN offerings as most of their IP ranges/ASN's are generally known to the common detection tools. The personal VPN offerings are somewhat different as long as you can find a VPS provider that is not on their list and is in that geographical area. And odds are anything with AWS, Microsoft, or similar major providers are on a list since they are the usual infrastructure that is used to provide many of those services because of their massive existing infrastructure.
 

Retro

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Yes, anonymity of VPN endpoints would help. I'll bet it becomes a cat and mouse game over time though.
 

Geffers

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I think those doctors etc got banned because they were conspiracy theorists causing damage by stopping people from taking the vaccines with their misinformation.
Many were not giving misinformation, they were querying why pregnant women, babies and healthy young people needed a vaccine to protect against something that was dangerous only to people with underlying health issues. As for misinformation, how absurd it was to dine out, sitting no mask, but walking to the bar needed a mask. We were told that taking the vaccine would stop covid and protect others, ended up doing neither.

Is a health professional who took many years to qualify and is going to risk their entire future by querying a medical procedure to be believed or do we believe the one who stays quiet and does not risk anything.

Big money can silence many things.
 

Retro

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Thing is, it's not only people with underlying health issues that it can affect severely, although of course, it's much more likely.

As for misinformation, how absurd it was to dine out, sitting no mask, but walking to the bar needed a mask.
Yeah, that was ridiculous alright. Sunak's "eat out to help out" bs was responsible for that one. Totally laughable.

Is a health professional who took many years to qualify and is going to risk their entire future by querying a medical procedure to be believed or do we believe the one who stays quiet and does not risk anything.

Big money can silence many things.
Good point and yes, alas money can and does often silence many things. ☹️
 
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