4 ms·

I'm in Thailand and just get this message: We've discontinued servicing users from your location and are thereby preventing access to any of the websites owned

I'm in Thailand and just get this message: We've discontinued servicing users from your location and are thereby preventing access to any of the websites owned and operated by ZAM Network, LLC DBA Fanbyte (the owner of Fanbyte.com): This decision is ultimately one we were forced to make due to the number of visitors from your region when compared to the operational costs necessary to continue providing access there. It was a tough decision but one that we ultimately had to accept. This is an indefinite decision. We genuinely apologize for the inconvenience this will cause all of those who reside within your region. Note: This is not related to Russia/Ukraine or any other political/military actions around the world.

lebed2045 4y ago
Could you please elaborate? Twitter stopped working with particular ISP because of cost related problems?
- jefftk 4y ago
  The host of this article has decided to stop providing service to Thailand. Maybe because of the cost of compliance with internet regulations there?
- weird-eye-issue 4y ago
  Hard to elaborate since I've been blocked and can't see anything except for literally just that message
  - toastal 4y ago
    Well at least it seems there are other folks to comiserate with you. I'm based in Thailand too and this isn't the first time the region blocked from content that seems like it should be benign like a new article.
heystefan 4y ago
I'm getting the same message from the OP's website, and I'm in eastern europe. Weird.
- VonGallifrey 4y ago
  Serbia? Apparently they bann these countries due to the cost of legal review (?): China Indonesia Philippines Thailand Turkey Serbia India Wowhead is owned by the same company and this is their reasoning: https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/a-good-tip-for-people-in-countries-that-wowhead-has-blocked/345146/3 https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/a-good-tip-for-peopl...
deadmercury 4y ago
From India, I too got the same message. https://web.archive.org/web/20220723125013/https://www.fanbyte.com/features/how-a-clip-from-stray-got-me-banned-from-twitter/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220723125013/https://www.fanby...
alisonatwork 4y ago
I hit a very similar message several times when I was traveling in Colombia, including on websites that I specifically needed to access to plan my further travel. It's extremely annoying. I suspect there is some button on Wix or a WordPress plugin that webmasters are naively using to fight spam that's inadvertently locking out legitimate users from certain countries. It's a really big step backwards for the idea of a "world wide web" and global internet, imo, and plays right into the hands of authoritarian nations who are trying to sell developing countries on the idea of "internet sovereignty".
AnonymousPlanet 4y ago
So they host articles that complain about being banned on Twitter, but are ok with banning entire countries?
- carbadtraingood 4y ago
  The article isn't about being banned on Twitter. It's about automated moderation (a side effect of which is, yes, a Twitter ban.)
  - AnonymousPlanet 4y ago
    The title of the article is litteraly "How a Clip From Stray Got Me Banned From Twitter". I fail to see why also discussing the reason of the ban takes anything away from my original point.
    - carbadtraingood 4y ago
      Because the thesis is that automoderation is a problem. The entire point of the article is using Twitter as an example of a problem, not the root problem itself.
c-shubh 4y ago
From https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/a-good-tip-for-people-in-countries-that-wowhead-has-blocked/345146/3 https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/a-good-tip-for-peopl... The following countries have been blocked from accessing any of the websites owned and operated by ZAM Network, LLC DBA Fanbyte (the owner of Wowhead. com): China Indonesia Philippines Thailand Turkey Serbia India This decision is ultimately due to legal compliance and liability issues with respect to these countries and their laws/regulations. This action was not based on any specific law or regulation in any one or more of the listed countries. Our decision was due to the legal costs involved with reviewing the laws and regulations of the listed countries, in contrast with the amount of visitors/revenue earned from them. As a result of this analysis, we decided not to pursue a legal review and to mitigate our liability in these countries, we opted to block access entirely. This is an indefinite decision. I and the rest of the Wowhead staff genuinely apologize for the inconvenience this will cause you. It was a tough decision but one that we ultimately had to accept.
- weird-eye-issue 4y ago
  I'm surprised to hear there's that much regulation in Thailand (if it's true). I do know a couple porn sites are blocked here though I own a site that's monetized primarily off display ads and I can tell you that advertising revenue in those countries is abysmally low so they probably just don't want to expend any effort to support those countries
  - carbadtraingood 4y ago
    Thailand has laws about how one can talk about the king, right? Maybe there's no safe harbor provisions for websites, and a site this size is too small to fight, but big enough to attract attention?
    - weird-eye-issue 4y ago
      Yeah actually I completely forgot about that too somehow. And there are strict libel laws as well
    - 4y ago
karaterobot 4y ago
I was Googling around for why this might be. The best I can guess is that it has to do with the Thai PDPA (Personal Data Protection Act) that recently started getting enforced. This is the equivalent to the EU's GDPR act, but whereas it might be worth it to Fanbyte to take steps to comply with GDPR, the Thai market may not be a big enough part of their readership. This is just speculation.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
fellellor 4y ago
Eh... It's no big loss. I can live without it.

