Block (Internet)
On the Internet, a block or ban is a technical measure intended to restrict access to information or resources. Blocking and its inverse, unblocking, may be implemented by the owners of computers using software.[1]
Blocking may also refer to denying access to a web server based on the IP address of the client machine.[2] In certain websites, including social networks such as Facebook or editable databases like wikis, users can apply blocks (based in either IP number or account) on other users deemed undesirable to prevent them from performing certain actions. Blocks of this kind may occur for several reasons and produce different effects: in social networks, users can block other users without restriction, typically by preventing them from sending messages or viewing the blocker's information or profile. Administrators, moderators or other privileged users can apply blocks that affect the access of the undesirable users to the entire website.
Blocking by countries
Some countries, notably
Blocking as denial of access to a website
Blocked or banned users may be completely unable to access all or part of a site's content, which is usually the case when censoring or filtering mechanisms are responsible for the block.
Blocking is used by
Such blockers are also common in public settings, such as institutional, workplace, or library servers. These blockers are usually used to prevent government or company liability for users accessing obscene or illegal content.
On Facebook, it is possible for users with privileges[who?] to block users from doing things like posting or contacting other people.[5]
On wiki sites like Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons, administrators (volunteers with special privileges on their accounts) can block other users from contributing to the entire site such as uploading images or editing, creating, or moving pages but this generally doesn't affect their ability to read pages on the site. Such blocks can normally only be placed with good reason such as the user vandalizing pages or uploading non-free copyrighted content after multiple warnings, and that reason is generally seen when they attempt to edit and this reason is generally made public.[6] Administrators who block users inappropriately may have their adminship revoked.[7] It is possible on some wikis for users to limit interactions from them like sending them emails or sending them notifications; with such blocks, users are not notified of them.[8]
Under a shadow ban, a user is given the false impression that their content is still being posted to the site, when in reality it is being hidden from all other users.
Evasion
Ban evasion (or block evasion) is the act of attempting to get around a block, ban or other form of sanction imposed on the person's original account, whether temporary or permanent, on a website. Alternate accounts set up by people evading blocks or bans from websites are referred to as
Ban evasion can be detected by tracing a user's IP address. If two accounts are using the same IP address, it could be a sign of ban evasion. Also, the use of a
When creating sock puppets, ban evaders use a variety of tactics to disguise the fact that the new account was created by a previously banned user, such as choosing usernames with no relation to defunct accounts, an alternate email address, VPNs or proxy servers to mask their IP address, changing their IP address (sometimes only needing to rely on a dynamic IP address to automatically change it after a time), or using the site from public Internet access locations such as schools and libraries, or resorting to usage of open proxies. Other possible measures include somewhat altering how they conduct themselves and exhibiting different behaviour in order to prevent moderators from determining that they are the same person.[citation needed]
User blocking on social media
On
See also
References
- ^ a b Westfall, Joseph (2012). "Internet Blocking". Association of Internet Research Specialists. Archived from the original on 12 March 2021. Retrieved 8 February 2021.
- ^ "Access Control – Apache HTTP Server". httpd.apache.org. 2012. Archived from the original on 19 February 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2012.
- ^ "Children's Internet Protection Act | FCC.gov". fcc.gov. 2012. Archived from the original on 18 June 2012. Retrieved 17 June 2012.
- ^ "Twitter bans conservative writer Milo Yiannopoulos for good, while cracking down on abuse". The Washington Post. 2016. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
- ^ "I received an error message saying I'm blocked from sending messages on Facebook". Facebook Help Centre. Archived from the original on 29 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
- ^ Commons:Commons:Blocking policy
- ^ Wikipedia:Blocking policy
- ^ Wikipedia:Community health initiative on English Wikipedia/User Mute features
- ^ "Block someone's profile on Facebook". Facebook Help Centre. Archived from the original on 29 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
- ^ "Facebook Safety". Facebook Help Centre. Archived from the original on 5 September 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
- ^ "Facebook Settings Hacks You Probably Didn't Know Exist". Millennial Magazine. 23 June 2016. Archived from the original on 29 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.