Optusnet blocking a news site. What to do?

[TerraHertz]

There are many news sites on various topics that I visit now and then.
One of them http://iceagenow.info  has seemed to be unreachable for months.
No response at all. I'd thought it must be offline.

On 20160225 I got around to seeing if I could find out what happened to it.

http://www.isitdownrightnow.com/  says it's up, no history of problems.

http://web.archive.org/web/20160305060935/http://iceagenow.info/
Archive.org sees it, and the site is and has been continuously active.

ping iceagenow.info  184.168.42.1   times out. Saved results:

Tracing route to p3nlhg274c1274.shr.prod.phx3.secureserver.net [184.168.42.1]
over a maximum of 30 hops:
  1    <1 ms    <1 ms    <1 ms  192.168.0.1        my cable modem
  2    10 ms    11 ms    12 ms  10.64.0.1          something optusnet.
  3     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  4     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  5     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  6     *        *        *     Request timed out.
  7    11 ms    22 ms    11 ms  210.49.109.14
  8  mas6-fe0.gw.optusnet.com.au [211.29.138.8]  reports: Destination host unreachable.
Trace complete.


who.is 184.168.42.1
NetRange:       184.168.0.0 - 184.168.255.255
CIDR:           184.168.0.0/16
NetName:        GO-DADDY-COM-LLC



who.is  iceagenow.info
Registrar Info: Name  GoDaddy.com, LLC
Expires On  July 24, 2017
ns65.domaincontrol.com  216.69.185.43      (pings OK)
ns66.domaincontrol.com  208.109.255.43

Registrant Contact Information:
     Name: Robert Felix
     City: Bellevue
     State: Washington
     Zip: 98009
     Country: US
     Phone: +1.4254447467
     Email: rwfelix@juno.com



who.is  210.49.109.14
   inetnum:        210.49.0.0 - 210.49.255.255
   netname:        OPTUSINTERNET-AU

who.is  211.29.138.8
   inetnum:        211.28.0.0 - 211.31.255.255
   netname:        OPTUSINTERNET-AU


So, apparently the Australian carrier Optusnet (who are my cable ISP) is blocking iceagenow.info.
But why? It's just a minor 'climate change' focused news site. Nothing special at all. I don't encounter access problems with any of the other news aggregator sites I read, and many of them are far more radical than that one.

-------------------------------------------------
20160226
https://who.is/whois/optusnet.com.au
Registrant Contact Email:        Visit whois.ausregistry.com.au for Web based WhoIs

whois.ausregistry.com.au
Tech Contact Name   Domain Administrator IT-Web
Tech Contact Email   domain@optus.com.au
Name Server   ns1.optusnet.com.au
Name Server IP   203.2.75.2
Name Server   ns2.optusnet.com.au
Name Server IP   203.2.75.12

----------------------------

20160226
Sent a complaint email to optus domain management. No response, as expected.
Also an informing email to rwfelix@juno.com  (this bounced)


That pretty much exhausts my web-fu. Can anyone suggest what to do next?
I want to find out WHY Optusnet are blocking it, and if possible get them to stop doing it.

Also is anyone in other countries seeing it blocked?

Edit to add: Or perhaps the iceagenow server has an IP-block list that includes the Optusnet IP range? Perhaps due to obnoxious crawler behavior. I know I have such a list on my own site's server.
How to find out?

[MK14]

I can see it, now, just fine. (UK).

[nctnico]

Use a proxy to go around these kind of blockades but do install an adblocker to keep virusses out!

[MK14]

Actually the website says this on one of the pages:
(There are a large bunch of other comments on the page)

Brian J Kibel
JANUARY 7, 2016 AT 4:17 PM
I am in Melbourne Australia. Just before Christmas, your site was put on blocked list. Under Australian laws, any small pressure group can apply and have a site blocked. You cannot get a list of blocked sites, nor can you appeal a blockage unless you can organise a mass protest at political level.

Source, for those that can get it:

http://iceagenow.info/contact/

EDIT: It's your own fault for deciding to live in North Korea/Iran etc.

Come to the West, for free and open, freedom of speech!

[Muttley Snickers]

No go for me either even that last contact one posted above, I'm with Optus Cable as well.

One's in red indicated unavailable if that's any help.

[HAL-42b]

Option #1 - Install DNSSec and DNSCrypt and use an independent DNS server (google has one). Verify manually that your browser actually uses DNSSec. Permanent solution, requires a bit of reading.

Option #2 - Enter Google Translate and enter the url you are trying to see. Translate from English to UK English

[cimmo]

I am using Telstra as my ISP and the website loads OK.

[TerraHertz]

Option #1 - Install DNSSec and DNSCrypt and use an independent DNS server (google has one). Verify manually that your browser actually uses DNSSec. Permanent solution, requires a bit of reading.

Not sure that would help. Optus and the DNS system are not blocking DNS lookup of iceagenow, since I can get the IP address correctly. They are blocking the actual site IP address.

Option #2 - Enter Google Translate and enter the url you are trying to see. Translate from English to UK English

Ah ha... um... wait, google translate only has one English version. And it won't let me select 'translate from English to English'. I guess because if it did then everyone would use it as a proxy, precisely for situations like this.

Mutters: I wonder if Trump survives to be president, and actually hangs the 0.001 percenters from street lamps, whether there'd be any ripple-on effect in Australia? We have a more than a few deserving of nooses too.

[edavid]

How do you know the website isn't blocking Optusnet users?  Seems just as likely (actually more likely).

[TerraHertz]

How do you know the website isn't blocking Optusnet users?  Seems just as likely (actually more likely).

