8chan's new internet host was kicked off its own host just hours later

[Eugene]

Last edited Mon Aug 5, 2019, 05:10 PM - Edit history (1)

EDIT: Excerpt added.

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Source: TechCrunch

8chan’s new internet host was kicked off its own host just hours later

Devin Coldewey@techcrunch / 2 hours ago

The bottom-feeding forum 8chan, which grew popular by embracing fringe hateful internet cultures, is having trouble staying online. After Cloudflare dropped its protection of the site yesterday, 8chan adopted the services of Bitmitigate, but soon lost that too as the company providing Bitmitigate with services dropped them. Deplatforming works, but it can be complicated, so here’s a quick explanation of what these pieces are and why we’re witnessing this hot-potato act in the wake of the latest tragic mass shootings.

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When 8chan lost Cloudflare, it was exposed to the full force of the internet, likely including DDoS and other attacks, and was brought offline. But it soon found a new caching service in Bitmitigate.

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So 8chan went to Bitmitigate, but it wasn’t long before the forum had that rug pulled out from under them as well. Turns out that Epik and Bitmitigate were purchasing services from a larger service provider called Voxility.

If this sounds over-complicated, just think of it this way: A cafe needs to provide internet to its customers, so it buys a high-speed connection from an ISP. Then it provides access to that connection to its customers using its own little portal or control method, maybe so you have to buy a coffee before you can get online. This is a bit like that: Epik was reselling the services of Voxility at a markup to a specific set of customers. It’s a common enough thing online, but as we saw today, a bit risky.

Turns out Voxility wants no part of hosting 8chan, and after being alerted (by former Facebook CSO Alex Stamos) that one of its clients had decided to do so, it simply pulled the plug on Epik’s services; right now Bitmitigate, Daily Stormer and 8chan are all down. They deplatformed the platform.

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Read more: https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/05/8chans-new-internet-host-was-kicked-off-its-own-host-just-hours-later/

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[LEW]

1. Thank you, thank you!

This is one of the only things I've seen today, that is some good news!

[sir pball]

2. Daily Stormer, too!

Pretty soon these shitheels are going to have to buy their access directly from a Tier 1 provider; while the ISP won't dare to kick them off for the legal implications, service at that level is kind of ridiculously expensive, and more importantly you just get the pipe - all the hosting is your responsibility. Content servers, DNS, all has to be on hardware in your basement, no renting drive space from someone else. Doubt they can keep that too secure even if they can afford it, unless Mother Russia is willing to lend a hand...

[PSPS]

3. Yeah, nobody wants the potential liability

Almost all hosting services are resellers of larger ones, as is the case here. If the bigger host gets wind of one of its resellers promoting murder, it's understandable that they'll just summarily pull the plug which they can do with a single click of the mouse.

There are offshore hosting companies but they, too, just resell from larger ones who likely don't want/need the accompanying scrutiny.

The only way to get around this is to put a computer in your basement and connect it directly through your DSL/Cable hookup. Such setups don't fare very well.