The Security Kitchen

The Belgian Federal Police has decided to block access to 4 different domains (leading to the same website) by requesting all ISPs to redirect traffic destined for the specific domain to a page informing surfers of the reasons why the content is blocked.  I agree and I disagree with this action, let me explain …

Why I agree

I strongly believe in the right of every convicted criminal to a second chance once they have done their time. That’s how our judicial system works, that’s how it is.  No individual or organisation has the right to publish private information about other people, whatever their crime has been. What this site is doing is against the Belgian privacy law and it is clear that this should be acted upon.

Why I disagree

As far as I’m informed there has been no ruling in court that supports the action taken by the Belgian police.  It was a question asked to all Belgian ISPs to which most of them complied.  This results in the fact that the site is blocked for some people and not for others. If you change your DNS servers to 4.2.2.2 or use OpenDNS, you’re through as well.  Not only is the control ineffective, the communication around it is completely non-existent and it’s legality is doubtful to say the least.

In short, I don’t support the goals of the blocked website and I believe it should be blocked, but our government has gone wrong by restricting access to content without a court order and more importantly by not communicating openly and transparently with the public about this.

1. Me, David says:

   April 22, 2009 at 4:20 pm

   The way how it was silently implemented is wrong in soooo many ways. I read on “De Standaard” that there was a “gerechtsbevel van de procureur des konings” but no real ruling in court that is.

   What frightens me most is how obedient and swiftly IPS’s complied to this “warrant”.
   And who can tell if it’s really only for URLS or more, or what if they decide tomorrow to block illegal gambling/gaming/violence/racism sites ? Who decides this, who controls them ?

   The good news is this has been implemented way too fast without any further thinking (ah, you must love Belgium for that !) and that it isn’t a real technical solution. Sure we (the 1% geek/hacker/security user) can all change our DNS settings or even consult Ozzyman’s knowledge tomorrow but what about the rest ? Are we all subject to the FCCU’s blacklist or is this just a foolish attempt to hit the news ?

   aarrgh .. I’m ranting again, 5th time on this matter today :@

   enjoy,
   d.

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2. Bart says:

   April 23, 2009 at 3:35 pm

   I agree that the government or the police should indeed communicate as openly as possible about this issue.

   Still, I do think that when presented with a warrant signed by the prosecuting officer (“procureur des konings” or one of his substitutes) an ISP has no other choice than to comply.
   For starters, a warant exists only when drafted up according to the judicial law (nl: gerechtelijk wetboek) which describes and imposes the procedures and safeguards an officer of the public has to follow and uphold when drafting up a warant.
   I do not know how the rules are in this specific case, but most of the time a warant is issued not by the “Procureur des Konings” but by the judge of instruction (onderzoeksrechter). So in practice the warant may be signed by the officer of the public (procureur) but the warant as such is issued by a judge.
   Basically, a violation of someone’s privacy is a transgression of the law. Not complying with the warrant could be viewed as collaborating with the person or entity that is in breach of the privacy law. Or simply put, you become an accomplice.
   However, there are some questions about censorship that may arise…i.e. which content is allowed or not?

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3. Secure Information. › Shotgun Blast 22 April 2009 says:

   September 15, 2009 at 7:48 pm

   [...] 4. Frankly disappointing news that any country would make a website against the law and order all ISPs to block it …Belgium FTW!! Talk about the beginning of a slippery slope into China-like behavior…up next Carnal Blog for having a dissenting opinion.http://blog.remes-it.be/?p=207http://blog.rootshell.be/2009/04/22/the-great-firewall-of-belgium/ [...]

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