From Foehammer’s Anvil:

The Religion of Peace Needs Our Help!

No, not that ‘Religion of Peace.’

This one.

An individual that I refuse to name here again (but many of my regular readers will know of and who’s name may be found quoted below) has targeted the gentle folks at The Religion of Peace in an effort to shut down the site just as he attempted to shut down the Anvil and Jihad Watch and others. The results of this phony reverend’s actions provoked a number of internet companies to incorrectly categorize The Religion of Peace. These incorrect categories have caused the site to be listed as a hate site, and consequently blocked by some servers. I know that the accusations made by Sutter, and the various companies are patently false. The Religion of Peace provides accurate facts about Islam – not lies. The site is not racist. Islam is not a race but a political and cultist ideology. The Religion of Peace speaks out against all violence that is directed towards non-Muslims and Muslims alike.

From the editor at TheReligionofPeace.com:

Anyone who has a blog that attempts to defend the west from radical Islam or Marxists knows that they are constantly at risk of being labeled racist, and shut down by individuals and organizations who do not want the truth to be known. The efforts to silence our voices will increase. We are all in this fight together. Therefore, it would be greatly appreciated if all of you would post a notice on your blogs, urging your readers to support The Religion of Peace by sending protest e-mails to the offending companies. Islam and the thought police are coming after all of us. Free speech is in jeopardy. We need to pull together into a strong and united force to combat those who intend to crush us.

I have permission to make this appeal on their behalf and I am happy to do so.

Please write to the email addresses listed below and state clearly that The Religion of Peace -

http://www.thereligionofpeace.com

(include the url in the e-mails) is against violence, not racist and should be categorized appropriately under labels such as General News, Politics and Religion.

• Secure Computing: sites@securecomputing.com
• SonicWall: cfssupport@sonicwall.com
• SurfControl: customerservice@surfcontrol.com

Here is in-depth analysis of the situation and the problem:

Case Study: TheReligionofPeace.com

How did Jim Sutter manage to get an anti-violence and anti-hate website by an anti-racialist owner classified as “violent,” “obscene,” “hateful,” and “racist?” Here is the story from the preferably anonymous editor of TROP.

About TheReligionofPeace.com

From the Editor of TheReligionofPeace.com:

TROP was originally started in 2002 to help Muslims understand that there are more important things going on in the world than a woman being asked to remove her veil in front of a judge, or a Muslim man getting his feelings hurt at an airline security gate.

In an effort to spark moral perspective on the part of organizations like CAIR, we document acts of deadly violence committed in the name of Islamic supremacy, similar to the way other sites compile data on victims of all supremacist ideologies, whether racial, ethnic or nationalist.

In addition to maintaining a database of terrorist attacks, TROP presents news and articles from the Muslim world, as well as open reference information for anyone beginning research into Islam. We do not promote a particular religion and we try to stay non-partisan.

Although we obviously oppose the doctrinal elements of Islam that inspire violence or are in contradiction to liberal values, TROP has always taken a strong, documented stand against judging individuals by their group identity. In many places on our site we openly denounce harming, harassing or stereotyping any Muslim based on his or her religion.

Our site also has a record of acknowledging and condemning rare acts of violence against Muslims by American criminals, either in the U.S. or overseas. We publicly oppose desecrating the Qur’an and do not even use the term ‘Islamofascism” in our writings. Since we only want to publish truthful information, we welcome dialogue and post any corrections that are proven necessary to us.

We focus on the moral failings of Islam and its incompatibilities with Western values, including women’s rights, democratic freedoms, religious tolerance, and (ironically) freedom of expression among others. Nevertheless, we try to be balanced and accurate in our writing and to avoid using absolutes. We also make a documented effort to discourage bigoted thinking.

Although our site has nothing to do with race, we have let it be known that we are anti-racialist. Over the years, we have championed the cause of Africans, Arabs, Hindus, Buddhists and anyone else victimized in the name of Islam. We have received praise from liberals, conservatives, Jews, Christians, Hindus, atheists, gays and even a few disenchanted Muslims.

Jim Sutter Targets TheReligionofPeace.com

In July of 2007, I was contacted by a man eventually calling himself “Reverend Jim Sutter” regarding my website, TheReligionofPeace.com (TROP).

Sutter at first played the “Bad Cop” under an alias, claiming that ours site is a “hate site:”

“I will make it my business and consider it a solemn duty to condemn and expose the site called thereligionofpeace. IMO it is no different in any discernable way than a site run by Al Qaeda, the KKK, or the Nazi party.”

I replied politely to Sutter, pointing out that he was going to need to do more than just state an opinion, and I challenged him to support what he was saying. I told him that I was open-minded and would make any corrections that he could prove needed to be made. I also directed him to a page on our site in which we plainly separate ourselves from the insidious organizations to which he associated us.

In his reply, Sutter made it rather evident that he did not read the page to which we had directed him:

“You invite me to read “what to do about” which is just another bigoted exhortation to hate & violence. Wow. Then we have you writing this “this makes me suspicious”. That figures too, since paranoia usually accompanies bigotry.”

