Ask HN: What to do when CloudFlare is on an Adult block list

#1

Post by nateguchi » Mon, Feb 09, 2015, 11:30 AM UTC

We got a call this morning from a client that couldn't access his website from his home broadband (Sky UK). After an hour of investigation it turned out that one of the IPs that CloudFlare returns for the DNS query for the site is on an "Adult Content" blocklist.

Moving off CloudFlare is difficult now as Google has identified the clients site as SSL and the client doesn't have the budget for the $20 a month it costs to add SSL to Heroku.

I have contacted CloudFlare about this, but thought I'd mention to HN that some of the CloudFlare IPs are blocked in the UK on certain ISPs.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when CloudFlare is on an Adult block list

#2

Post by ddorian43 » Mon, Feb 09, 2015, 11:52 AM UTC

Maybe you can contact the shitty-blacklist and inform them ?

Re: Ask HN: What to do when CloudFlare is on an Adult block list

#3

Post by nateguchi » Mon, Feb 09, 2015, 11:57 AM UTC

ddorian43 wrote: post #2

Maybe you can contact the shitty-blacklist and inform them ?

I'm guessing that there is actually Adult content on this IP, but also 100s of other websites.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when CloudFlare is on an Adult block list

#4

Post by ddorian43 » Mon, Feb 09, 2015, 12:02 PM UTC

nateguchi wrote: post #3

ddorian43 wrote: post #2

Maybe you can contact the shitty-blacklist and inform them ?

I'm guessing that there is actually Adult content on this IP, but also 100s of other websites.

You can block the domain-name ?

The same thing can be said for shared-hosting.

Even vps recycle ips(ec2) ?

Re: Ask HN: What to do when CloudFlare is on an Adult block list

#5

Post by Swifty » Mon, Feb 09, 2015, 12:08 PM UTC

If it is his home broadband, why not get your client to speak to sky and opt-out of the adult blacklist.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when CloudFlare is on an Adult block list

#6

Post by mobiplayer » Mon, Feb 09, 2015, 12:19 PM UTC

Happily CloudFlare has offices in the UK, so it is a good thing you brought this issue up with them. I'm sure they'll have some quick mechanisms to fix this already.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when CloudFlare is on an Adult block list

#7

Post by nissehulth » Mon, Feb 09, 2015, 12:23 PM UTC

Collateral damage from David Cameron putting pressure on ISPs to block inappropriate content.

Re: Ask HN: What to do when CloudFlare is on an Adult block list

#8

Post by DanBC » Mon, Feb 09, 2015, 12:25 PM UTC

Why did it take an hour of investigating -- I mean, What message was the client getting from the filter? (And why are clients so terrible at reportin error messages?)

I submitted the page you get from BT if you try to visit KAT. It might be useful if there's a collection of similar pages somewhere?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8989964

Re: Ask HN: What to do when CloudFlare is on an Adult block list

#9

Post by nateguchi » Mon, Feb 09, 2015, 12:28 PM UTC

DanBC wrote: post #8

Why did it take an hour of investigating -- I mean, What message was the client getting from the filter? (And why are clients so terrible at reportin error messages?) I submitted the page you get from BT if you try to visit KAT. It might be useful if there's a collection of similar pages somewhere? https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8989964

We had to find some more people on the same ISP to find it was SKY that was the problem

Re: Ask HN: What to do when CloudFlare is on an Adult block list

#10

Post by nateguchi » Mon, Feb 09, 2015, 12:28 PM UTC

Swifty wrote: post #5

If it is his home broadband, why not get your client to speak to sky and opt-out of the adult blacklist.

He's worried that other Sky broadband customers cannot access his site.