I am writing to follow up with you regarding correspondence with a member of your team several weeks ago. I inquired about a domain that seems to be on your auto-bury list. Granted, you have never admitted to an auto-bury list, but the statistics speak for themselves. In the first link, it is obvious that the last story that was not buried was also popular and hit the front page 184 days ago. As of this writing, it has 903 Diggs. Not too shabby. However, in the second link, it appears that every single story submitted since then has been buried. That includes a total of 25 stories. One of them is from less than 24 hours ago and was buried with 2 Diggs. As an avid user of your service, I don’t think it would be off the mark to say that you are burying stories internally given that it is very rare for stories with less than 5-10 Diggs to be buried from my observations (and you know how often I wander the halls of Digg). I’m going to go a step further and make a claim that you are not only burying stories internally; you have a method of burying domains after an arbitrary amount of time has elapsed since the story was submitted. Here was a story from the domain that I submitted that got buried with 45 Diggs. Somehow, it accrued another 60 after it was buried. I have a hard time believing that the democratic voice of Diggers was responsible for this story’s burial. Similarly, these twostories are good Digg content, and I think that a good number of people would agree with my claim…(more)
We’re all familiar with Digg.com’s so-called “bury brigade,” which is a group of Diggers that seem to enjoy burying stories they disagree with, especially from sites, bloggers, or other Digg users that they don’t like. FHK has an archive of stories on this very topic, which is also part of the resist! censorship campaign.
Well, here are a couple of articles from earlier this year, written by bloggers who did some research on the theory that the Digg administrators may be burying stories, internally:
Now, why on earth would they do that?!Follow the money trail. Digg’s loyalty lies with its investors.
Several weeks ago, FHK’s Orlando provided a list of articles to read about the Digg Bury Brigade, and the buzz on the net about a possible problem with Digg, internally. One of the articles above was on the list plus these:
To our amazement and disgust, some of us have recently discovered that access to legitimate news and political sites – especially antijihadist sites, including Foehammer’s Anvil and Jihad Watch – is being blocked at many WiFi sites, workplaces, schools, government buildings, and other locations. This blacklisting is done automatically by content-control software, also known as “censorware.”
Generally, an outside company is in charge of setting up the “censorware”. Depending on how it is set up, the censorware will block everything that falls into certain broad categories – not just blatant pornography, but anything having to do with sexuality, drugs, tobacco, alcohol, weapons, and violence. All too often, it also excludes anything “politically incorrect” that someone might conceivably classify as “bigotry” or “hate speech.” In other words, it locks out a huge range of sites offering news and views that are vital to effective participation in American society.
Unless someone knows how, and is willing, to loosen those restrictions, adult voters and taxpayers will find themselves treated like small children who cannot be trusted to make up their own minds. Forget about enjoying a broader range of political news and opinion than what the mainstream media conglomerates deign to provide. If you’re traveling, or if you are located where you have no other way to get to the Internet, you’re out of luck.
Political speech – especially “unpopular” political speech, or speech that makes some people uneasy – is exactly the type of speech that our Founders most wanted to protect. It’s also the type of speech that is most often shut down by the current wave of “political correctness”.
The coffeehouse has a venerable tradition as a place for reading and sharing newspapers, for socializing, and for exchanging news and ideas. Attempts to suppress this freedom of expression took the form of closing the coffeehouses or of prohibiting coffee itself, which proved largely futile. Nowadays, we rely on the Internet café to meet the same needs in a slightly different way. Too bad that the technology itself, which potentially lets us share information, exercise our freedoms, and express our creativity, is being misused to narrow the range of ideas that we are allowed to debate.
Where is this censorship going to end? There’s already a scarcity of printed news that addresses the issues of jihadism or the dangers to our freedom and our way of life posed by the growing Islamization of the U.S. And neither television news, nor our elective officials, even acknowledge that there might be a problem.