I then spelled out out for him what he was unwilling to read for himself – that TROP openly and unambiguously denounces all forms of violence and bigotry. The writings that we post which are critical of Islam are solidly supported by the Qur’an, Hadith, Sira (biography of Muhammad) and the historical record.

Sutter then contacted us the next day under his real name, pretending to have seen the site for the first time and clearly wearing the “Good Cop” hat. He complimented us on TROP, but suggested the changes that we needed to make in order to meet with his approval. I generously ignored his earlier correspondence and entered into a lengthy dialogue of about 20 e-mail messages, in which I challenged him to prove that his requested modifications were necessary.

(It is important to note that Sutter never once accused TROP of being either a “hate” site or a “racist” site once he began using his real name. I suspect that he told the URL search engines something entirely different in order to punish me for not backing down to his demands.)

Over the next week or so, I noticed a pattern with Sutter:

1. He would say things that weren’t true. A good example:

   “The FBI states that hate crimes against Muslims currently number higher than against any other group. Those hate crimes include murder, arson, rape, and kidnapping.”

   This is blatantly false, of course. No Muslims have been raped or kidnapped in America because of their religion, and 70% of the targets of religious hate crime are Jewish. (source)

2. When caught, Sutter would always ignore any lies, no matter how freshly told. This happened when I sent him the above link and asked three times where he got his erroneous information. I got no reply. It became obvious that he was making things up, but there was not the slightest bit of shame or even an attempt to divert blame. It was as if he felt entitled to say anything he pleased – all while making his usual claims of “fact, logic and evidence.”

3. Sutter would play games in his replies. Sometimes he would plagiarize entire sections of text from other sources and pretend that they were his own words. Often times he would ignore an argument that wasn’t going his way, and simply not quote it in his reply. Sometimes he would be intentionally naive, and pretend not to understand ideas that were made quite obvious.

When I realized that Sutter was not taking the conversation seriously, I let him know that there was no basis for our continuing the discussion. (I dialogue with sincere objectors, but I simply don’t have time to get into food fights with disingenuous hacks).

It was only about a week later that I began hearing from military families and ordinary Internet users who were unable to get to our site. Despite being unable to make his case against us in open debate, Sutter decided to make good on his original threats to us:

“I’m contacting the proprietors of several databases of internet hate-sites to report thereligionofpeace, this will have the effect of blocking your site from being referenced, linked or quoted on the many discussion forums that bar those listed hate-sites, such as democratic underground.”

After operating for five years without any sort of problems, Secure Computing, SurfControl and SonicWall had TROP blocked overnight by wrongfully classifying our site according to Jim Sutter’s demands… all because we would not adopt his political and theological positions!

The correspondence with Internet censors concerning our site is not public information, but it is obtainable through a court order, since these are public corporations. Only then will I know whether Sutter used his real name, an alias, or had one of his gullible groupies do the dirty work for him. I do know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he is behind the censorship and miscategorizing of our site as well as the many other anti-Jihad sites across the Internet that have suffered recent problems.

Sutter is very good at sounding important. He often recites a small handful of court cases in order to embellish his correspondence with the Internet’s largest censors (although even a small dose of legal research will find that these are not what they appear). Still, there is something terribly wrong with the system when one small bully is allowed to dictate personal ideological standards to large corporations and thus millions of Internet users.

Aftermath

The damage that Jim Sutter and others, including SonicWall, Secure Computing and SurfControl, have done is going to take months, perhaps years to rectify. For my site to be labeled as hate speech, “obscene” or “extreme” merely because we object to the extremist elements of the Islamic religion is anti-intellectual and smacks of McCarthyism.

How is it that a website primarily concerned with ending violence against people just because they worship a different god is labeled extreme and obscene? Have we really reached such a low point in America when one is not free to criticize violence and religious totalitarianism?

The association of TROP by SonicWall and the others with “racist” and “hate” sites is particularly slanderous to me, since I have a strong and provable record of actively opposing bigotry and racism, both professionally and personally. Anti-racialism and the utter ridiculousness of even categorizing people by race is one of the major themes of the novel that I wrote several years ago, for example. I also have a family member, who published a book about her childhood experience in a Nazi concentration camp, and who would be quite surprised by these public slurs.

For Jim Sutter to punish people like me for petty personal grudges is one thing. For companies like Sonic Wall, Secure Computing and SurfControl to go along with it is absolutely unconscionable.

Exhibits

How do the censors rate TROP against sites that are pro-Jihad or blatantly anti-Christian?

Let’s use answering-christianity.com and JihadUnspun.com as examples.

“Answering-Christianity” is a Muslim site that is dedicated to promoting Islam and trashing Christianity using distortion and misinformation. The author once started to create a list of “Christian Terrorist Attacks” that he promised would be “5,000 times worse” than our list. He quit after only a few dozen entries that included such gems as terror attacks by Columbian drug lords and a 40-year-old church bombing by the Klan.

