Bush Website Blocked Outside N. America

acey72 writes "The BBC News are reporting that George W Bush's re-election website (don't bother if you aren't in the USA) is blocked to people accessing it from outside the USA. Netcraft spotted the change on Monday, and have a report on the matter. Oh well, at least John Kerry's site still works for us outlanders." At least some Canadians can access the Bush campaign site, but Europeans cannot (without going through a U.S. proxy).

Non-US Simulation

[Big Mark]

Not in the US? Here's what you're missing!

Access Denied

You don't have permission to access "http://www.georgewbush.com/" on this server.

Proxy

[seizer]

For those of us with non-US IPs, and who still have some hankering to actually visit the site, then Proxify [proxify.com] will let you view. Be warned though, it shows NSFW text ads as well.

Re:Proxy

[seizer]

Proxify has just switched into "high traffic" mode, and isn't allowing free access - they don't normally charge!

(Replying to self - what a faux pas)

nyud.net:8090 works

[W2k]

Though I've never felt the need to visit Bush's re-election website, it seems to be quite available through Coral [nyud.net] even for us europeans. Dog slow, though.

I'm blocked too, and I live in the US..

[Anonymous Coward]

I live in Guam, and I can't access the site either. It's a US territory, so the citizens aren't allowed to vote in presidential elections, but it's still part of the US and, as it happens, I'm from VA so I'm eligible to vote. Although by absentee ballot wouldn't be counted until after the results are tallied anyway, so what's the point.

Not that I'd vote for Bush. Or Kerry. May they both Rot in Peace.

This one works

[abdulwahid]

Well, the hackers will never think of using this one https://georgewbush.com/ [georgewbush.com]

Re:What's the point of this?

[stratjakt]

If you're referring to military personel, they route through domestic (US) networks and wouldn't be affected.

For a list of open proxies ...

[YetAnotherName]

... why not visit this list [aliveproxy.com], which includes country of operation.

Not blocking IP, only DNS name

[Anonymous Coward]

They're actually only blocking georgewbush.com, not the IP 65.172.163.222 which the domainname points to.

So http://65.172.163.222 works fine abroad.

Silly ISP.

Like Bob Dole once said...

[Noryungi]

There are no votes in Leipzig [guardian.co.uk]

And most expats will vote for John Kerry anyway [msn.com]

Re:Kinda backfired didn't it?

[nberardi]

I really don't think that is the case. It was most likely done to protect against hackers and DoS in the final days.

Handy-dandy Google cache and Archive.org links

[turnstyle]

Google cache [64.233.161.104] and Archive.org [archive.org]

Re:Real reason for blocking the foreign traffic...

[jimwelch]

For a party (dems) that are supposed to support diversity, the hate speech during this election is amazing. If you don't agree with the Dems, you are vilified.

The election is *supposed* to be on which policies make sense. Some think Bush makes more sense, some think Kerry makes more sense. That is the free election way.

Calling Bush: Hitler, UN Hater, isolationalist is HATE speech. State your views, not your hate.

Re:Non-US Simulation

[forgotten_my_nick]

In Akamai you can set what countries are allowed view your site.

Re:Last straw

[rjstanford]

They think Kerry is terrible, that he has never done a single useful thing in his political career, which he built entirely on 4 months of military service, etc.

That's funny, especially since Kerry enlisted in the Navy in 1966 and wasn't discharged until 1970. He spent four months in Vietnam, from 11/68 to 4/69 as part of that duty.

Here's a simplified timeline [motherjones.com] if you're interested in more.

FUD, it wasn't Bush yo.

[sideshow]

The rurmor was started by Declan McCullagh of Wired Magazine.

http://www.sethf.com/gore/

Re:It also crashes mozilla

[PIBM]

That's your flash player : either uninstall this crap (preferred method) or update it!

Re:Forum abuse perhaps?

[MrFancyPants]

Try the administrative contact for the site.

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact:
Bush-Cheney '04, Inc. (35436379O) [e-mail]
P.O. Box 10648
Arlington, VA 22210
US
703-647-2700

Re:You mean these Iraqis?

[spoonyfork]

Those Iraqis?

How about these Iraqis? [iraqbodycount.net] Is their life better since being "liberated"? Do they count?

Unipeak link

[acariquara]

Unipeak proxy link [unipeak.com]

Re:Spin Machine!

