On 10/6/20 2:21 PM, Gaba wrote: > On 10/6/20 10:10 AM, d...@foundingdocuments.org wrote: >> Not too long ago I used Tor Browser to visit a website and found I was >> rejected completely. Not even a captcha. Clicking new circuit many times >> didn’t help either. >> >> At least their site wasn’t just a stiff arm giving me the finger. It >> actually had a note saying if I thought it was blocked in error to contact >> them. Of course it had a tracking number and time stamp. >> >> So I sent them a screen shot of my browser window and this short note: >> >>> Your website blocks me from using it. Most likely your website is blocking >>> EVERYONE who uses the Tor Browser. This is not good for business. It keeps >>> me from getting the info I want. >>> >>> Respectfully, [my name] >>> [State in USA] >> >> A day or two later I heard back. It was gracious enough but supposedly the >> blocking was to protect customers (ahem, me) and themselves “from possible >> illicit activity.” >> >> After a few days on the back burner, I wrote them back and asked: what was >> illicit or illegal with me trying to learn their business hours. And I >> provided a bunch of v2 & v3.onion addresses to some popular and well known >> organizations to show there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with Tor. >> >> But since I considered it a possibility they don’t run their own website, >> and that possibly those who do may be pocketing a slice of the cost for >> blocking people like me, I also printed out my reply and took it to the >> store. Then I would have a bit more confidence someone at the actual >> business would know what happened. >> >> On my next trip to the store I talked with the person at the customer >> service area, gave them my printout, and tried to explain how great Tor is. >> It was a good conversation and since the guy was interested in computers we >> hit it off, and he learned a few things. >> >> It wasn’t until a month or two later I used Tor Browser to look at their >> website. I was very pleased they’d stopped blocking Tor exit nodes. And I’m >> pleased to report they still don’t block Tor. >> > > > Great story! thanks for sharing it here. >
Besides being a great story, it does push some of us who just accept things the way they are. More often than not with smaller www sites, I'd assume it's a click-click-click configuration in some www admin interface that blocks Tor user access by default. Do we have any templated message to send to sites that block Tor IPs? A quick internet search says we don't. Is that something you'd want to hack away at Drew? You're already batting 1.000 on this from my box scores... g -- tor-talk mailing list - tor-talk@lists.torproject.org To unsubscribe or change other settings go to https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-talk
