Some Users Unable to Reach The Pirate Bay

http://torrentfreak.com/comcast-blocked-the-pirate-bay-110512/

by sp332 • 15 years ago

108 51 15 years ago

sp3323• 15 years ago

I'm on Comcast, so I can confirm that not even a ping is getting through. And I'm using OpenDNS, so it's not DNS-level blocking. But after the mess Comcast has been in for this stuff before, I kind of can't believe they'd try it again.

I'm in a chat with a Comcast rep now, who claims that if they were blocking the page there would be a branded error message. There's just nothing. Maybe (hopefully!) this isn't what it looks like.

EwanToo3• 15 years ago

thepiratebay.org doesn't respond to pings from any network as far as I can tell, which is a typical firewall configuration.

Judging by the comments on the article it's not Comcast blocking, but some kind of network configuration issue, as multiple ISPs are impacted (though they could in theory be using Comcast as a carrier).

indie697• 15 years ago

It is comcast/xfinity blocking. Speakeasy is unaffected. I can access the site from speakeasy, no problem. One of the perks of having 2 ISPs. Try checking it through any open wi-fi connections available to you. Many are probably able to access the site.

raganwald• 15 years ago

I'm on Rogers in Canada and I can't get through either.

joeybaker• 15 years ago

Confirmed no access at 06:51 PDT, but was able to get through via a proxy server.

By the way – the web experience is just that the page hangs. There's no 404, or 'server can't connect' or any other warning message. This type block is indicative of someone throttling the connection to the server. Likely Comcast hasn't outright blocked the site, they've just made the pipe so small that no one can get to it.

ay• 15 years ago

"pipe so small" - ironically, the symptom you describe are also indicative of the Path MTU problems. Not that this is necessarily the case, but I could not help but notice the wordplay.

The wireshark would show you the TCP three-way handshake successful, then the GET request would go out, get acknowledged, and then nothing.

indie697• 15 years ago

Easy solution for bypassing the block (edit: or routing issue) : My post: http://wp.me/pJEJe-yr

Direct link for those already familiar with what's going on: https://www.torproject.org/

I can confirm that this solution works. Am on Xfinity and browsing TPB right now.

sp3323• 15 years ago

Any proxy will work, you don't have to go to the trouble of setting up TOR. It's just massive overkill to access a single site, especially when you don't care about anonymity.

indie697• 15 years ago

Absolutely true. But it still is an easy, 1 step, free fix for those not familiar with using a proxy. Thanks. And anonymity as a bonus is certainly not a downside. Besides, why bother using it for just one site? I'll be using it now (with noscript and a few extras) to access any and all torrent-related sites. Might as well nip it in the bud now rather than later.

Now we just have to be concerned about tracker-blocking, if they were to choose to do so. As of now it's not an issue of any real concern, as most piratebay-related trackers have been unreachable anyway.

TillE• 15 years ago

Trouble? Download the Tor browser bundle and launch it. It's just about the easiest solution imaginable.

suninwinter• 15 years ago

I'm on AT&T and it's not loading for me, right now.

indie697• 15 years ago

Maybe we were too quick to place blame on Comcast/Xfinity? Then again they could have a peering agreement with at&t? Chicago nap is run by ameritech, MAE east no idea, NY nap is sprint, SF nap pac bell, but who runs MAE west? Curiouser and curiouser.

Still working on Speakeasy and a local open wi-fi that seems to be on Verizon on my end.

llambda• 15 years ago

I'm on AT&T as well and I can confirm it's not loading...

foobarbazetc• 15 years ago

This is most probably just some network routing oddity, rather than an active attempt to block by Comcast.

rawsyntax• 15 years ago

here's a link that works for comcast users http://anonymouse.org/cgi-bin/anon-www.cgi/http://thepirateb...

I don't use the site, but I also don't think comcast should determine which sites you have access to.

elektryk• 15 years ago

I'm on Comcast and also can't access TPB. Doing a tracert, the packets are lost in inside of TPB network. Thepiratebay.piratpartiet.se is as far as I can reach.

smutticus• 15 years ago

How do you know that Comcast isn't just allowing ICMP and blocking TCP?

If they're intentionally blocking TPB traceroute data cannot be trusted.

drdaeman• 15 years ago

You could do a TCP SYN traceroute to verify this (for example, with http://linux.die.net/man/1/tcptraceroute)

eli• 15 years ago

The thepiratebay.org doesn't respond to PINGs, so that's exactly what you should see.

wcchandler• 15 years ago

I'm not a networking guy, but could a level 1 ISP implement an extra bounce somewhere that isn't getting routed correctly?

Or to play the conspiracy theory card -- the government is tapping the line and it's not able to receive a reply correctly.

DevX101• 15 years ago

http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/thepiratebay.org

madmaze• 15 years ago

Exactly. its down from my comcast connection, tmobile 3g and also from 3 different VPS i have

antihero• 15 years ago

Welcome to China. Soon police will be beating up and imprisoning non-violent political protesters for spreading dissent. Oh, wait.

Goronmon• 15 years ago

Funnily enough, I can get through to the site just fine at work.

indie697• 15 years ago

I guess its been established that this is not a DNS issue. But I just wanted to point out that using Speakesy, no matter what DNS I use, speakeasy's own or OpenDNS, I CAN reach TPB.

