We constantly see emails and tweets, “I can’t see the articles when I click on the links in your Daily Digest.”
Lately, we’ve been getting even more of these than we usually do. Here’s why. In my post here from last June, I reported that three major Internet service providers listed as blocking this site:
We are now seeing a new block by Sky, one of the largest internet providers in the UK, added to the list. Mind you, this list consists only of providers that disclose their censorship. Many do not.
“Weapons”? This is a new false charge, totally unfounded. We don’t promote or advertise weapons, the purpose of this site is clear in the meta data: Jihad Watch is dedicated to “exposing the role that Islamic jihad theology and ideology play in the modern global conflicts.”
Clearly this censorship is politically motivated. For whatever reason, the providers don’t want the truth about jihad violence and Sharia to get out. But there is a way around this censorship, and it’s quite simple: change your DNS servers by using https://use.opendns.com/ or https://1.1.1.1/, or better yet, using a VPN such as FreeDome.
I have blogged about this before, and many of the responses were really not helpful: “But I can see the site,” or, “I was blocked by Facebook.” All that may be true, but it is not the point. The point is that legitimate commentary is being blocked by the people who literally supply the Internet and how this can be easily circumvented. This is not just going on in the UK, I just have better documentation at hand for how it is being done in that country.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is an organization that is meant to protect these right of access and to combat such censorship, but it has abandoned us. Please use the contact page to ask them why, politely, calmly, and respectfully.
You can also check which of your other favorite sites are censored here.
Along with the Google bias that is well documented, this censorship will be the death of everything we hold dear if it isn’t challenged and defeated. This is not a matter of your right to say “nuke Mecca” on Facebook; this is the prevention of legitimate criticism of a destructive, inhumane agenda from seeing light of day, and although what is happening is widespread and growing, it is still not well understood. If you encounter someone who can no longer access Jihad Watch, please pass on to him or her this information about how to beat the blocks.
jca reid says
This is Fascism by Stealth! Our Politicians & the 4th. Estate [ the Press/Media], will have a lot to answer for!
singa4sling says
Marc, what about using Tor for circumvention?
marc says
@singa4sling said: Marc, what about using Tor for circumvention?
While I normally advocate the use of Tor, Tor exit nodes are often used to attack this site (like 20% at any one time), so get caught by our IDS.
I specifically advocate Freedom here, as they are commercial grade, do not allow abuse (attacking sites like ours), have an excellent privacy policy and best of all, they have great technical support and a mature client app, so I don’t get too many “how can I fix…” type emails š
FYI says
when I type in JihadWatch it always shows up “Jihad Watch-Wikipedia.An anti-islam blog”,,sometimes it says ‘anti-mulsim blog’ and also a certain Spencer Watch {with it seems the usual lefty-islamic “scholars” , failed Jews/Christians complaining}
marc says
That’s Google’s doing, unrelated to the ISP censorship, the only answer to that is don’t use google or a political fix of the underlying cause, treat them as a monopoly.
James Lincoln says
FYI,
Try using DuckDuckGo as your search engine.
Vlad Tepes says
While the article is important as it offers a work around to the problem of the current state of informational-totalitarianism that is now infecting the West as a whole, it is in its own way a form of submission to it.
This is what could be called, āTechnical Leapfrogā.
The state invents a way to stop you from getting information which interferes with its planned engineering of society and not in your interests. You find a way around that with a fix. You feel clever for a moment, but in effect you are now committing a kind of crime where it was your actual right the day before.
While it may not be an actual crime on the books yet, we already see that the state and law enforcement has pretty much abandoned the entire history of all jurisprudence except where it is convenient to enforce the narrative, and harass or otherwise destroy peopleās lives for having the wrong opinions or questioning basic biology as one example.
So the next move in technical leapfrog could be where the state finds a more effective way to block sites that contain evidence that the narrative is inaccurate or against the interests of the electorate, or more likely, they will come to your home and ask threatening questions about your use of technology to bypass censors.
And while you did not break a law to access Jihad Watch, the man who tweeted out a limerick about ātransgendersā(single quotes because generally speaking we do not believe there is any such thing outside of a tiny tiny fraction of biological abnormalities) also did not break any laws but had the authorities place warnings at his place of work that he may be a threat to the LGBTQ community for his wrong-think.
Other things were done to him that are tantamount to a state punishment without the benefit of any inconvenient democratic procedure like a trial or lawyer or those pesky facts.
People who use SKY or any other ISP that blocks sites without your knowledge or content must get phone calls from you, the paying client, and if they do not change the policy, change ISPs. You may even have to settle for poorer service and less speed.
But that is a pretty small sacrifice compared to having the state determine what you can see. Especially when it is true.
āThe lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie.
It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth becomes the greatest enemy of the State.ā
āJosph Goebbels, Nazi propaganda minister
Dawne Cole says
I’m in the UK and had this problem with Sky (my isp) blocking jihadwatch and other sites. I phoned them and politely – you have to be “polite” or it gives them the excuse to end the phone call – told them that I wanted access to this website. They said that it was their “blocking” settings to block ” extremist sites”. I gave them a 15 minute lecture about freedom of speech and the iniquities of censorship. Reiterated that I am a paying customer who will go elsewhere if I wish to. If you have this problem phone, tweet and email them. Pass the message around your friends and relatives. If enough people do it they’ll stop the blocking.
Actually, you could just phone them even if you’re not a customer and spend at least 15 mins politely educating them about the free speech that we allegedly have in the UK. Make a “polite” nuisance of yourself!
marc says
Awesome advice
gravenimage says
Thank you, Dawne.
Simon says
I can corroborate this. I travelled from Australia to the UK recently. I read Jihad Watch most days. Whilst in the UK, all of a sudden I couldnāt access the site. Luckily I had a VPN set up in my Firefox browser. As soon as I activated the VPN it magically connected right away. This is the kind of censorship I I expect from the Chinese government. The fact that it is happening in the UK today is truely insane and worrying…
Lydia Church says
The new orwellian future and new normal… coming soon to a town near you…
yes, very scary and very real.
gravenimage says
European ISPs, cell and cable providers escalate censorship of Jihad Watch and other pro-freedom sites
……………….
Deeply troubling crushing of freedom of speech.
And what is the reference to “weapons”? Jihad Watch does not sell weapons–it does not advocate violence at all. Just grotesque calumny.
infidel says
I fervently hope and pray that this blocking disease does not come to India.. So far so good here….
martin says
Am in the UK… 3 blocks the site and some others but if you go to the 3 websire and change setting to allow content… it sorts it out.
Lkewise with EE mobile broadband.
I suspect the same might be true of sky but I dont have a contract with them so dont know.
marc says
With sky, I stayed at a friends in London, and I needed to provide a credit card to prove I was over 18. I understand BT is the same.