Wis. Dems Claim Walker Administration Is Blocking Opposition Website

[nadinbrzezinski]

MADISON, Wis. -- A website designed to keep protesters informed has been blocked by administrators inside the state Capitol, according to a claim by the Democratic Party of Wisconsin.

Party officials said that the website www.defendwisconsin.org, which was set up by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Teacher Assistants, was accessible after its launch last week until at least Friday. It was then that website organizers realized their site, which was being used to let protesters know the latest news details and to let them know where volunteers were needed, had been shut down for those signing on as a guest to the free Wi-Fi offered inside the state Capitol.

Sachin Chheda, a Democratic activist and former IT employee at the State Capitol, said there are a number of sites that are blocked from users, but he said in order to block this site specifically, somebody would have had to make a conscious effort to do so.

But Department of Administration officials said computer software blocked the site, just like it does for any new website. It took several days for the software to update itself and when it did it blocked the site, a DOA spokeswoman said. She said there was no malicious effort to block the website.

http://www.channel3000.com/politics/26952454/detail.html

Ah yes, high tech dirty tricks. It used to be raiding them printing houses, now it is blocking sites.

This is just not amazing, but expected. Yep, we are in a certain dynamic that is familiar to us.

[Joanne98]

1. CALLING ANONYMOUS!

[glinda]

7. Help Anonymous!!!!!!!!!! Seriously!

:bounce: :cry: :cry: :cry:

[FreakinDJ]

2. 1 of Mubarak's students

[DearAbby]

4. Is there a MUBARAK playbook?

I mean damn, it seems so predictable.

[FreakinDJ]

5. OK - its just a coinkydink I guess - MY ASS ...

How uniquely UNAMERICAN

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. The script is almost the same everywhere

there are variations, nobody is shooting at the guys and gals in WI, but the dynamic of protests and revolt and the response is very similar from place to place.

Why I keep calling it a script.

[Blue Owl]

3. ELECT A REPUBLICAN -- BLOCK A WEBSITE

n/t

[suffragette]

8. Could be a violation according to Former Wisconsin Assistant Attorney

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/02/22/wisconsin-protest-internet/
Former Wisconsin Assistant Attorney General Charles Hoornstra said that, if Walker is blocking the website, it could be a violation of state and federal laws concerning free speech laws. The accusation by the Wisconsin Democratic Party accompanies an accusation by the Teaching Assistants Association that Wisconsin state authorities cut off wifi access to a room they had taken over as a headquarters inside of the Capitol.

[glinda]

9. The page came up for me now. Didn't try any links though.

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. Are you in the Capitol? The block is very limited

and specific

[bergie321]

10. Let me guess

FreedomWorks.org "magically" made it through the filter software?

[Demstud]

11. It blocks any new website?

What kind of crap software is this, lol? So how do websites become unblocked?

[nadinbrzezinski]

13. You can, at the IT level, specify what

you will not allow into your intranet. In this case, you can determine this very specifically.

That is what they are doing,

[FreakinDJ]

14. Very easily done on the Capitol's WiFi Net

just type in the website you want to block - done

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. And if you want to make sure... add IP adress

amazing.

[FreakinDJ]

16. Networking Engineering Grad in 95 - very easily done

[nadinbrzezinski]

17. Self taught, and yes... it is stupidly easy