I don't. And did ask that (down the bottom or original post), as well as does anyone know how to find out?
Edit: Though the post quoting an iceagenow reader saying it's been blocked is pretty suggestive.

Use a proxy to go around these kind of blockades but do install an adblocker to keep virusses out!

Well, it's a matter of priorities. Firstly I don't like installing extra crap on my PC, for maintainability reasons. But yes, free proxies are pits of rubbish/risky advertising. So this isn't an appealing solution.
And I can live without iceagenow, but experiencing abusive censorship like this (if that's what it is) really bothers me. So my primary interest is to figure out who is responsible, and why. Fixing the problem is secondary, and not necessarily purely a technical issue.

[edavid]

How do you know the website isn't blocking Optusnet users?  Seems just as likely (actually more likely).

I don't. And did ask that (down the bottom or original post), as well as does anyone know how to find out?

Call the website owner and ask him?

[Brumby]

I checked other domains on the shared server as well as checking for blacklisting.  Nothing shows up as a problem.

I'm on Optus cable - and I, too, cannot get to it.

[AntiProtonBoy]

I would ditch optus if I had a choice. iiNet is a good alternative.

[Brumby]

ADSL vs Cable?

[jeremy]

Have you tried calling Optus?

Edit: or perhaps tweeting them? I'm not a fan of twitter, but damn do the vodafone support people respond fast on there.

[Muttley Snickers]

I would ditch optus if I had a choice.

 

Yep agreed but what do you do, better the devil you know and you are then compelled to change all your email addresses and have to notify everyone of the change including a number of Government departments for some of us, the stuff of nightmares and they know it.

I understand that this is not the pissed off with Optus thread but my biggest grievance is that we are receiving frequent blank phone calls at all hours from 0011976000, possibly some type of automated war dialler which appears to be originating from or routed through a university in India, last year we notified Optus to put a stop to it and shortly after the calls did cease.

Recently the calls started again so I notified Optus to put an end to it and after a two hour conversation explaining the situation and relaying to them the call logs which they had previously asked us to record over a period of time they notified us that it was an overseas source which we already knew and they couldn't do anything about it, yet I explained that they had managed to put a stop to it before and then after pulling up our history they indicated that they never did anything about it in the first instance because they couldn’t and if it stopped then it was purely a coincidence yet we didn’t know any better and took it for granted that they were on the job.

I then informed the Optus supervisor that we did not wish to receive calls from overseas at all and never did, he said that they can only bar local and national calls so we will simply have to put up with it, we are already on the do not call register but I might have to write a letter of complaint to a greater authority, It would seem that they can readily block certain IP addresses but have big trouble when it comes to restricting overseas calls and when it relates to assisting loyal customers Optus are pretty bloody useless.

Have you tried calling Optus?

 

[Halcyon]

Log a fault with Optus? If you don't get satisfactory answers or a response from them, lodge a complaint with the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman (TIO). It may be the case they aren't deliberately blocking the site at all. The site may have blocked Optusnet due to abuse from other Optus users?

[Rerouter]

Ok found this, and believe its relevant, It could be a non dedicated server meaning another site hosted on the same machine may be what triggered optus,
https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2131349

The furthest i get is 211.29.138.8 before it returns host unreachable, which is optus's DNS which pretty clearly points at optus blocking it,
For location sake, that is the Sydney DNS, it may not be blocked in another state,

[Stupid Beard]

The quick and easy way around it is to just download the Tor Browser and use Tor. It's pretty painless and doesn't affect your normal browser(s) at all.

[Rerouter]

Oh i really couldn't give a toss, its easy to get around, and if your after a site in particular and its not responding most will immediately try a cached or archived copy, Its both a blessing and a curse how robust the internet is on the short term,

[VK3DRB]

Big Brother knows what is good for you. If he blocks the site, it is good for you.

Optus is owned by the Government of Singapore.  I dumped Optus after their owners executed Van Tuong Nguyen.

Get rid of them and go to Telstra. Telstra has improved greatly. I get 120 Mb/s download (not a typo), 500GB per month, free phone rental, free phone calls... $80 per month. Almost no downtime in many years.

[Muttley Snickers]

See Wilfred pointed it out earlier and I happen to agree, I just despise Telstra for a number of reasons but have also come to hate Optus as well, a $59 dollar plan costs on average $69 and there are additional costs for a paper invoice and paying the account at a post office instead of granting them access to our business account for direct debit, a compromise on that account could put us out of business and we don't risk it for anyone.

Also we have a particular mobile for incoming calls from customers which has been on a ten dollar mobile plan since 1990 and Optus sent me some nasty letters indicating that the plan was no longer available and that the next one up was $29 so I sent them a two page letter with all sorts of hollow threats, a fortnight later I get a reply indicating that they are going to dump the ten dollar plan and put me on a nine dollar plan, FFS. 

[Brumby]

... instead of granting them access to our business account for direct debit, a compromise on that account could put us out of business and we don't risk it for anyone.

I can understand that.

Just an idea ... Run a separate account for DD's.  I know it's a hassle, but it isolates that problem from the critical account.

I have a totally separate account for internet payments - my trust in PayPal being one reason.

[Muttley Snickers]

We already have multiple accounts and that particular business account is for wages and outgoings, yes I fully understand that if funds went astray from that account we would be reimbursed by the bank at some point in time, in the interim period as director I would have to wear the outgoings from personal funds as we don't have nor ever needed an overdraft facility, simply not interested in granting any more people access than need be particularly a mob that I neither like or overly trust.

 

[Brumby]

I hear you.