The editors of Jihad Unspun are blatant apologists for Islamic terrorism. They proudly make the connection between Islam and terrorism a lot more forcefully than does TROP, and they even criticize other Muslims for not joining. Recently, they posted a flattering review of Osama Bin Laden’s videotaped address, complimenting the man who massacred thousands of Americans for inviting the survivors to embrace Islam.

Like TROP, Jihad Unspun reports Islamic terrorism. They report suicide bombings as ‘martyrdom attacks’ and provide justification for other ‘Mujahideen’ violence. They also inflate casualties from attack by several factors and even make up attacks that never happened.

So, how do Secure Computing, SurfControl and SonicWall feel about this?

Secure Computing

Secure Computing says that TROP is “Extreme, Violent, Obscene and Mature.” However, it merely categorizes “Answering Christianity” as “Religion and Ideology.” (Secure Computing and Answering Christianity).

Secure Computing also rates “Jihad Unspun” as “General News, Politics and Religion” (Secure Computing and Jihad Unspun)

SurfControl

SurfControl says that TROP is “Violent,” however, the pro-Jihad and consistently unreliable “Jihad Unspun” is categorized as “News.” (SurfControl) One also wonders why the list of terror attacks on TROP counts as violence, but not the list of attacks on IraqBodyCount.net (which is categorized as “Politics”) nor that of Antiwar.com (“News”).

SonicWall

SonicWall is particularly shameful. They say that TROP is “Violence/Hate/Racism” even though we are actually opposed to all three of these. But the company actually ranks the anti-Christian site, “Answering Christianity,” as “Religion” and the pro-terror “Jihad Unspun” site as “News and Media.” (SonicWall and TROP, SonicWall and Answering Christianity, SonicWall and Jihad Unspun).

PhonyRev.com

Also see:

Gates of Vienna: Sutter Strikes Again

Technorati : Foehammer s Anvil, Gates of Vienna, Jim Sutter, Secure Computing SmartFilter, SonicWALL, Surf Control, activism, blog censorship, censorship, censorware
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Updated 11/17/2007: See below for new material!

Mo-Toons

Gates of Vienna: The OIC Takes Note of the DPP

The Danish People’s Party and its election ad campaign involving the new/old Motoon has not escaped the notice of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). The OIC issued this press release a couple of days ago…

Gates of Vienna: The Motoons on the Hustings

Here’s what’s important about this: The threat of Muslim violence hasn’t been part of their deliberations about publication of the cartoon.

The threat of violence should never be a consideration when any group plans peaceful and lawful activities. When you modify your plans in anticipation of a violent reaction, you have ceded control to the Islamists as effectively as if you elected them to the parliament and allowed them to enact the country’s laws.

The simple truth, eloquently stated.

Censorware and Hacking

Armies of Liberation: Yemen Censors Internet Access After al-Badawi Release

Note: Jamal al-Badawi was a mastermind of the USS Cole bombing that killed 17 US sailors.

They re-blocked my website, other news sites and are denying access to all the proxie sites.

Also hacked: Hewar Forums, a dialog forum in Yemen that hosts public figures who respond to questions from members. Hewar asked me to participate. I happily agreed.

(Added 11/7/07):
The Jawa Report – Yemen: “Surrendered” American Elbaneh Receives Terror Verdict In Absentia

So does Yemen have this evildoer in custody – or not? Is their legal system anything more than window dressing? And what else are they trying to cover up by censoring the Net?

USA Today: U.S. technology has been used to block, censor Net for years

Note: This article is from 2/21/2006, but unfortunately, little or nothing has changed since then.

According to this article in USA Today by Kevin Maney, an OpenNet Initiative (ONI) report reveals that Yemen uses censorware from Websense, based in San Diego, and Blue Coat Systems, based in Sunnyville, CA. Burma/Myanmar, the scene of recent widespread protests that were followed by a shutdown of Internet and cellular communications, uses censorware from Fortinet, also based in Sunnyvale.

How about Iran? This is a country that fears an open Internet the way the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz feared fire. When ONI did its study, it found that the predominant Iranian Internet service providers (ISPs) used SmartFilter from Secure Computing of San Jose, Calif.

A peer-reviewed paper published in January by University of Toronto professor Nart Villeneuve names Websense as the filter used by one major Iranian ISP, ParsOnline.

If you hunt around on the Web, you also find that an entity called Ertebatat Faragostar advertises as “the exclusive reseller of SurfControl in Iran.”

SurfControl, based in Scotts Valley, Calif., makes a powerful Web-filtering system.

Requests for comment from Secure Computing, Websense and SurfControl also went unanswered.

The whole Middle East seems to be a gold mine for U.S. Web-filtering companies.

Blue Coat brags in a November press release that quarterly revenue for Blue Coat Middle East leapt 15%, “with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia leading the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries in terms of sales revenue.” The Saudis block political opposition sites, Christian religion sites, pornography and gambling.

Wow. Just wow.

