8chan goes offline after Cloudflare pulls support for website used by El Paso suspect

Controversial internet message board 8chan went offline Monday after internet infrastructure company Cloudflare stopped providing support for the website used by the suspected gunman in El Paso to post a hate-filled screed.

"We just sent notice that we are terminating 8chan as a customer effective at midnight tonight Pacific Time. The rationale is simple: they have proven themselves to be lawless and that lawlessness has caused multiple tragic deaths. Even if 8chan may not have violated the letter of the law in refusing to moderate their hate-filled community, they have created an environment that revels in violating its spirit," Matthew Prince, Cloudflare CEO wrote in a blog post.

"We continue to feel incredibly uncomfortable about playing the role of content arbiter and do not plan to exercise it often," Prince said in the post.

While 8chan has been offline since roughly midnight PST, it's possible the site may be able to get back online using a different internet services provider. A message posted on the website's official Twitter account said "there might be some downtime in the next 24-48 hours while we find a solution."

Link

Of course 8chan will be back.

It is the price of freedom. Some accept it, some don't.

Makes the FBI monitoring easier when it is known where to watch. If it really does any good.

they have proven themselves to be lawless and that lawlessness has caused multiple tragic deaths

WTF? Many of these shooters used Facebook and Twitter....do they really want to start blaming websites for the actions of their members?

a reply to: Flatcoat

To be fair, even the founder of 8chan thinks that place needs to be burned to the ground at this point.

a reply to: Xcalibur254

I don't understand the rationale...do they think that if they had censored him on 8chan he wouldn't have gone on a killing spree?

I could see Cloudflare protecting its business. Business says if hosting that site causes a loss of higher paying customers then it goes.

That may not have even been in play yet though.

originally posted by: Flatcoat
a reply to: Xcalibur254

I don't understand the rationale...do they think that if they had censored him on 8chan he wouldn't have gone on a killing spree?

People are looking for bandaids in order to feel better. This is one. Closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.

8 chan, 4chan -- what the hell even. Why not 3.14 chan, or the ever popular 0chan, where zeros post memes about nothing.

9gag? is this the onion? Are we being riddled with so much dross that it's now become the norm?

Please tell me it's the onion.. I refuse to keep up with all this garbage... it's a self fulfilling and self replicating conundrum.
Make it stop already.

I miss IRC...

a reply to: Flatcoat

So far we have had a number of these mass murderers discuss their plans on 8chan and get encouragement from the user base there.

If these people were Islamic terrorists and they were discussing their plans on a public website like 8chan wouldn't you want something done? At the very least wouldn't you expect the web host to distance themselves from the site?

a reply to: roadgravel

I'm not all too surprised. I've read some of the archives threads and a lot of anons were openly celebrating these events as they unfolded.

I could see why a hosting company would want to distance themselves from that sort of content being on their servers. Gotta be a real pain in the ass when authorities are coming to you constantly trying to get loads of information.

a reply to: Flatcoat

I believe the rationale is he was given a platform on which his violent fantasy gained legitimacy. That made him emboldened to carry out the attack.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Nothing quite like big brother having a reason to be hanging around.

It is convenient to have all the troublemakers hanging around one place.

originally posted by: roadgravel
a reply to: CriticalStinker

Nothing quite like big brother having a reason to be hanging around.

It is convenient to have all the troublemakers hanging around one place.

How ironic would it be if one of the agencies started up a shell company just to host the sites and keep it alive?

originally posted by: gallop
8 chan, 4chan -- what the hell even. Why not 3.14 chan, or the ever popular 0chan, where zeros post memes about nothing.

9gag? is this the onion? Are we being riddled with so much dross that it's now become the norm?

Please tell me it's the onion.. I refuse to keep up with all this garbage... it's a self fulfilling and self replicating conundrum.
Make it stop already.

I miss IRC...

EIGHT sounds like 'HATE'.

D'oh.

You don't have to read about it. But those who are uninformed are vulnerable in some ways. Information is power. Ignore the trends, however repulsive (research-wise) at your peril, Frens.

Considering all the data point problems with all of these shootings (El Paso Dayton) with NY Post changing shooter pictures, onsite eye witnesses describing multiple (4) black clad shooters (2 changing clothes in the parking lot), FB or MySpace profile changing after arrest - HAS ANYONE CHECKED the 8chan postings to see when they were made?

ganjoa

originally posted by: roadgravel

originally posted by: Flatcoat
a reply to: Xcalibur254

I don't understand the rationale...do they think that if they had censored him on 8chan he wouldn't have gone on a killing spree?

People are looking for bandaids in order to feel better. This is one. Closing the barn door after the horse has bolted.

Except in this case there is more than 1 horse.

Further research points to this not being altruistic though.

Cloudflare plans to IPO in September.

HuffPost- Cloudflare allegedly provides cyber security for 7 terrorist orginizations.

Among Cloudflare’s millions of customers are several groups that are on the State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations, including al-Shabab, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, al-Quds Brigades, the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and Hamas — as well as the Taliban, which, like the other groups, is sanctioned by the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). These organizations own and operate active websites that are protected by Cloudflare, according to fournational security and counterextremism experts who reviewed the sites at HuffPost’s request.

“We try to be neutral and not insert ourselves too much as the arbiter of what’s allowed to be online,” said Cloudflare’s general counsel, Doug Kramer. However, he added, “we are very aware of our obligations under the sanctions laws. We think about this hard, and we’ve got a policy in place to stay in compliance with those laws.” He declined to comment directly on the list of websites HuffPost provided to Cloudflare, citing privacy concerns.

Like other big tech companies, it's going to be interesting to see how well immunity works for them once they stray away from a neutral platform and start picking and choosing though.

Interesting they have a track record of declining to comment on certain clients while taking a hard stance on others.

a reply to: roadgravel

There are no other horses in the barn?

How about they want to stop the spread of hate talk.

The dude sure had a motive to post that before he went on a shooting spree in a store.
He sure thought there was value in putting this message in this particular place where it would be accepted and left for other to see.

That same message left here on ATS would have been deleted within an hour and the member banned.

a reply to: ganjoa

This is nonsense.

I would not be surprised if some alphabet would pay a service to host certain sites just to get easy access.

a reply to: Sillyolme

How about they want to stop the spread of hate talk.

so now you are against the first amendment?
is that only for some?