Food for thought: If we did have a newspaper that covered those topics, do you suppose someone would complain if we were to take it into a Panera Bread store to read while we’re eating? What would our response be if someone did raise a fuss? Just askin’…
If you’ve visited this blog before, or if you’ve already met 1389 elsewhere on the Web, you’ll know that I’ve never been afraid to “stir the pot” whenever it needs to be stirred. Nobody has attempted to shut down 1389 Blog, probably because it hasn’t built up a big enough audience yet. Even so, this issue affects all of us, bloggers and readers alike. Keep in mind that the blogs you like to read won’t be able to survive if it becomes too easy to stop their readers from seeing the blogs!
So here’s what to do:
Contact Panera Bread at:
Ronald M. Shaich, Chairman and CEO Panera Bread 6710 Clayton Road Richmond Heights, MO 63117 Tel: (314) 633-7100 Fax: (314) 633-7200
Since then, Foehammer and 1389 have been doing some research, and believe the Anvil (and probably other anti-jihadist sites) have been placed onto “blacklists” at various American and international companies.
Foehammer is requesting readers to advise if they have experienced this same problem, and to let him know, in this comment section. (For more information about so-called “hate-speech” filtering, see here.)
I was using free Wi-Fi service at Panera Bread last weekend, and found that Foehammer’s Anvil was blocked from there – no reason was given. Other bloggers have written about censorship at Panera Bread here, and here…particularly the use of SonicWall Filtering.
Meanwhile, what can we do about Panera Bread and SonicWall?
The WordPress blogging system will allow more features to be added to the blog, but the purpose will be the same. It’ll be an antijihadist/techie blog, as it is now, with emphasis on exposing jihadism and particularly cyberjihadism, and of providing access to the technical news, tools, and techniques that help antijihadist activists to be more effective on the Web.
We offer news, views, and tech tools for the antijihadist activist: Web 2.0, mobile computing, tech tools and tips, confronting e-jihadism, censorship and media spin. We also offer news and information on the Balkans counterjihad, Serbia, Russia, and the Orthodox Christian Church.
1389 was the year of the Battle of Kosovo. The Serbian army, along with some allies, under the leadership of Prince Saint Lazar, knowing that they were about to die, sacrificed themselves to fight the Turkish invasion to a standstill. Their sacrifice prevented much of Europe from being overrun at that time. In their honor, I have chosen 1389 as the name of this blog, and as my nom de guerre.
For the record:
1389 Blog – Antijihadist Tech is a team blog. There are several blog authors and admins, including both men and women.
1389 is the founder and primary admin. 1389 is a female.
Articles authored by someone other than 1389 will be identified as such. Look for a byline, a category tag identifying the author, or an external link to the source of the article.
For anyone who has problems: try closing your browser, deleting all cookies that end in “@blogger.com”, and then start all over again. That sometimes clears up problems with Blogger.
Welcome to our resource page! Scroll down to learn more!
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”
- Winston Churchill
We Have Tons of Articles!
Want to see them all? Click on this Stop Blog Censorship! category link to view all of our articles about blog censorship and how to combat it, starting with the newest.
Our articles are filled with practical information about what to do if your blog is being blacklisted via censorware.
We also track instances of hacking, threats, and other efforts to muzzle freedom of expression in the blogosphere.
There’s been a real problem lately with people maliciously making false reports to “censorware” providers, so as to inhibit access to conservative blogs, especially those that discuss counter-terrorism issues. We are also greatly concerned with other censorship issues, including the recent examples of fatwas and other threats made against bloggers for publishing political cartoons.
FAQ
“Why are counterterrorist/antijihadist blogs under attack?”
We are exposing some truly evil people, and they are fighting back. That’s to be expected.
If you doubt that our adversaries mean business, put your ears on and listen to Foehammer’s 9/21/07 podcast.
“What about terrorist propaganda and training sites? I am in favor of censoring those!”
So are we! After all, we are at war, and we are entirely in favor of taking down enemy propaganda and other communications. These include, but are not limited to, terrorist training and recruitment videos. Such communications are not covered by any Constitutional or other legal protections for free speech. We want them taken down entirely, not merely blocked by censorware!