[RexCelestis]

The only spin doctoring here is from the revisionists who want to hide what Al Gore really said.

This is pretty interesting. Just last week President Bush said the U.S. would "not have an all volunteer Army."

Of course he restated himself a few moments later, but it's not what he meant that's important. It's what he said that matters, right?

I guess that makes him a flip-flopper.

Nothing fades as fast as the future,
Nothing clings like the past.

Re:haha ...

[zerocool^]

A while back, I ran a Nessus Scan on both Kerry and Bush's campaign sites.

Results are here.

http://elvis.netmar.com/~will/electionsites/

Note that this is a couple of months old.

Re:YES!

[ortcutt]

Bush is doing a great job at getting Zarqawi.

NBC News [msn.com]

And that guy Bin Laden. It turns out that Bush isn't really that concerned about him.

LA Times story on Yahoo [yahoo.com]

That's how you get tough on terrorism, Bush-style.

Re:Perfectly demonstrates

[Rayonic]

Iran has endorsed [indystar.com] Bush for President.

Your sig is incorrect, sir. Here is the full quote, not truncated by the Associated Press [turkishpress.com]:

"

It makes no difference for us which of the two parties wins the elections," Iran's top national security official Hassan Rowhani said in an interview on state television.

"We have not seen any good coming from the Democrats, so we won't be happy if the Democrats win," he said.

So, you see, Iran's government simply considers America "the Great Satan" no matter who wins on November 2. I suggest you change your sig so you look less misinformed in the future.

Re:Sources please

[ProudClod]

Here's some stuff about the opium trade:

BBC Article from 2002:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia /184018 2.stm

"According to the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Afghanistan produced more than 70% of the world's opium in 2000"

"In July 2000 the leader of Afghanistan's former Taleban government, Mullah Omar, declared a nationwide ban on opium cultivation for one year.

The United Nations Drugs Control Program (UNDCP) believes the ban was a success, and production plunged to negligible levels during 2001. "

" But with the demise of the Taleban, there are fears Afghanistan will quickly reclaim its status as the world's largest producer of illicit opium."

And surprise surprise, 2003 figures:
http://europa-eu-un.org/articles/it/arti cle_3209_i t.htm
"in 2003 Afghanistan produced three-quarters of the world's illicit opium"

This trade is now supporting the Taliban:
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/episode/0,1569 ,1365252,0 0.html

Re:oh my beloved american friends (NO SARCASM HERE

[broter]

The Center on Policy Attitudes released a report on the different realities between Bush and Kerry supporters called "The Separate Realities of Bush and Kerry Supporters" [pipa.org]. The summary of it is that Bush supporters haven't seen the world lately. It's kinda disturbing when you realize about half of the US are in that group. A super majority believe there were WMD in Iraq or programs to produce them; and - get this - a majority believe that the world is either indifferent to who become the next US president or hopes for another Bush term!

That last one really get me. How can you even watch Fox News and come up with that?

Oh yeah, there's an interview [kcrw.com] at the end of "To the Point" with the director, Steve Kull.

Re:Speaking as one of those absentee voters

[Shajenko42]

Hey, several weren't secret at all. Take, for instance, Salvador Allende. We replaced him with Pinochet.

Link [freespeech.org]. If you claim this is simply tinfoil-hattery, I'm done talking to you.

Re:oh my beloved american friends (NO SARCASM HERE

[LynchMan]

Troll? Ok - I guess others can quote bumper stickers without any issues.

But I go ahead and quote my open source stickers [openstickers.org] and get flagged as a troll.

Sigh.

Re:Someone explain to me how this is news

[Politburo]

Actually, back in 84, during a debate Mondale straight up said "I'm the only one on this stage who will admit that I'll raise your taxes."

1984 was the biggest blowout in US presidential election history.

Re:oh my beloved american friends (NO SARCASM HERE

[mcc]

Show me one case where any freedom of speech, press, or religion was denied in the U.S.

The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798.

Perhaps you could have phrased your question better?

Re:oh my beloved american friends (NO SARCASM HERE

[David McBride]

Show me one case where any freedom of speech, press, or religion was denied in the U.S.

Well, American and foreign prisioners are being held at Guantanamo bay without charge or trial. The press are being granted only very limited access to the goings-on there. And one of the persuasion methods being employed there is to prevent detainees from practicing their normal religious duties.

