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quicksilver
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Science Madness Forum BLOCKED (?)
I have been told that in certain areas of the world (NZ & possibly the UK) there are blocks on this forum. I thought that it was a mistake - that
someone typed the name wrong, etc....but I keep hearing that some places block it. Some folks say it's due to the explosives discussions but the same
people can Google a variety of sites that are MUCH less professional or mature in their discourse of the subject. Others say it's the drug cooks that
attract unwanted condemnation....but they really don't have a foot-hold here from what I've seen.
Could this all be paranoia and BS? I'm personally leaning in that direction.... but I keep getting Emails from friends about it. ....And some OLD
members as well!
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Sauron
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AFAIK the only person reporting an apparent (but unconfirmed) government ir ISP blocking is JohnWW in NZ.
We have a lot more members in UK and Australia and in NZ I think and I have not seen anything about any access problem there.
Certainly there is none in Thailand. Or I wouldn't be posting this.
The Thai govt was blocking YouTube but has now stopped. That was entirely due to offensive material about the Thai Monarchy.
But anyway I may be the sole SM member in this Kingdom. Whereas JohnWW is probably not the only kiwi member.
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Xenoid
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Well I can confirm that the forum has been unavailable for about 36 hours in NZ, as pointed out by JohnWW, I just assumed the server had gone down,
not that I know much about such things!
May be the security services are worried about people downloading last-minute explosives information, prior to "Dubya" arriving in Sydney, Australia
for the APEC conference...
Regards, Xenoid
[Edited on 2-9-2007 by Xenoid]
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I am a fish
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Xenoid, am I right in thinking you're using a remote HTTP proxy server, and that you still can't access ScienceMadness directly?
Can you provide us with precise information on what happens when you try to access the site? Is the error identical to what you get when you try to
access a non-existent domain (e.g. http://www.pfqknttvdqwnhf.com), or do you get a different message?
Can you ping the sciencemadness.org domain?
Also, would it be possible for people using different New Zealand ISPs to try accessing the site? Is the block at an ISP level, or higher?
1f `/0u (4|\\| |234d 7|-|15, `/0u |234||`/ |\\|33d 70 937 0u7 /\\/\\0|23.
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Sauron
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@Xenoid, the APEC conference is in OZ and OZ has not blocked SM.
As both you and JohnWW are on same ISP, is it not still possible that other ISPs may not be affected?
Or even that some other explanation might be available?
After all, blocking that can be evaded as easily as you are doing is pretty lame.
SM is hardly the only source of such information on the web. Are any of the others being blocked? Like E&W? If so this supports your hypothesis.
If not -
[Edited on 2-9-2007 by Sauron]
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Xenoid
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Sorry guys, I'm out of my depth here!.. 
I am accessing SM directly, the error was "can't find server"!
E&W is OK, but then I didn't try to access it when SM was unavailable! All the other sites I normally access were fine!
I am not trying to suggest anything sinister was being attempted, after all my ISP, XTRA, can't even handle email correctly. Some people were without
service for several days, during an upgrade last week!
Again, sorry I can't be more helpful, I am not being paranoid, I was just confirming that SM was unavailable, as requested!
Regards, Xenoid
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I am a fish
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It may have been a DNS problem. (Domain Name Servers translate requests for given internet domain names into the IP addresses of the servers that
actually host the domain.)
It is possible that during the upgrade, some of the DNS lookup data became inaccessible. The server was unable to find any reference to
sciencemadness.org, and by default assumed that the domain did not exist.
1f `/0u (4|\\| |234d 7|-|15, `/0u |234||`/ |\\|33d 70 937 0u7 /\\/\\0|23.
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Twospoons
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I'm in NZ too. I've rarely had trouble accessing the forum, usually only those times everyone else has trouble too. I don't think its anything
sinister - I lose access to the New Scientist website more often than the forum!
Somehow I don't think the NZ public would put up with Govt internet censorship.
Helicopter: "helico" -> spiral, "pter" -> with wings
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Sauron
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I'm glad to hear it. This problem appears to be something peculiar to the ISP used by JohnWW and Xenoid. I take it that you use a different ISP, and
perhaps they should consider changing ISP if possible.
I'm also sure JohnWW will be disappointed that the electronic secret police aren't hiding under his desk.
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Twospoons
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I use two different ISPs: for work and home. Both seem to work fine. Its probably just NZ's ghastly lack of investment in technology infrastructure
causing trouble as usual.
Edit: just noticed JohnWW and Xenoid both use Xtra, so I'm not surprised they're having trouble. Get yourselves a real ISP, guys!
[Edited on 3-9-2007 by Twospoons]
Helicopter: "helico" -> spiral, "pter" -> with wings
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quicksilver
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From what I have found thus far I really don't think that any group, ISP - or certainly a government puts that much emphasis on a discussion board.
Now perhaps if this was some private link originating in Afghanistan or Iran with everything intra-mailed in PGP and fiscally attached to certain
"Charities", etc... MAYBE someone would monitor it. But I really doubt anything said here even rates the disk space on some agencies computer.