Censorship by Character Assassination

Pajamas Media: Meet Norway’s Answer to Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Racist. Xenophobe. These are just a couple of the epithets Europe’s cultural elite like to hurl at critics of Islamic fundamentalism. Bruce Bawer reports on the character assassination of Hege Storhaug, author of the new book Covered. Uncovered. and a courageous advocate of freedom.

City Journal: Muslim Mau-Mauing, by Rod Dreher

I knew something about ISNA [Islamic Society of North America] and asked Syeed why-if his group truly supported peace and suchlike-its board included members directly linked to Islamic extremism and anti-Semitism, including the notorious Wahhabi-trained Brooklyn imam Siraj Wahhaj. The professorial Syeed dropped his polite mask, shook his fist at me, told me that I would one day “repent,” and compared my question with a Nazi inquisition.

. . . I then joined that Islamic site’s e-mail list-which contained several prominent Dallas Muslims-under my own name. Before the site operators discovered my presence and booted me off, I printed out e-mails in which participants discussed a plan to approach business and religious leaders in town and persuade them to lean on the News’s publisher to fire me as a danger to Muslims. “Dreher needs to be ruined,” one e-mailer wrote. “When people here [sic] the name ‘Rod Dreher’ the image of David Duke should appear in their mind’s eye. So, a campaign must be planned and carefully executed to expose this hate-monger and render him a joke.” Naturally, I publicized the plans and made sure that copies of the e-mails got into the hands of the newspaper’s lawyers. That apparently ended that.

American Thinker: Political Black Ops in Belgium?

James Lewis suspects that much the same may be happening across the pond:

A minor war has broken out in the conservative blogosphere, and it smells suspicious. I don’t have a smidgen of proof for what I suspect, but here’s the story.

. . . But now Charles Johnson, of Little Green Footballs fame, has gotten into a fight with Paul Belien [editor of Brussels Journal]. Forgetting the who-said-what-when minutiae, the question raised by Charles is whether Paul Belien is defending people who are tainted with racist or totalitarian ideas. In particular, the question is whether Paul Belien is too close to the Vlaams Belang party, which is accused of having racist or neo-Nazi associations. LGF is a very good site, and Charles Johnson is understandably passionate about keeping his reputation spotless.

So now we get into a classical hall of mirrors, of claim and counter-claim, and maybe even spy and counter-spy. Because it’s a good guess that the overheated Belgian political scene is full of mudslinging, disinformation, planted stories, and psyops.

. . . It’s a good guess that the Vlaams Belang party has been infiltrated for a long time by government agents. That adds another layer.

Belgium has long been a hotbed of secessionism. The French-speaking Belgians bear deep grudges against the Flemish, and vice versa. It’s pretty bad, much like the American South right after the Civil War.

So in Belgium today, the French-speaking population controls the power centers, while the Flamands work harder, are more productive, and have larger numbers. That doesn’t make the Flemish happy. They are constantly wondering whether to secede from the Walloons.

It is vital therefore, as a matter of survival, for the Walloons to keep the Flemish out of power. Splitting the Flemish vote is crucial, and one way to do that is to tar the most radical Flemish political party.

It is not beyond the ethics of a power elite to smear opponents with the worst political sin in sight, i.e., association with racists and neo-Nazis. . . .

So it’s not impossible that the governing elites are sending agents provocateurs into the ranks of the Flemish Interest party, to parade around in Nazi drag and make nice with White Power sleazoids in the US. . . .

GOV: Disinformation Being Spread by Belgium? (see comments)

Read the comments here for more details. I suspect that Lewis is right, but it’ll be quite awhile before we get to the bottom of this one.

(Updated 11/7/07, 11/17/07)

Anti-jihadist political speech is censored, but…

Incitement to riot and genocide? No problem!

Some activities are not protected under the First Amendment to the US Constitution, and there are valid reasons why they are not. Nothing in the US Constitution requires the admission of a flagrantly neo-Nazi foreign national with a reputation for inciting mob violence and who openly calls for genocide. Both the US and Canada have carelessly agreed to let this “performer” in – and he is currently in the US!

TENC: Oppose Fascist Rock Star’s US Tour with the Truth – Part 1

Nazis: Coming soon to a concert venue near YOU!

Jihadist death threats? No problem!

YouTube (Google) ignores complaints and fails to take down a jihadist death-threat video. Think about it: The whole purpose of this video is de facto censorship by intimidation.

The Jawa Report: Video: Muslim Death Threat Against Mosque Opponent

November 06, 2007

Charles Johnson has the details, but here’s the vid. Despite numerous complaints–and a story in the Daily Mail–the death threat remains on YouTube.

My hope is that it remains up only so that the British authorities can look into it. The video not only shows images of the politician, Alan Craig, who opposes the building of the mosque, but of his family as well.

On the negative side, the video is an implied death threat against the family. But on the positive side it is done to the music of Elvis. So, it’s not all bad.

