Is Telus censoring Citytel’s internet access?
menino.com/wp/2005/07/24/the-future-is-friendly/
According to a boing-boing posting, Telus is blocking certain websites that relate to its current labour dispute. It is blocking its own customers from those sites, but it also appears to be blocking Citytel (and Prince Rupert’s) access to them.
A tragedy.
While I don’t have a lot of interest in the Telus labor dispute, I AM more than a little pissed that they would censor sites like that for all of thier customers. Hell who knows how many sites are censored already?
Not that it will do a lot of good, but I think maybe I’ll be phoning Citytel tomorrow to complain.
Mike
I tend to think of ISPs as the same as phone companies: common carriers.
Wouldn’t you freak out if Telus didn’t allow anybody on its phone network to call a number in the states, for fear that somebody might pick up the phone and tell you something that would paint Telus in a bad light?
Now what if people in Prince Rupert, even though they aren’t Telus customers, couldn’t call that number in the states either, thanks to Telus?
That’s what seems to be happening here, though it’s a website, not a phone number.
I will be calling telus/citytel tomorrow This is bullshit what right do they have to censor citytel?
Actually, can you guys confirm that you can or cannot access the site in question?
I did a traceroute from work (PLnet), and it was fine, but not from home (Citytel).
I put the traceroute on my blog (just a new excuse to try wordpress again!)
I tried to go… and can confirm that we are in fact blocked
C:>tracert www.voices-for-change.com
Tracing route to www.voices-for-change.com [204.14.106.29]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms host233.adsl6.rupert.net [209.53.131.233]
2 7 ms 7 ms 7 ms 5conn28.rupert.net [64.114.56.28]
3 8 ms 8 ms 7 ms Telus-gw-PR.rupert.net [209.53.130.14]
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 * *
Yeah I can’t access them either. The article in boingboing mentions complaining to the CRTC and your MP. I’ve emailed our MP about it but the CRTC’s complaint page states pretty clearly that they have nothing to do with ISP problems.
Mike
Wouldnt citytel be able to take some sort of legal action? I wonder what their contract is with telus
I’d say a quick phone call from Citytel to Telus would probably fix things 
I’m an optimist. Heh.
Can we get somebody who isn’t on Telus or Citytel to see if they can access the site?
Ya I’m not usually that optomistic about stuff like this Mig. Must be the government worker coming out in me.
Mike
It’s blocking me too.
voices-for-change.com @204.14.106.29 doesn’t respond.
telusscabs.ca @68.148.130.71 doesn’t respond. thats shawcable.net
Play games all they want, they’re blocking my customers who’ve all chosen *not to buy Telus Internet *.
I will file a complaint in the a.m. and ask PG, McKenzie, Quesnel, Willams Lake & 100 mile independent ISPs to file as well.
Even if calling you site anything-scabs from a $10 registrar with a US based dns seems pretty fucking hypocritical…
Well, Sympatico isn’t blocked I just used my Sympatico account to access the site, and it’s fine:
[quote]Customers who use telus.net as their Internet Service Provider are unable to access this website due to censorship by TELUS. When support is called they claim not to be blocking access. Television station BCTV Global did a story on the 6:00 o’clock news on this issue. Radio station CKNW also had as story on censoring TELUS customers, after receiving calls from numerous TWU members. Both media outlets are in British Columbia. In both cases, the company admitted to censoring TWU members and their customers.
TELUS customers can pass this proxy URL to TWU members they know who uses TELUS as their ISP: vfc.proxy.pfak.org/[/quote]
Might have something to do with making CBC news… I couldn’t even pull the IPs the first time I tried. Now I can, but still can’t get the sites
BTW Sympatico is Bell?
Here’s what the site looks like via 56k (yuck!) dial-up to Sympatico:
http://photos21.flickr.com/28397931_a05481e2b9.jpg
I predict it won’t last long – the site isn’t inflammatory or anything, just a forum like HTMF Next thing you know, Telus will be blocking us!
Microsoft Windows XP [Version 5.1.2600]
© Copyright 1985-2001 Microsoft Corp.
C:\Documents and Settings\Eso>tracert www.voices-for-change.com
Tracing route to www.voices-for-change.com [204.14.106.29]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
1 10 ms 8 ms 10 ms 20conn2.rupert.net [209.145.100.2]
2 10 ms 9 ms 9 ms 5conn28.rupert.net [64.114.56.28]
3 8 ms 10 ms 9 ms Telus-gw-PR.rupert.net [209.53.130.14]
4 * * * Request timed out.
5 * * * Request timed out.
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out.
18 * * * Request timed out.
19 * * * Request timed out.
20 * * * Request timed out.
21 * * * Request timed out.
22 * * * Request timed out.
23 * * * Request timed out.
24 * * * Request timed out.
25 * * * Request timed out.
26 * * * Request timed out.
27 * * * Request timed out.
28 * * * Request timed out.
29 * * * Request timed out.
30 * * * Request timed out.
Trace complete.
same thing I get, tracert stalls right at the telus crossover. i think sympatico is still the co-alition af Bell & the last provincial carriers. Telus might get uppity, but they wouldn’t mess with Bell…
how do you cut & paste from the command prompt?
The site is hosted in the US, so it’s not like Telus could block Aliant’s access to the US (Aliant is the provider I used to check it out).
It is also not blocked by the BC government ISP, well, not PLnet, anyway.
I don’t understand what genius thought it was a good idea to block the site – it’s a harmless forum. The bad press is going to be a lot worse than any gain from blocking one harmless forum.
1 <10 ms <10 ms <10 ms 192.168.123.254
2 9 ms 9 ms 9 ms 33conn1.rupert.net [209.145.120.1]
3 10 ms 9 ms 9 ms 3550-up-gw.rupert.net [209.145.111.234]
4 10 ms 9 ms 9 ms vxr-3550-gw.rupert.net [209.145.111.241]
5 10 ms 9 ms 9 ms Telus-gw-PR.rupert.net [209.53.130.14]
6 * * * Request timed out.
7 * * * Request timed out.
8 * * * Request timed out.
9 * * * Request timed out.
10 * * * Request timed out.
11 * * * Request timed out.
12 * * * Request timed out.
13 * * * Request timed out.
14 * * * Request timed out.
15 * * * Request timed out.
16 * * * Request timed out.
17 * * * Request timed out
I get the same thing as well… Though when i goto open up the website, it appears just fine. I’m going to have to agree with you mig. Telus is getting lots of bad media exposure, and they’re going to end up loosing customers over this. Could this be the end of Telus as we know it. I’m sure there are a few phone companies out there that would scoop up telus, if given the chance.
Select text by moving the mouse over it while you hold down the left mouse button. Then I think you hit enter? Or go to the top left menu thingie and select copy?