lebed2045 4y ago

Could you please elaborate? Twitter stopped working with particular ISP because of cost related problems?

jefftk 4y ago
The host of this article has decided to stop providing service to Thailand. Maybe because of the cost of compliance with internet regulations there?
weird-eye-issue 4y ago
Hard to elaborate since I've been blocked and can't see anything except for literally just that message
- toastal 4y ago
  Well at least it seems there are other folks to comiserate with you. I'm based in Thailand too and this isn't the first time the region blocked from content that seems like it should be benign like a new article.

heystefan 4y ago

I'm getting the same message from the OP's website, and I'm in eastern europe. Weird.

VonGallifrey 4y ago
Serbia? Apparently they bann these countries due to the cost of legal review (?): China Indonesia Philippines Thailand Turkey Serbia India Wowhead is owned by the same company and this is their reasoning: https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/a-good-tip-for-people-in-countries-that-wowhead-has-blocked/345146/3 https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/a-good-tip-for-peopl...

deadmercury 4y ago

From India, I too got the same message. https://web.archive.org/web/20220723125013/https://www.fanbyte.com/features/how-a-clip-from-stray-got-me-banned-from-twitter/ https://web.archive.org/web/20220723125013/https://www.fanby...

alisonatwork 4y ago

I hit a very similar message several times when I was traveling in Colombia, including on websites that I specifically needed to access to plan my further travel. It's extremely annoying. I suspect there is some button on Wix or a WordPress plugin that webmasters are naively using to fight spam that's inadvertently locking out legitimate users from certain countries. It's a really big step backwards for the idea of a "world wide web" and global internet, imo, and plays right into the hands of authoritarian nations who are trying to sell developing countries on the idea of "internet sovereignty".

AnonymousPlanet 4y ago

So they host articles that complain about being banned on Twitter, but are ok with banning entire countries?

carbadtraingood 4y ago
The article isn't about being banned on Twitter. It's about automated moderation (a side effect of which is, yes, a Twitter ban.)
- AnonymousPlanet 4y ago
  The title of the article is litteraly "How a Clip From Stray Got Me Banned From Twitter". I fail to see why also discussing the reason of the ban takes anything away from my original point.
  - carbadtraingood 4y ago
    Because the thesis is that automoderation is a problem. The entire point of the article is using Twitter as an example of a problem, not the root problem itself.

c-shubh 4y ago

From https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/a-good-tip-for-people-in-countries-that-wowhead-has-blocked/345146/3 https://eu.forums.blizzard.com/en/wow/t/a-good-tip-for-peopl... The following countries have been blocked from accessing any of the websites owned and operated by ZAM Network, LLC DBA Fanbyte (the owner of Wowhead. com): China Indonesia Philippines Thailand Turkey Serbia India This decision is ultimately due to legal compliance and liability issues with respect to these countries and their laws/regulations. This action was not based on any specific law or regulation in any one or more of the listed countries. Our decision was due to the legal costs involved with reviewing the laws and regulations of the listed countries, in contrast with the amount of visitors/revenue earned from them. As a result of this analysis, we decided not to pursue a legal review and to mitigate our liability in these countries, we opted to block access entirely. This is an indefinite decision. I and the rest of the Wowhead staff genuinely apologize for the inconvenience this will cause you. It was a tough decision but one that we ultimately had to accept.

weird-eye-issue 4y ago
I'm surprised to hear there's that much regulation in Thailand (if it's true). I do know a couple porn sites are blocked here though I own a site that's monetized primarily off display ads and I can tell you that advertising revenue in those countries is abysmally low so they probably just don't want to expend any effort to support those countries
- carbadtraingood 4y ago
  Thailand has laws about how one can talk about the king, right? Maybe there's no safe harbor provisions for websites, and a site this size is too small to fight, but big enough to attract attention?
  - weird-eye-issue 4y ago
    Yeah actually I completely forgot about that too somehow. And there are strict libel laws as well
  - 4y ago

karaterobot 4y ago

I was Googling around for why this might be. The best I can guess is that it has to do with the Thai PDPA (Personal Data Protection Act) that recently started getting enforced. This is the equivalent to the EU's GDPR act, but whereas it might be worth it to Fanbyte to take steps to comply with GDPR, the Thai market may not be a big enough part of their readership. This is just speculation.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

fellellor 4y ago

Eh... It's no big loss. I can live without it.