LGF: YouTube Asked to Curb Jihad Videos

Wed, Nov 7, 2007 at 7:50:26 am PST

Some European politicians are asking YouTube to crack down on the Islamic terrorist videos that are all over the site.

LGF: YouTube Jihadi Arrested, Account Still Active

Sat, Nov 17, 2007 at 3:32:36 pm PST

That YouTube jihadi who threatened British councillor Alan Craig has been arrested.

But his account at YouTube is still active.

A man who placed an “obituary” on YouTube of one of the leading opponents of plans to build Europe’s biggest mosque near the London Olympics site has been arrested by police.

The video, “In memory of Councillor Alan Craig”, features the Leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance party, his wife and two daughters. The two-minute video, which has now be taken down, was added by a man calling himself “abdullah1425″…

Technorati : Ayaan Hirsi Ali, EU, Iran, Islam, Nazism, Saudi Arabia, Surf Control, Websense, YouTube, anti-Semitism, blog censorship, cartoon censorship, censorship, censorware
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We are receiving e-mails right and left (no, actually, they’re all from the “right,” but anyway…) advising that one anti-jihad site after another has been misclassified by various censorware companies, with the end result being that the readers of those blogs are unable to access the blogs from various schools, places of employment, and wi-fi hotspots.

The problem is complicated by the fact that once we manage to get the sites classified correctly, someone comes along and requests the companies to change the classifications back to something like “violence/hate/racism,” and we have to start over.

WE NEED HELP – YOUR FELLOW BLOGGERS NEED YOUR HELP.

Most of these site have a page you can visit to test a url (web address) to see if it’s been blocked. 1389′s been collecting those, and they are listed below. We have also listed below a list of url’s that have been having recurring problems. (If we’ve missed anyone, please let us know in the comments.)

This is easy, but very important: Simply go to the various test pages, enter the url for your favorite blog, and follow the directions to have it reclassified as something like “media,” or “political advocacy,” as appro.

Here are the censorware test pages:

• SurfControl
• SonicWALL
• Barracuda
• SmartFilterWhere
• Contact SafeSurf using the information below.

Contacting SafeSurf:

Feedback/registration form to contact SafeSurf
Note: The SafeSurf form requires you to reveal personal information. If you use the form, we suggest that, to avoid confusion, you enter the name of the website that you are telling them about, not your own website.

SafeSurf
1300-G El Paseo Road #104,
Las Cruces, NM 88001
Press Contact : Ray Soular
Press Phone : (818) 613-1415
E-mail: press@safesurf.com

Here are the sites under attack:

• Jihad Watch
• The Jawa Report
• Foehammer’s Anvil and Foehammer.com (both)
• The Religion of Peace
• 1389 Blog – Antijihadist Tech
• Phony Reverend (Sutter)
• Lady Predator

Technorati : 1389 Blog, Barracuda Networks, Barracuda Web Filter, Foehammer s Anvil, Islam, Jawa Report, Jihad Watch, Jim Sutter, SafeSurf, SonicWALL, Surf Control, blacklisting of antijihadists, censorship, censorware, content filtering, current events, cyberjihadism, cyberwars, e-jihadis

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Jihad Watch has been banned again!

These four censorware firms are known to have blacklisted Jihad Watch:

• Use this form to contact SurfControl
• Use this form to contact SonicWALL; tell them to unblock both Jihad Watch and Lady Predator
• Use this information to contact Barracuda Networks; tell them to unblock both Jihad Watch and The Jawa Report
• Contact SafeSurf using the information below.

Contacting SafeSurf:

Feedback/registration form to contact SafeSurf
Note: The SafeSurf form requires you to reveal personal information. If you use the form, we suggest that, to avoid confusion, you enter the name of the website that you are telling them about, not your own website.

SafeSurf
1300-G El Paseo Road #104,
Las Cruces, NM 88001
Press Contact : Ray Soular
Press Phone : (818) 613-1415
E-mail: press@safesurf.com

More about SurfControl:

SurfControl US:
US office:
SurfControl, Inc.
5550 Scotts Valley Drive
Scotts Valley CA, 95066
General: (831) 440-2500 info@surfcontrol.com
General Fax: (831) 440-2740
Tech Support: (831) 440-2700 support.us@surfcontrol.com
Customer Service: (800) 368-3366 customerservice@surfcontrol.com

SurfControl UK HQ
Company Name: SurfControl PLC
Registered number: 1566321
Place of registration: England and Wales
Registered office address: Riverside, Mountbatten Way,
Congleton, Cheshire,
CW12 1DY, United Kingdom

“SurfControl is the leader in the Content Security market, which analysts expect to reach nearly $2 billion by 2007.”

Little Green Footballs, Jihad Watch, Dhimmi Watch blocked at Florida Power & Light

I received this from someone who wishes to remain anonymous:

3 sites now blocked by Florida Power and Light: LGF and Jihadwatch and Dhimmiwatch. Jihadwatch is newly blocked. This is the message that is given when trying to read the blogs listed:

You are not permitted to access this URL due to FPL’s standard policy. This site may be blocked to help PREVENT ANY COMPUTER VIRUS OUTBREAKS from affecting FPL’s network. However, this site may also be blocked due to it being inappropriate for FPL’s business purpose. If you feel you have reached this page in error, please contact the Information Management Support Center at (305) 552-4357

Can anyone identify the content filtering system in use at Florida Power & Light?

