Wanadoo blacklisted?

[blobrana]

Hum,
it seems that my service provider Wanadoo, (France's biggest Internet provider,) confirmed on Monday that it was on a US blacklist of companies around the world that have been blocked from accessing US government and military websites.

"We've been blacklisted for two years on government and military sites, and it looks like it's a decision by the Pentagon to avoid hacker attempts"

The situation was highlighted in an article in the International Herald Tribune newspaper, which said Internet service providers (ISP) in 25 countries could not access the US Federal Voting Assistance Program website (www.fvap.gov)(? - ok, here) which helps overseas US voters cast their absentee ballots in the November presidential election.

The ISPs affected were Wanadoo, Yahoo in Britain and in Japan, and Telefonica in Spain ...

A website supporting John Kerry, criticised the measure by posting the article and headlining it "Pentagon Surrenders to Hackers".

Anyway...

Funnily enough, Though, i haven noticed anything; as i can access and log-on to this goverment site fine... (its heavy on the security though...
"WARNING!: U.S. Government Computer:  If you are not authorized to accessthis system, disconnect now.  You should have no expectation of privacy.  By continuing, you consent to your keystrokes and data content being monitored.
This message required by NASA GSFC CIO." )

Is this just some sort of prank by the `cult of discord`?

[KennyR]

Well, the ISPs make the problem for themselves. They usually just ignore hacker activity for the money, even if you tell them straight. So they're destroying their own reputations, no point in moaning about it. Users of Wannado who don't want to be lumped in with hackers should find a better ISP.

[Wilse]

Users of Wannado who don't want to be lumped in with hackers should find a better ISP.

Not all that easy, if you've just signed a 12 month contract.

[the_leander]

Actually wilse, in the UK (dunno if scotish law differs on this) if what you recieve is not what was advertised you can legally get out of jail free regardless of how "water tight" the contract is. And to make it even worse for the ISP, if you leave under those grounds, they CANNOT charge you a penny.

If they are being blocked as a whole by Governments, then they are not as advertised offering you the freedom of the internet...

I'll go through my magazines to find the relevant law involved as this issue was brought up in one I've read recently... Very interesting stuff!

[Wilse]

If they are being blocked as a whole by Governments, then they are not as advertised offering you the freedom of the internet...

I've yet to encounter anything that gives me the impression of that. I can access every site I've tried so far.

[blobrana]

Hum,
Which is exactly what i`ve found.

(though i must admit that a `url not found` would be not be an out of the ordinary event...)

So, as i said before, is this a wind-up?

[Cyberus]

I'm using Wannapoo here too, formerly known as sh!tserve.
For all their faults (and trust me, I've had my fair share of problems with them), I haven't encountered this problem either.


 :-?