Re:YES!

[3terrabyte]

It's funny how we see what each of us sees.

I look at Bush & Cheney and see the epitome of the 'good-ol-boy' network. Back door deals, friends of Enron, Halliburton, & Suadi Arabia.

I find it hard to ignore that the 2 times we've been at war with Iraq, it's been with a Bush in office. The cost is still rising, another 70 billion just been asked for. With this kind of money, we could have searched every inch of Afganistan twice.

As far as taxes go, I have NEVER had a problem paying my taxes when the economy is great, and my paychecks roll in. There are more taxes to COLLECT when more people are working and spending.

Bush should have kept my $300 check. It pales in comparison to the bonus check we get on good years. The year I got a $300 check from Bush, not only did I get no bonus, we had to fire 100 people. It could have been me.

I'm not going to be able to change your mind. So I'll just point out again that I think people see what they want to see. I know during the debates, I sure did. Talked to some Republicans the next day who loved Bush's performance. !!?

Parent has no concept of history

[Xoder]

Clinton? attacked Iraq first on the very same premise of WMDs.

After this line, I just couldn't believe another word. The first Persian Gulf War [wikipedia.org] was started by George H. W. Bush back in 1990 and '91, not by Clinton, and the reason was Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

Learn your history. I mean, I know I was alive and socially aware at this time (I was in like 4th grade or something), so unless you're like eight years old, you have no right to be unaware of this history: you lived through it!

Re:www.govorgcom.net

[zoombat]

Instead of the no-brainer www.denver.gov they use www.denvergov.com and www.denvergov.org.

That's because there are special naming requirements [gpo.gov] for cities that use the .gov namespace. Denver would have ended up as something like www.denver-co.gov. Or they could have gone with www.ci.denver.co.us.

Re:YES!

[crucini]

I can see you've been completely brainwashed by Karl Rove and Fox News. Your above statement is an outright, vicious, republican lie.

They do not drill a hole in the baby's skull. They insert a pair of scissors, then open it to enlarge the hole. [nrlc.org]

I hope this will teach you not to swallow wingnut propaganda in the future!

Re:Dead Letter Office

[pboulang]

What?

Is it not part of the Department of the Treasury? ah, yes it is.

The Department of Engraving and Printing deals with paper currency and the US Mint deals with coinage.

Maybe better proof is found in this PDF [ustreas.gov] explaining the organization of the US Treasury [ustreas.gov] (US Mint is clearly at the bottom-middle)

Is it possible you were referring the the Federal Reserve [federalreserve.gov]?

Re:oh my beloved american friends (NO SARCASM HERE

[David McBride]

I'm sorry, I didn't know those freedoms granted by the U.S. constitution carried over to foriegn combatants...

Some of the people held in Guantanamo Bay are American. Although there have been attempts by the US government to render the constitution unenforceable because Guantanamo base is located in Cuba, an inital ruling in favour of the government was overturned by the US Supreme Court. [wikipedia.org]

The legal concept of a "foriegn(sic) combatant" is largely fiction. Prisioners taken on a battlefield are classified as "Prisioners of War" and have rights under the Geneva Convention -- which the US, despite being signatories of the Convention, are not respecting.

Prisioners taken in a foreign country *outside* of a state of war outside of normal extradition channels are called "hostages".

Besides, where is your censorship of the press? They can (and do) say anything they want about it.

Strawman argument. I never said they were being censored, merely given very limited (read: zero) access to the base and its occupants.

Foreigners hold lots of US treasury securities

[Anonymous Coward]

Non-US citizens thus have a vested interest in knowing that the US federal government is in capable hands, as this directly affects their massive investments (propping up our federal deficit and our balance of trade deficit).

If you believe that foreigners' opinions about the US election are irrelevant, wait until they start dumping these securities and our dollar becomes worthless.

dangerous mistake

[geg81]

A non-American's opinion in the 2004 presidential election is pretty much as irrelevant as it gets.

Quite to the contrary: what international investors believe about US politics is vitally important to the US. Should they lose confidence in the US, they'll pull out their money and the US economy will collapse.

Re:Yes, you are sorry, Bro

[Carewolf]

Actually is quite well know that Saddam didn't fund or train terrorist, especially not Al-Quada since they were direct enemies.

Syria is another arabic country, a good place to sell stuff if you need some cash to make an escape with.

