Connection issues with TalkTalk (and possibly other British ISPs)

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  jackiedana · Member · May 16, 2014 at 8:24 pm

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  We are starting to receive reports that users on TalkTalk, and possibly other British ISPs, are unable to access their sites on WordPress.com.

  This is a recurring issue that is caused by some British ISPs relying on information from the Internet Watch Foundation to filter content that their users can access.

  It is helpful for us to know how widespread the issue is, and if it is affecting multiple ISPs, as well as if anything changes for you. Rather than open a new thread, please post in the following thread with any additional information:
  https://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic/are-isps-blocking-wordpress-pages-again?replies=12

  We will also post updates, as we get them, in this sticky thread.

  For background on the issue, please see:
  https://www.openrightsgroup.org/blog/2013/talktalk-wordpress

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  jackiedana · Member · May 19, 2014 at 6:52 am

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  We have since learned that this issue may also be affecting users with British Telecom, Sky and Eclipse.

  We are doing what we can on our end to get the IWF, and by extension your ISPs, to remove WordPress.com sites from their filters.

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  jackiedana · Member · May 19, 2014 at 4:40 pm

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  It sounds like have things been resolved with the IWF (for this round, at least), so it’s now up to the ISPs to update their lists and restore access, which should happen soon.

  (Also, I accidentally left this thread open after my last update; if you have questions or need to report an issue, please do so in the thread linked above).

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  jackiedana · Member · May 21, 2014 at 11:29 pm

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  (reposting from our discussion thread)

  We share our users’ frustration with this situation. We’re confident that it’s not due to any issue on our end and we’re continuing to work with IWF and the individual ISPs to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

  We share IWF’s goal of eradicating child abuse from the internet – but the issue seems to be that if the IWF locates images it deems unacceptable anywhere on WordPress.com, it does not notify us about the problem until after it adds one of our URLs to its list of blocked sites.

  Once a WordPress.com URL is on the list of blocked sites, it is up to the individual ISPs in the UK to implement blocking on their network. Some do this efficiently, and some, like Talktalk, seem to enable their blocking by blocking ALL of WordPress.com. Whether this is different for any other sites or not, we don’t know – but the problem may be exacerbated by the fact that WordPress.com hosts millions of blogs on its subdomains, whereas most sites on the IWF’s list are individually hosted.

  Rest assured that we’re working very hard to ensure this doesn’t happen again – it’s terrible for you and our other users in the UK. Will keep you posted – hope to have resolution soon.