At the same time, we work to uphold (or restore) the U.S. Constitutional protections for speech, press, assembly, and petition, and to uphold (or restore) similar protections in other parts of the world.
Our jihadist enemies have no lack of computer savvy. They are constantly attempting to game the system in various ways, so as to interfere with access to legitimate, constructive political speech in the US, the EU, and elsewhere – particularly counterterrorist and antijihadist speech – often under the guise of “political correctness.” At the same time, they abuse the system – sometimes by hacking, spamming, or vandalizing our websites and blogs – to get their own messages out at our expense!
The bottom line: We must reclaim control over our own avenues of communication.
If you want to help get jihadist videos taken down, please visit the following link:
YouTube is part of Google, and its management has often been criticized for bias. YouTube has taken down videos that criticize anything having to do with Islam or Muslims, and has allowed overt jihadist propaganda, recruitment, and terrorist training videos to remain available.
Panera Bread offers a public WiFi in its stores, but with a major catch. They use SonicWALL censorware to blacklist a vast range of sites, including many of the blogs that provide news that you can’t get anywhere else.
Also be sure to read Jihad Watch Unblocked, including the comments accompanying that article. If necessary, other bloggers who have been wrongfully blacklisted by SonicWALL or other censorware providers should do as Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch did, and consult an attorney!
“I’m having trouble with Google Blogger!”
You aren’t the first! If your blog is locked out or malfunctioning, it may be an attempt at censorship, or it may be just plain old bugs. Our articles can help you figure it out.
“My website has received a ‘takedown request’ – what should I do?”
If someone has asked – or demanded – that you take down an article from your blog or website, your first step should be to verify that the “takedown request” is legitimate and is not a bogus request coming from a troll or prankster. (See Musings of Wired Pig 2.1: Takedown Request (Updated) for an example.)
Be aware of any laws that may apply to the material that you are being asked to remove. If you determine that the takedown request is from a legitimate source, but you believe that the request is unjustified, you would be well advised to consult an attorney.
Our Download page contains downloadable Bibles and links to other sites.
“I’m being sued by an Islamist organization!” …or… “I’m being threatened with arrest and prosecution for blogging!”
Yes, we’re tracking that issue too! We suggest that you start by finding a good attorney. If necessary, set up a legal defense fund for others to contribute to your defense.
Be sure to contact us so that we can post information about the lawsuit on 1389 Blog.
Digg is a world of its own, and not a pleasant one. If your Digg user ID, your blog domain, or your IP address has been banned from Digg, you must be doing something right!
These articles discuss censorship and other problems on Digg, as well as alternatives to Digg.
Our Reference Material page shows how to report suspicious persons and activities, including suspected terrorist activities, both on and off the Web.
“Are there any proxies or other ways to get around censorware?”
We have run across some websites that offer information about proxy services, or provide links to sites that do. (See “Other Sources of Information” below.) However, we have not tested these methods ourselves, so we are not in a position to recommend any specific software, service, or method. Nor can we guarantee that your efforts to get around the censorware will be undetected by the censorware firm or your local system administrators.
Be sure to use an up-to-date source! Censorware firms change and adapt their methods to ward off any attempts to get around the firewall. If you want to try using a proxy, get your information and your software from the most up-to-date sources that you can find.
Keep in mind that these workarounds do not address the real problem of blog censorship. You might be willing and able to set up proxies so that you can continue to read all of your favorite blogs. But if your blog is being blocked by censorware firms over much of the world, how many other people will take the same effort and risk to get to your blog? The fact is that only a tiny fraction of your potential audience will have courage, the know-how, and the opportunity to set up proxies and use them to read your blog in secret somewhere. This will not propagate your blog’s message to the general public, most of whom haven’t seen your blog and don’t know why it might be worth their trouble to read it!
