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Banned in Boston
By adamg on Sat, 04/21/2007 - 4:36pm
Jesus. So Boing Boing can't be accessed via Boston's nascent WiFi network. Simple technical mistake? One can only hope, because banning sites like Boing Boing on purpose would make us look as stupid as, oh, I dunno, pretty stupid.
Via Ari and John Daley, who simply says: This is not good.
Update: The above applies only to the citywide network Tom Menino is building. Boing Boing comes up fine on BostonWiFi, a separate wireless system installed in several neighborhood commercial districts by Boston Main Streets, which the city partly funds. I know this because the first thing I did when I read the above was drive down to Adams Park in Roslindale Square with my laptop to see if I could get to Boing Boing via BostonWiFi. I could. Also see in the comments below for how this probably isn't an act of revenge by the mayor.
Update to the update: Here is why Boing Boing got banned. It's pretty stupid, but nothing to do with Menino's feelings (if any) toward the site itself.
So why does Boston need two publicly funded WiFi networks? No, wait, make that: Why does Boston need three publicly funded WiFi networks? Every branch of the Boston Public Library now has free WiFi - and I was getting an excellent signal from the Roslindale branch in the middle of Adams Park, along with BostonWiFi (BostonWiFi, truth be told, kinda sucked because while my connection was good, pages were coming up as if the access point were connected to the Internet via carrier pigeon).
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Comments
It's a beautiful day ...
Adam, it's a beautiful day. Please don't infuriate me with your questions.
Why the city should be involved in providing a service that private industry already offers, is beyond me.
Maybe not the site per se, but words on it
Local censorware expert Seth Finkelstein writes the censor message that came up is indicative of the city system thinking users are innocent babes who need to be protected from naughty words of the sort that might appear on some Boing Boing pages. He adds it would be interesting if Boing Boing filed a freedom-of-information request to find out exactly why it was blocked.
Finkelstein's explanation doesn't make one feel much better about the network, but it does make more sense than the ranting spreading across the blogosphere about how Tom Menino is doing this to try to squash Boing Boing because they wrote a lot about the Mooninites. Please. Yes, Mistah Mayuh can be thin skinned, but anybody who thinks he's specifically out to get Boing Boing is probably seriously overestimating the amount of time he spends online (if he were so ruthless, he would've made sure BostonWiFi blocked the site as well).
mmm, self-importance
Anybody who believes Menino "personally" did this to get back at Boing Boing for the Mooninites (what) is attaching some serious bits of self-importance on the site and its brand of Internet subculture as well.
I mean, can't you just see Menino in his office, all fired up and hopping mad, tapping at a keyboard?
"Whazsis?" he asks an aide.
"Uh, that's the mouse," the aide says.
"No, whazsis onna computah?"
"That's a website called Boing Boing."
"BOINGBOING!" the mayor seethes, eyes narrowing down to narrower than usual. "They wrote bout the hoax 'vices, right?"
"Yes, sir, I believe they did."
"Well. Lettuzban this Bang Bang. Nobody calls Mayuh Menino a... whad they call me?"
"I'm not sure, sir, I haven't read the site."
The Mayor smashes a mayoral fist on the mayoral desk, which resounds with a mayoral thud.
"BAN IT ANYWAY! ...in QUINCY MAHKET! That'll showem!"
"Very well, sir, I'll have IT ban it from the free WiFi hotspots right away."
Satisfied with a job well done, Menino next tries to order out for lunch but somehow manages to get a singing telegram instead.
Can someone do me a favor?
I would be thrilled to find that Menino's web police are blocking access to my site. Talk about a badge of honor.
Can someone try, and if it's blocked, send me a screen capture image of the "Mumbles has blocked access to this site" screen?
That would absolutely make my day.
Go to Boing Boing
Click on the initial link in my post - they have (or had, last I checked) - a copy of the banninator message. And if you want to see how to get your site banned, you can parse it out from this post.
that's it?
All you have to do to be Banned In Boston is include a Google link with the Safe Search feature turned off in the URL?
Sheesh. Talk about anticlimactic. And here I thought it was due to the incessant use of the phrase "unintentional Goatse."
Goatse might do it, too
But wasn't that posted *after* the guy discovered he couldn't get to Boing Boing?
But Goatse also didn't work as a stop-phrase on that other city network in Roslindale. Rozzie rules! :-).
it's a boingboing favorite
Any time someone spots a photo of hands anywhere remotely near an O-shaped object, BoingBoing goes GOATSE LOL. It's pretty much akin to snickering every time you hear the number 69.
heh heh, 69.