Barracuda Networks is also blocking The Jawa Report

Use this information to contact Barracuda Networks. Tell them to unblock:

• Jihad Watch
• The Jawa Report

Technorati : Barracuda Web Filter, Florida Power & Light, Islam, Jihad Watch, Pat Dollard, Religion of Peace, SafeSurf, Secure Computing SmartFilter, SonicWALL, Surf Control, blacklisting of antijihadists, blog swarm, blogging, censorware, cyberjihadism, cyberwars, jihadism
Del.icio.us : Barracuda Web Filter, Florida Power & Light, Islam, Jihad Watch, Pat Dollard, Religion of Peace, SafeSurf, Secure Computing SmartFilter, SonicWALL, Surf Control, blacklisting of antijihadists, blog swarm, blogging, censorware, cyberjihadism, cyberwars, jihadism
Ice Rocket : Barracuda Web Filter, Florida Power & Light, Islam, Jihad Watch, Pat Dollard, Religion of Peace, SafeSurf, Secure Computing SmartFilter, SonicWALL, Surf Control, blacklisting of antijihadists, blog swarm, blogging, censorware, cyberjihadism, cyberwars, jihadism

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We have now received an interesting bit of information from Foehammer’s Anvil, that two of these companies are merging. See WebSense to Acquire Surfcontrol. According to the press release from WebSense, part of their interest in SurfControl is:

All of SurfControl’s solutions for Web, e-mail and endpoint security are backed by industry-leading threat detection technologies, delivered by SurfControl’s Global Threat Experts who work 24/7 to provide customers with dynamic zero-day protection. The company protects more than 16 million users in over 25,000 customers worldwide, and employs more than 600 people in offices across Europe, the Americas, and Asia/Pacific.

The acquisition is scheduled for completion on October 2nd and 3rd. LittleGreenFootballs.com, which previously had been blocked by WebSense, but had managed to get itself re-categorized earlier this year, is now receiving reports that it’s being blocked as pornography by WebSense. Is it possible that the merging of these two databases is causing the problem, or is it something else? It remains to be seen what affect the merger of these two web-filtering giants will have on freedom of access to information via the Internet in many public places.

Technorati : Foehammer s Anvil, Ft. Hard Knox, Islam, Surf Control, Websense, blacklisting of antijihadists, blog swarm, blogging, censorship, censorware, current events, cyberjihadism, cyberwars, e-jihadis, littlegreenfootballs
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Good news! Foehammer has received this reply from SonicWALL:

Dear Customer:

You submitted the following rating request to SonicWALL CFS Support: Rate atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com as “31.Web Communications” at 2007-09-01 17:25:00.257

The request has been reviewed and rated as:
“25.Political/Advocacy Groups” at 2007-09-03 03:20:13.787

You should see this rating change reflected within 1 to 3 business days.

SonicWALL CFS Support

More good news: SurfControl has reclassified Jihad Watch and Doctor Bulldog!

Stein hoist to Sounder and Gramfan for their assistance!

On the other hand…

Secure Computing SmartFilter is blocking The Religion of Peace.

Little Green Footballs appears to be having problems with Websense.

Websense unfortunately requires registration to use their site lookup tool, a policy which is highly objectionable in itself. So much for accountability to the public!

So I used the Websense Email Form to write this note:

It has come to my attention that Websense is blocking the well-respected counterterrorist/antijihadist site, Little Green Footballs (http://littlegreenfootballs.com).

I have also noted that Websense requires registration in order to use the Site Lookup Tool. This is just plain wrong! It discourages public accountability by invading people’s privacy in order to get the information about whether a site they want to access may be misclassified.

Little Green Footballs has been around for a long time. Charles Johnson, who runs the site, does not post or allow to be posted any bigoted or otherwise inappropriate content. It contains nothing that would make it objectionable even for the K-12 environment. Websense should classify it accordingly.

Sites such as Little Green Footballs also contain valuable security information that everybody should know, and that are useful in the corporate, academic, nonprofit, and government environments. In fact, I believe that anybody working at a government site, including state and local governments, as well as schools, should be REQUIRED to view counterterrorist and other security-related sites on a regular basis, because protecting everyone is part of their job!

But when I clicked to send it, the Websense email form rejected it because I had entered a “public” (i.e., web-based) email address. Another barrier to accountability!

Even though I was thoroughly disgusted by that petty little ploy, I went ahead and sent the form, but I had to give a personal email address that I would much rather not have used.

“What’s next?”