From "The Register"

[CaptainPinko]

Technical Update Although overseas visitors to www.georgewbush.com are blocked https://georgewbush.com or http://65.172.163.222 still work. http://65.172.163.222 resolves as GeorgeWBush.com which illustrates how cak-handed the blocking is. From "The Register" website [technicalu...ockedhttps].

Re:War is Peace

[sprprsnmn]

Isn't it "War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, Ignorance is Strength" ?

Re:At least the .org's still accessible!

[pnot]

We aren't concerned with terrorism, because terrorism is mostly affecting the US.

Untrue. Did you hear about the Madrid bombing? The Bali bombing? The three hundred and fifty [cnn.com] people killed in Beslan, Russia? And how many major terrorist attacks have there been on U.S. soil since 9/11?

In fact, terrorist attacks last year hit a 35-year low [cbsnews.com], at least until Powell realised this was bad for business and had the official figures heavily revised [cnn.com].

Of course non-U.S. terrorist attacks don't get as much media coverage (even outside the U.S.) but it doesn't mean that they don't occur.

Re:Yes, you are sorry, Bro

[johnnyb]

" Actually is quite well know that Saddam didn't fund or train terrorist"

Actually it is VERY well-known that he funded palestinian terrorists. It is fairly well-known that he used the oil-for-food program to fund Al-Qaeda.

"train terrorist"

Actually, it is fairly well-known that they trained all sorts of terrorists at their Salmon-Pak facility. They even had a 747 for use in training to hijack. They were also not direct enemies w/ Al-Qaeda, especially since, as the 9-11 report stated, that they had signed a mutual pact to develop weapons together. Also, Saddam has harbored many terrorists in Baghdad.

Clinton Justice Department's spring 1998 indictment of bin Laden:

"Al Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al Qaeda would work cooperatively with the Government of Iraq."

WTC1: Mohammed Salameh called Baghdad 46 times in the two months before bomb maker Abdul Rahman Yasin flew from Baghdad to New Jersey to join the plot. Afterwards, Yasin fled to Baghdad, where records and multiple press accounts show he received safe haven and Baathist cash.

After leaving Afghanistan, Zarqawi fled to Baghdad and received medical attention in one of their premier hospitals.

Here's some links:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/ ne ws/2003/12/14/wterr14.xml

This link includes both confirmed and speculated connections of Iraq/Al-Qaeda:

http://www.worldthreats.com/middle_east/Iraq%20T er ror.htm

I have more, but I'll leave it at that for now. Note that in the 90's, the connection between Iraq and Al-Qaeda was pretty much a given. Only now that Bush is using Saddam's terror ties as reason for invasion are people backing down.

Re:At least the .org's still accessible!

[rhakka]

Well, Iran was peaceful until the CIA orchestrated a coup there. Then we propped up saddam and set the two at each other. isn't it great?

Gee I wonder why this is biting us in the ass?

A few words...

[acey72]

As the original submitter of this story, I'm gratified by the amount of debate it's spawned :-)

However, a few points in reply to various comments in the thread (I'm sorry they're not posted appropriately)

• Someone mentioned 'why is this news?' and gave some arguments for why the site was blocked to non-US clients. In turn:
  • They didn't want the site 'slash-dotted' - errrm, that's why it's being hosted by Akamai
  • They were protecting against DoS attacks - see above, and either way, getting your web-site to issue a 403 is not a good way to protect against DoS attacks
  • GW's web-site isn't relevant to non-American voters - true, we can't vote, or influence your vote (despite the Guardian's lamentably naive efforts). However, it is very much the case that GW's actions have a huge impact on those outside the US - just ask The Black Watch, going in to clean-up Falluja (just in time for the US elections). It's pretty unrealistic to expect the rest of the world to not be very interested in the elections of the most powerful & influential country in the world!

  For whatever reason, it's undeniably a PR disaster.

