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A site that explicitly stated that it would not organize the terrible terror video of Christchurch was blocked by Australian phone companies as part of an "extraordinary" attempt to censor dozens of sites Web.
Telstra, Vodafone and Optus all confirmed that they were actively preventing Australian customers from their networks from accessing the websites hosting the Christchurch terrorist video.
None of the three telecommunication operators would say which sites were blocked. The blocks are temporary and will be lifted when the film is removed. The decision was made independently by the telephone companies as a result of industry-wide discussions, with no instruction from law enforcement or the courts.
Facebook and Twitter have not been targeted despite hosting the video.
Guardian Australia understands that this is because they themselves take steps to remove the content from their pages. Many mainstream media have also shown the video on their site, including News.com.au, which remains accessible.
LiveLeak, a video sharing site known for its often-disturbing content, has been blocked by Telstra, Vodafone and Optus. The video originally appeared on LiveLeak, but was quickly cleaned up and is no longer available in searches.
In a statement released Monday, LiveLeak told its users that it refused to broadcast the video because it did not want to "let the author" by carrying his propaganda and she had received "a lot of complaints" regarding the fact that she does not wear the video of the filming in New Zealand, broadcast live on Facebook.
"The shooter from Christchurch was not just a random" madman ". He planned not only the murders, but also the chaos that he would sow with his manifesto, which reads like the feverish dream of a full-fledged 'shitposter'. "
"Currently, judging by the media coverage and the online reactions, he gets almost exactly what he wanted. We do not intend to let it go further. "
Optus, Telstra and Vodafone were asked to comment on their decision to block LiveLeak. Optus referred the LiveLeak questions to the Communications Alliance, whose general manager, John Stanton, spoke more generally about the blocks.
"Due to exceptional circumstances, several major Internet service providers in Australia have made the decision to voluntarily set up temporary blocks of websites that continue to contain footage of the video of the terrorist attack in Christchurch," Stanton said.
"These ISPs have sought to reconcile the expectations of the community to suppress access to video and the need to minimize the inconvenience that can result from blocking legitimate content as an inevitable and temporary consequence."
Vodafone said in a statement that he had blocked "dozens of sites", still hosted in the video. "We are aware that users who try to access these sites for legitimate purposes may be embarrbaded, but we think that it is the right thing to do in these extreme circumstances distribution of this video," he said. he said in a statement.
"In Australia, blocking requests are usually made by the courts or law enforcement agencies. However, this is an extreme case which, in our opinion, has required an extraordinary response. "
"There have been discussions within the industry on this issue and we have been investigating various agencies, but it is a decision made by Vodafone Australia independently."
Such blocks are generally considered inefficient and easily bypbaded. Users of the Reddit online forum are already questioning the blocks and the ease with which they can be avoided.
Also Tuesday, Facebook revealed that the live program of the attack had been viewed 200 times during the live broadcast, and that no one had reported the content.
"The video was viewed about 4,000 times in total before being removed from Facebook, taking into account the views gathered during the live broadcast," said Facebook vice president Chris Sonderby.
"The first user report on the original video arrived 29 minutes after the start of the video and 12 minutes after the end of the live broadcast."
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