I'm not entirely sure if this makes a difference. I just wanted to add that information since I had not mentioned it before. This information may or may not be helpful. In case it is, here it is.

pstack• 15 years ago

Same here. I'm on Comcast and I use OpenDNS and TPB is not reachable. While I've had my issues with Comcast, I've been more or less happy with them ever since I switched to their business class service (faster speeds and no hard set bandwidth limits for them to complain to me over). If they're blocking TPB, they're blocking other things. I don't want my utility service to block how I use the utility.

Maro• 15 years ago

I'm in Hungary and it's blocked.

click170• 15 years ago

Rogers users up here in Canada-land are having the same problem as Comcast users. I have no direct TPB access right now. I thought it was just more regular TPB downtime except this time it's continued for several days.

scrrr• 15 years ago

Assuming this is really an attempt to block user's access to .torrent-files then it is a futile one. There are many other Torrent trackers serving the same files (or at least files that point to the same files), technical means to circumvent such blocks and, last but not least, many other ways to get the same material without using BitTorrent.

I feel like Captain Obvious writing this, but apparently it's not clear to those advocating and implementing such measures.

However, there's always a chance that some legislation exists that allows to block access to sites very quickly upon complaints from allegedly discriminated parties. Not being from the US I don't really know, but it seems to be that that would be a worrying sign of an upcoming culture of information censorship.

And if it is, then I wonder if there are representatives in the country that would defend the Internet user's rights. Perhaps I am totally misinformed, but from what I've read it would be hard to find a politician in the USA that is not endorsed by one big company or another. If that is so, can one expect their help on behalf of the people?

oinksoft• 15 years ago

To tell you the truth, I don't know of any other good sites that have stuck it out. Is there some resource for this? At one time Mininova et. al. were viable, if not superior, alternatives, but if I recall, several of these sites went offline or legit late 2008.

cmurdock• 15 years ago

BtJunkie.org indexes a lot of them

fname• 15 years ago

I'm on Cox and it's working for me...

josefresco• 15 years ago

Confirmed. I'm on Comcast in MA and it's not loading for me.

smackfu• 15 years ago

Awfully inflammatory headline. When you don't have the proof, it should say: "Comcast users can't reach thepiratebay.org" Journalism, yay!

pxlpshr• 15 years ago

When are you guys going to wake up and use newsgroups? BitTorrent is a huge liability if you ask me. If you're caught and sued, it's for distribution — not downloading.

slouch• 15 years ago

It's easy to only download using a bit torrent client.

jaysonelliot• 15 years ago

The first rule of newsgroups is you don't talk about newsgroups. I feel like they stay under the radar partly out of their mainstream obscurity.

On a serious note, though, what do you know about the legal issues around downloading through Usenet? Have there been prosecutions or lawsuits?

pyre• 15 years ago

For the most part, Usenet operators (e.g. EasyNews, GigaNews) would end up being the ones targeted.

1. Most of them seemingly don't keep any logs of who downloads what, so the most info they have on you is: address, name, credit card, volume downloaded per month.

2. All of the prosecutions thus far for file-sharing have been for distribution. The pre-BitTorrent lawsuits were over files shared on Napster, LimeWire, Gnutella, etc. The more recent lawsuits over BitTorrent downloads are due to the BitTorrent technology which has you uploading and downloading at the same time, thus by participating in a torrent you are aiding in the distribution of it.

3. In addition, some Usenet providers provide NNTPS connections, thus (virtually) eliminating the ability for someone (i.e. ISP) to inspect what you were downloading from the server.

4. It might be possible to get sued for downloading something from Usenet, but the likelihood of extreme damages awarded by the court is pretty small. The most likely reason that someone would be sued in this fashion would be to prod them into taking a $2k-$3k settlement offer to avoid the hassle (and cost) of defending the case in court. If someone were to battle such a case through court, it would likely turn out in their favor (though IANAL). Though the cost of getting to that point would likely be higher than the settlement amount. So basically, such cases would be even more like Mafia shake-downs than they are now.

Though, none of this speaks to the recent push to criminalize copyright infringement. I have no clue if that would only cover downloading, distribution or both (or what the penalties would be).

Coko• 15 years ago

Just because you're on Comcast doesn't mean you can 'confirm' that they are blocking TPB. People from other ISPs around the world are having issues too.

jenniart• 15 years ago

It's bad enough Comcast throttles your internet, limiting legit ways of watching video...

mike305• 15 years ago

Miami Florida - Comcast - No Access. :(

tzs• 15 years ago

The article has been updated to say this is a general problem, not a Comcast problem.

truthtechnician• 15 years ago

OH NO! I CAN'T DOWNLOAD MY PIRATED SOFTWARE AND MOVIES!

sp3323• 15 years ago

I have 157 torrents running. I have licenses for all of them. Well, except http://contemporary-home-computing.org/1tb/archives/2698 (an archive of Geocities) which I consider to be historical and, since it was posted online noncommercially anyway, I don't think it's hurting any content creators to torrent it.

jpadvo• 15 years ago

Flagged as inaccurate -- can someone change the title? It started as a Comcast specific issue, but there is (1) no evidence it was anything aside of a glitch, and (2) it is affecting lots of non-Comcast users now as well.

Edit: this post has been flagged to death. I guess that works...

Edit: And it's back, with a great title. Unflagged. :)

Some Users Unable to Reach The Pirate Bay

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