• Contact Websense to request that Little Green Footballs be reclassified:
  

  Websense Corporate Headquarters
  Gene Hodges, CEO
  Douglas C. Wride, President and CFO
  10240 Sorrento Valley Rd
  San Diego, California 92121 USA
  Tel: +1 800.723.1166 or +1 858.320.8000
  Fax: +1 858.458.2950
  Websense Email Form
  (Note: Websense does not accept the form if sender’s email address is on a web-based server, such as Yahoo. If that’s a problem, then write or call them up and complain!)

  Investor relations:
  Kate Patterson, VP of Investor Relations
  Tel: 877-273-7379 or 858-320-8072
  Fax: 858-458-2959
  Email: kpatterson@websense.com

• If you are registered at LGF, please post a comment here regarding any information that you obtain.
• Use this form to contact Secure Computing SmartFilter.
  • Request that The Religion of Peace be given a more appropriate classification.
• Find out whether these sites are blocked where you work, study, or use WiFi:
  • Foehammer’s Anvil
  • Little Green Footballs
  • Jihad Watch
  • The Jawa Report
  • Atlas Shrugs
  • Gates of Vienna
  • Winds of Jihad
  • The Religion of Peace
  • Doctor Bulldog
  • Every other antijihadist site that you want to access
• If it appears that antijihadist websites are being blocked:
  • Try to identify the censorware or content filtering system that is blocking your access
  • Use this form to check any site’s classification at SurfControl
  • Use this form to check any site’s classification at SonicWALL
  • Use this form to check any site’s classification at Secure Computing SmartFilter (also WebWasher; registration required)
  • Use this form (registration required) to check any site’s classification at Websense
• Two quick ways to pass this information along to us:
  • Click here to post a comment on Foehammer’s Anvil
  • Click here to use the Contact Us form on this website
• Bookmark this link for rolling updates:
  • Stop Blog Censorship!
• Pass the above link along to others who are willing to help.

Technorati : Atlas Shrugs, Islam, Religion of Peace, Secure Computing SmartFilter, SonicWALL, Surf Control, Websense, blacklisting of antijihadists, blog swarm, blogging, censorship, censorware, current events, cyberjihadism, cyberwars, e-jihadis
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Ladies and gentlemen, we have a lot more work to do!

For rolling updates on this topic:
Stop Blog Censorship!

SonicWALL insults our intelligence…

I recently submitted a request to SonicWALL to take the Atlas Shrugs blog off their blacklist. In return, I received this obnoxious form letter:

From: cfssupport@sonicwall.com
Subject: Your rating submission to SonicWALL
Date: 1 Sep 2007 13:30:11 -0700

Dear Customer:

You submitted the following rating request to SonicWALL CFS Support: Rate atlasshrugs2000.typepad.com as “33.News and Media” at 2007-08-31 05:25:00.697

The request has been reviewed and rated as: “1.Violence/Hate/Racism” at 2007-09-01 13:28:03.150

You should see this rating change reflected within 1 to 3 business days.

Thank you for your request,

SonicWALL CFS Support

The Violence/Hate/Racism rating is what the site already has. In other words, the form letter says that SonicWALL is refusing to re-rate this site. They are giving no explanation. And it doesn’t matter to SonicWALL that there is no violence, hate, or racism whatsoever on that site.

As if all that were not enough, there’s SurfControl!

According to a comment posted at Foehammer’s Anvil:

Surf Control continues to run amok. This morning they blocked Doctor Bulldog’s site as well. It seems like this week has brought a sudden burst of this nonsense from this “gatekeeper”. I wonder what’s up with the increase in activity in this area.

SurfControl still classifies Jihad Watch as “Intolerance and Hate.”

Contact SurfControl and request that they reclassify Doctor Bulldog and Jihad Watch.

“What else can I do?”

• Contact SonicWALL, Inc. directly at:
  

  Matt Medeiros, President and CEO
  SonicWALL, Inc.
  1143 Borregas Avenue
  Sunnyvale, CA 94089-1306
  USA

  P +1 888.557.6642
  P +1 408.745.9600
  F +1 408.745.9300

  Email contact form

• Pass the link to this article along to your family and friends.
  • Ask them to use this form to contact SonicWALL and request that they reclassify Atlas Shrugs.
  • Ask them to use this form to contact SurfControl and request that they reclassify Doctor Bulldog and Jihad Watch.
• Find out whether these sites are blocked where you work, study, or use WiFi:
  • Foehammer’s Anvil
  • The Religion of Peace
  • Jihad Watch
  • The Jawa Report
  • Atlas Shrugs
  • Doctor Bulldog
  • Any other antijihadist sites that you want to access.
• If antijihadist websites are blocked:
  • Try to find out what type of censorware or content filtering system is blocking your access.
• Here are two quick ways to pass this information along to us:
  • Click here to post a comment on Foehammer’s Anvil
  • Click here to use the Contact Us form on this website
• Bookmark this link for rolling updates:
  Stop Blog Censorship!

