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February 14, 2005Backing Blair - first DoS attack?
The Backing Blair site has been down for the last 30 minutes following a complaint to our providers. We're just now trying to find out more about the nature of the complaint, but it's unlikely to be legitimate.
Here's a legal titbit for you while you wait (from this PDF): 4.18 It is important to make clear the distinction between cyber-squatting and spoof websites in the political context. Cyber-squatting might be defined as the malicious registration of internet domain names for financial or, in some cases, political gain. Spoof websites, on the other hand, generally make no pretence to deceive electors and typically include humorous or more general critical analysis and comment. Given the importance of freedom of speech within a fair campaign environment, we do not consider that spoof websites, where clearly identified as such, are intrinsically damaging to the campaign environment.
UPDATE - This is a genuine stroke of genius and this kind of noise from Milburn does not surprise me one jot.
UPDATE - The complaint was made with regards to the London Underground song and refers to "excessive use of possibly copyrighted material." Excessive use? It's either in violation of copyright or it's not, surely? Backing Blair should be back with you shortly. We will try to identify where the complaint originated.
Incidentally, before this (ahem) landmark moment, the Flash video for the London Underground song reached over a quarter of a million individual web users. In two weeks.
UPDATE - The most recent update has been posted to the Backing Blair site.
Posted by Manic on February 14, 2005 1:47 PM in the category UK General Election 2005
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Comments
I have pleanty of spare bandwidth & diskspace over at perfect.co.uk if you need it.
It's also hosted by an American company (on refelction, I'm not sure if that is good or bad - think of the Indymedia/Rackspace scandal).
Posted by: Robin Grant at February 14, 2005 2:24 PM
As the old adage goes, if you're getting complaints you're probably doing something right... From what I've seen there's nothing dodgy on there, though. Do we suspect the delicate hand of a sweary ex-Mirror man behind this?
Posted by: Nosemonkey at February 14, 2005 2:57 PM
Ditto the first post here - if you need a secure host, drop me a line.
Posted by: joseph at February 14, 2005 3:33 PM
surely under their service level agreement they have to inform you as to the nature of the complaint.
Posted by: bigdaddymerk at February 14, 2005 3:47 PM
bigdaddymerk, they do indeed have to let us know. And - entertainingly or not - the complaint is the most vaguely worded one I've ever encountered. Refers to potential excessive use of possibly copyrighted material. Now how vague is that? Oh, and the provider wouldn't give any info re the complainant. Draw your own conclusions? Anyway, should be up soon, will anounce at The UK Today when it is available. Meanwhile all mirror offers are greatly appreciated.
Posted by: balders at February 14, 2005 3:53 PM
What's the quickest way for us to get a mirror up? I can mail you ftp details or set up an rsync job...
Posted by: joseph at February 14, 2005 3:56 PM
I'll mirror tim/balders email me details - I've got 5GBs transfer going spare.
Posted by: bigdaddymerk at February 14, 2005 3:57 PM
Tim, are you allowed to mention who made the complaint?
Posted by: irritant at February 14, 2005 11:44 PM
I don't think they've been told. I bet you pound for a penny it's not a Mr. P. Weller. Perhaps it's worth contacting him to see what he thinks of the song/video - V2 - 020 7471 3017
Posted by: bigdaddymerk at February 15, 2005 12:44 AM
What's the name of the ISP? I want to harangue them.
Posted by: irritant at February 15, 2005 1:50 AM
We weren't told who the complainant was, and indeed that aspect of the complaint disappeared as soon as we pushed back. Now I could quite happily name the provider who manages the servers, but won't (for now) for three reasons.
1 - I suspect pressure was applied from an unexpected quarter
2 - call it a first offence and while their responsiveness was pretty poor overnight (20:30 claimed, 6:30 actual), BB is back
3 - haranguing the provider publically may result in more trouble for the site.
However, we're looking at mirroring the site, and anyone who has offered, please email myself and Tim directly and we'll take it from there.
Posted by: balders at February 15, 2005 8:44 AM
I've posted the latest update here:
http://www.backingblair.co.uk/2005/02/denial-of-service-attack.html
Posted by: Manic at February 15, 2005 9:24 AM
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