• Someone else mentioned that us Europeans should be grateful to America for saving our asses from each other, not least during the cold war. This can't be argued, and I think you'll find that despite our whining, we are grateful for America's effort and sacrifice. (Although the cold war was more of a NATO thing - both the UK and France had/have sufficient nuclear capabilities to cause the Kremlin pause - in the case of the French, they were independently developed & controlled).
  Which raises an interesting point - are the various terrorist organisations threatening the US/West/CIS just taking up the vacuum left by the collapse of the USSR as a superpower. Newton's 3rd law applied to geopolitics?
• The USA is fighting a 'war on terrorism'. Take it from a limey, whose country has been through 25-odd years of Irish republican terrorism - you can't win a war on terror, certainly not by conventional military engagement. Especially not with such a large, dispersed enemy as religious fanaticism. No mistake, you're not fighting Al Qaeda - they're just the current manifestation of a greater malaise, which will continue almost indefinitely if the west follows its current path. Realistically, if your primary concern is the security of the US, then the best policy is isolationism, not global intervention.

Oh well, all interesting stuff - let's see what happens next week!

Re:Someone explain to me how this is news

[Anonymous Coward]

The Guardian [british newspaper] organised exactly that.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004 /story/0,13918,1329858,00.html

Look at the lovely responses they got :-P

What about 'mericans overseas?

[Anonymous Coward]

The block means that US soldiers serving in Afganistan, Iraq, South Korean etc don't get to see the presidents site either.

I assume Bush thinks those guys are expendable in search of an election win...

Re:oh my beloved american friends (NO SARCASM HERE

[Anonymous Coward]

The legal concept of a "foriegn(sic) combatant" is largely fiction. Prisioners taken on a battlefield are classified as "Prisioners of War" and have rights under the Geneva Convention -- which the US, despite being signatories of the Convention, are not respecting.

You are simply wrong. The Geneva conventions explicitly exclude certain categories of persons from their protections, such as mercenaries and spies. For certain others, they must pass various tests to qualify for the protections.

Now, somehow I doubt that you have ever bothered to read the conventions since then you would know this, and you would also realize that the specific protections of the Geneva Conventions don't necessarily make any sense for those people, such as PAYING them a monthly salary (article 60).

Please do trouble yourself enough to actually read them. Maybe you could start with Article 4, section 2. [unhchr.ch] Hopefully you will do this before spreading any more highly moderated malarkey.

Re:Yes, you are sorry, Bro

[Anonymous Coward]

They didn't fund Al Q'aida, true. That was something left for the US to do.

Saddam's government did fund Hammas and the PLO, however.

Re:A few words...

[Renegade Lisp]

Greetings from Europe to America,

I draw direct parallels to what's happening in Iraq to what happened in Germany after the collapse of the Nazi regime, where in Germany there were years of bombings, murders, and widespread terror spread by the 'wolfpack' (Nazi reminants which act very much like the insurgents in Iraq are acting now)

I'm German, reasonably well educated, but I never heard such a thing about post-war Germany. When World War II was over, everybody was very quick to adapt to the new circumstances, and become allies of the winning countries (America in the West, Soviet Union in the East). The transition was in fact so quick that even die-hard Nazis immediately found comfortable positions within the new type of society, of course not displaying their Nazi mind-set openly anymore. There certainly weren't "bombings, murders, and widespread terror for years". Nothing comparable to the situation in Iraq, whatsoever.

Re:Someone explain to me how this is news

[10Ghz]

Yeah, can you believe the US is actually making Iraq and Afganistan endure elections now? Geez, it's bad enough those bastards inflict that misery on their own people.

I think OP referred to stuff like ousting of democratically elected president of Chile and replacing him with General Pinochet. Or ousting the democrating regime of Iran, and replacing it with Shah. Or the attempted coup at Venezuela (again, to ous a democratically elected president). Or supporting Saddam Hussein, so he could wage his war against Iran (that war was a Good Thing (tm) since USA hated Iran because they dared to oust the US-backed puppet-regime).

especially after we've spent the last 60 years (and countless billions of dollars) keeping them from becoming Soviet sattelite states.

Ah, the old "Hey! we helped you in the past! Therefore you are eternally our bitches and you have to do whatever we tell you to do untill the end of time!"-argument.

I'd like to think that kind of devotion to another's well-being ought to earn some small amount of trust and respect.

You HAD our trust and respect. Hell, Europeans admired USA for decades! Europe and USA were really friendly towards each other during the Clinton-administration, and that was just few years ago! Too bad GWB managed to flush all that down the toilet with his "either you are our bithces, or you are against us"-bullshit coupled with his "pre-emptive self-defence"-crap.

Here is how to do it...

[Anonymous Coward]

Just type georgewbush.com. Note the '.' after com, doesn't take much to fool the system.