Technorati : Atlas Shrugs, Doctor Bulldog, Foehammer s Anvil, Islam, Jihad Watch, Religion of Peace, SonicWALL, Surf Control, The Jawa Report, blacklisting of antijihadists, blog swarm, blogging, censorship, censorware, current events, cyberjihadism, cyberwars, e-jihadis
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Ice Rocket : Atlas Shrugs, Doctor Bulldog, Foehammer s Anvil, Islam, Jihad Watch, Religion of Peace, SonicWALL, Surf Control, The Jawa Report, blacklisting of antijihadists, blog swarm, blogging, censorship, censorware, current events, cyberjihadism, cyberwars, e-jihadis

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Stop Blog Censorship!

Foehammer says,

It appears that SurfControl has now reclassified the Anvil from ‘Games’ to ‘Blogs & Forums.’ This is probably a better classification, but I guarantee that’s going to keep the Anvil in many spam bins at workplaces. Well, at least it should be free for lunch.

Check it here.

Anyone else know of more censor software companies along the same lines as SurfControl and SonicWALL?

More work to do:

• Jihad Watch is still classified as “Intolerance and Hate.” Contact SurfControl.
• Atlas Shrugs: Atlas Banned in Charlotte, NC – Contact SonicWALL
• Bookmark this link for rolling updates:
  Stop Blog Censorship!

Technorati : Atlas Shrugs, Foehammer s Anvil, Islam, Jihad Watch, SonicWALL, Surf Control, blacklisting of antijihadists, blog swarm, blogging, censorship, censorware, current events, cyberjihadism, cyberwars, e-jihadis
Del.icio.us : Atlas Shrugs, Foehammer s Anvil, Islam, Jihad Watch, SonicWALL, Surf Control, blacklisting of antijihadists, blog swarm, blogging, censorship, censorware, current events, cyberjihadism, cyberwars, e-jihadis
Ice Rocket : Atlas Shrugs, Foehammer s Anvil, Islam, Jihad Watch, SonicWALL, Surf Control, blacklisting of antijihadists, blog swarm, blogging, censorship, censorware, current events, cyberjihadism, cyberwars, e-jihadis

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We have won one battle!

An Anvil Victory against Censorship: a Victory for All confirms that SonicWALL and Panera Bread will no longer be censoring Foehammer’s Anvil. 1389 would like to thank all of you who participated in this effort.

But the war is far from over.

“The war is far from over? What’s that supposed to mean?”

It means that this is not the time for us to rest.

Here’s an excerpt from the comments that follow the above article:

# 2 ISLAMSFORLOSERS (US) Aug 28th, 2007 at 9:02 pm

Good news! However, for what it’s worth SurfControl blocks access to this site and now to Jihad Watch as well. Makes one wonder who owns these gatekepers of the Internet. It wouldn’t be surprising if the dirty oil money of Riyadh is behind a lot of this.

# 3 Sounder (Canada) Aug 28th, 2007 at 9:57 pm

Here we go again! Go to the Surf Control site and select “Test A Site” on the menu. Proceed from there.

• Foehammer.net is currently rated “Games” right now.
• Jihad Watch is currently rated “Intolerance & Hate”
• Dhimmi Watch is currently rated “is not in our list”

Surf Control defines Intolerence & hate as follows:

• Advocating or inciting degradation or attack of specified populations or institutions based on associations such as religion, race, nationality, gender, age, disability, or sexual orientation
• Promoting a political or social agenda that is supremacist in nature and/or exclusionary of others based on their race, religion, nationality, gender, age, disability, or sexual orientation
• Holocaust revisionist/denial sites and other revisionist sites that encourage hate
• Coercion or recruitment for membership in a gang* or cult**
• Militancy, extremist
• Flagrantly insensitive or offensive material, including lack of recognition or respect for opposing opinions and beliefs

NOTE: We do not include news, historical, or press incidents that may include the above criteria (except in graphic examples).

*A gang is defined as: a group whose primary activities are the commission of felonious criminal acts, which has a common name or identifying sign or symbol, and whose members individually or collectively engage in criminal activity in the name of the group.

**A cult is defined as: a group whose followers have been deceptively and manipulatively recruited and retained through undue influence such that followers’ personalities and behavior are altered. Leadership is all-powerful, ideology is totalistic, and the will of the individual is subordinate to the group. Sets itself outside of society.

Again, all Foehammer readers please go to the site and suggest a new category. Do the same for Jihad Watch.

They apparently do not have email address collection or a auto-responder set up to respond to you.

# 4 Sounder (Canada) Aug 28th, 2007 at 9:58 pm

ISLAMSFORLOSERS Thanks for pointing this problem out!

Here’s what to do now:

1. Visit the Surf Control site.
2. Select “Test a Site” from the menu at the top.
3. Suggest a more accurate classification for Foehammer.net and for Jihadwatch.com.
4. Test some other sites, and if you find any more that are wrongly classified, please select more accurate classifications for them also.
5. Bookmark this link for rolling updates:
   Stop Blog Censorship!

Technorati : Islam, Panera Bread, SonicWALL, Surf Control, blacklisting of antijihadists, blogging, censorship, current events, cyberwars
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