AT&T Reportedly Blocks 4Chan. that Is Going To Get Ugly.

July 26, 2009 ·Filed Under Technology News

As whether AT&T wasn’t already bad enough. In an act that is certain to spark Net rebellions everywhere, AT&T has apparently declared war on the extremely popular imageboard 4chan.org, blocking some of the site’s most popular note boards, including /r9k/ and the infamous /b/. m00t, who started 4chan and continues to run the site, has posted a note to the 4chan status blog indicating that AT&T is in fact filtering/blocking the site for many of its customers (we’re still trying to confirm from AT&T’s side).

Reports of the blocking began to surface on reddit that afternoon, and a number of blogs are beginning to pick up on the story, though it doesn’t seem like any have managed to get a comment from AT&T (we’ve reached out to the company and will update once we take in back).

4chan has been called many things, most of which aren’t particularly flattering. Some parts of the site are entirely unmoderated, leading to a wild-west, highly NSFW environment where irreverance, mischief, and

lewdness thrive (I like to think of it as the Mos Eisley of the web). But that doesn’t mean the site isn’t extremely influential on web culture. Many of its exploits are famous, including taking over the moment 100 list, and it’s additionally where some of the Internet’s most famous memes got their start, including the Rick Roll and LOLcats. It’s plus known as the main hub for Anonymous, a group that has held a very public campaign against Scientology.

In other words, AT&T has just opened perhaps the most vindictive, messy can of worms it could have possibly found. Blocking any site seems like a breach of user trust, but the decision to block 4chan in specific just seems silly. Expect the web equivalent of rioting whether that doesn’t change soon.

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