Certainly someone may discuss what iDefense did with Rogue Science awhile back [but they got a lot of bad press for that from their own people from
what I heard]. They put pressure on an ISP to stop hosting the board but that is a Hell of a lot different than three letter agencies actively
investigating discussions about how to make blue stars.
There is nothing romantic about the mis-use or abuse of funding for serious investigations. The only really sad part is that it occasionally happens
when agencies attempt to inflate their stats or appearance of usefulness.
If some of you remember "The Letter" that CPSC sent out to hobby rocketry, pyro clubs & individuals about "not making M80's from your
aluminum!"....... On that same subject a concern about CPSC's abuse of Justice Dept. mail could be said to be an example of the above.
[Edited on 3-9-2007 by quicksilver]
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Sauron
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Bottom line: NZ didn't block SM, this was just a 404 error on a single cranky ISP, and JohnWW was playing Chicken Little.
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tito-o-mac
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It's blocked here in Sg... have to search it and click on 'cached' everytime. Now my comp's running on a proxy tunneler!
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Sauron
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Well, Sg's the sort of place that would block it, isn't it?
NZ isn't.
Thailand might if we insulted the King. But even then, they have unblocked YouTube already.
Still blocking mind.net, but I have no idea why.
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JohnWW
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I can now access sciencemadness.org directly. However, it is roguesci.org/theforum that has problems now! They have been offline for over 24 hours
now, and every time I try to load that part of their site, I get a message about a "database error". Has anyone also on roguesci.org also noticed
this?
[Edited on 5-9-07 by JohnWW]
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not_important
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Yes, same thing here; looks like they may have hit their disk space allotment.
[Edited on 5-9-2007 by not_important]
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solo
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I have to use a proxie to get in since last night.....tried several browsers and still no go.....haven't the foggiest why this is happening.......solo
It's better to die on your feet, than live on your knees....Emiliano Zapata.
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solo
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.........a little after 10AM Mexico City time I was able to log in with my regular IP.............something is happening?.....solo
It's better to die on your feet, than live on your knees....Emiliano Zapata.
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tito-o-mac
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I think there would be a chance sciencemadness may be blocked in Germany, probably due to the latest terrorist foil. They mentioned that they took
lessons 'from the internet' not sure how true is it.
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Sauron
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We have a lot of German members and none have reported any problems. Don't fear-monger.
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woelen
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| Quote: | Originally posted by tito-o-mac
I think there would be a chance sciencemadness may be blocked in Germany, probably due to the latest terrorist foil. They mentioned that they took
lessons 'from the internet' not sure how true is it. |
Taking lessons 'from the internet' is not the same as
learning from sciencemadness. No, that kind of terrorist guys don't use a board like sciencemadness. Sciencemadness is way too theoretical, and only a
tiny fraction of the board is devoted to synth of useful bulk explosives. A terrorist doesn't give a damn about some weird explosive, based on some
rare transition metal complex or some peculiar triple-nitrated organic with X sidechains, and that is the kind of stuff which is discussed here in the
energetic materials section. Nice for the hobbyist, fun to play with, but nothing for a (wannabe) terrorist.
And then, even if you have a fair amount of an explosive chemical, then you still are far away from a bomb, which can be brought to explosion in a
controlled way, at the moment you want. Discussion of making complete bombs is not something which is done over here (and of course we should keep it
that way).
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tito-o-mac
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Oh yeah... forgotten about that. Something wrong with Sg I'd say!
That's weird, it took 700kg of hydrogen peroxide stored before the intelligence found out?
[Edited on 7-9-2007 by tito-o-mac]
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JohnWW
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That 700 kg of H2O2, intended to be used in bombs obviously to be set to go off on 11th September, would have been useless as an explosive on its own.
What were the Muslim terrorists going to react it with, presumably to make an erxplosive organic peroxide? This was not revealed in the news reports,
byt I suspect acetone, to make acetone peroxide, or some other readily available ketone like MIBK or diethyl ketone.
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Sauron
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Competence is not a prerequisite for criminal convistion, only intent. Mens rea.
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JohnWW
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To get back to the subject of this thread: here in New Zealand, we have a highly secretive Electronic Secret Police, employing thousands of "secret"
cops, which monitors all international and domestic telephone calls, emails, radio conversations, and internet traffic. It is called the GCSB -
Government Communications Security Bureau, and has as its biggest asset large satellite interceptor dishes at Waihopi, near Blenheim. It operates as
part of the ECHELON international electronic snooping and surveillance program, along with the U.$.A., U.K, Australia, and Canada, thanks to a treaty
signed by a previous right-wing government with the Nixon régime in the U.S.A. in the early 1970s, and which I think cannot be revoked for 50 years.
It also helps the ordinary Cops, and the ordinary Secret Police ("Big SIS" - Security Intelligence Service), bug the phones of political opponents of
the Government and supposed enemies of the State.
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