Disclaimer: These sites offer information that may be useful to you. The presence of a link in this list does not necessarily imply that 1389 Blog, its primary administrator, or any of its team members agree with, vouch for, or endorse the site in question.
While this method is perhaps easier to use, the Word of Blog server has been down on occasion.
If you previously acquired Word of Blog badge code that referenced id=4690, please replace it with the new code that references id=4689. This change is being made to fix a duplicate badge bug.
The goal of the FHK project is to assist politically-conservative bloggers, social-networkers, and citizen journalists to navigate the wild, wild world of Web 2.0 more effectively.
If you’re interested in learning more about the Ft. Hard Knox Project, here are the links:
“Wiki…What?” A Wiki is a user-supported and continuously-evolving hypertext encyclopedia. Thus, by definition, a Wiki is always “under construction.” The Ft. Hard Knox Wiki has recently been established within the Wikispaces environment, and it already has some useful articles. Its purpose is to offer an easy way to access tech tips and information, to help conservatives use the Web more effectively.
Using the FHK Forum and Chat Room:
The Ft. Hard Knox forum is hosted on Delphi, so you’ll need to register for a Delphi user ID if you don’t already have one. Registration for the basic functions is free, and that’s all you need to leave messages on the forum or to use the chat room. Prompts will appear when you click on the link. It takes just a minute to sign up!
Updated 7/17/07:
Meet with us on Twitter!
The Monday night FHK forum chat has been discontinued for now. That’s because it’s too difficult to get everybody in different time zones all over the world to meet at the same time, especially in the summer when so many people are traveling.
Instead, we’re encouraging fellow conservatives and antijihadist activists to meet with us onTwitter. You can use Twitter both in “real time” for chatting with people who are online at the same time, and as a forum for communicating with people who will be online at other times.
So how do I get started on Twitter? The easiest way is to ask an established user to introduce you to other Twitterers. Whom to ask? Me, of course! Don’t be shy. Just go to the Twitter site, register an account, click on my profile at 1389, and add me as a friend. I’ll “friend” you back soon afterward. Then send me a message introducing yourself, and I’ll begin introducing you to others. I hope to see you there soon!
Updated 7/2/07:
We’ll be discussing the Ft. Hard Knox Wiki during tonight’s Forum Chat, so please stop by if you’d like to know more, or if you think you might be interested in working with us!
Updated 6/26/07:
The main page and blog for the Ft. Hard Knox project have moved to a new address, http://forthardknox.com/
From the new URL, the Ft. Hard Knox blog can be accessed via a cellphone or PDA browser as well as from a conventional browser.
For quite a while, I’ve been keeping a separate “scratch pad” blog, called 1389 Message Blog. Throughout the day, I post various links, along with comments and messages, sometimes through the blog editor, but mostly by cell phone. I use this later on as raw materials for other writing that I do, including articles on 1389 Blog, the Ft. Hard Knox Wiki, and other places.
Well…I finally realized that I am not going to get around to using all of this material myself, so I’ve decided to open it up to public viewing.
Please don’t expect anything fancy! I treat 1389 Message Blog as a workspace, so it’s always “under construction.” The posts that come directly from my cell phone might not have titles or tags. If I happen to be testing something new, I might change or delete a blog post. If I’ve used the material in an article, I may move everything to another blog or to a Wiki page and link to the new article from the post in 1389 Message Blog, so that I don’t have to update it in two places.
Thus, if you find a link on 1389 Message Blog to something interesting that you want to do some serious writing about, I suggest that you link directly to the source, not to the post in 1389 Message Blog.
We’re all familiar with Digg.com’s so-called “bury brigade,” which is a group of Diggers that seem to enjoy burying stories they disagree with, especially from sites, bloggers, or other Digg users that they don’t like. FHK has an archive of stories on this very topic, which is also part of the resist! censorship campaign.
To our amazement and disgust, some of us have recently discovered that access to legitimate news and political sites – especially 
If you’ve visited this blog before, or if you’ve already met 
A few weeks ago, I wrote about 
Blog Directory
