Ofcom: "All site blocking techniques can be circumvented" - [The Leaked Document]

 
Ofcom, the UK regulator published a report titled "“Site Blocking” to reduce online copyright infringement", as "The Secretary of State has asked Ofcom to consider a number of questions related to the blocking of sites to reduce online copyright infringement, and a report".

The report was published on Ofcom's site (here) and a full version has been leaked to the net (see below and here).

The report compares 4 techniques for site blocking: by IP address, DNS response, by URL response alteration or by using Shallow or Deep Packet Inspection (or hybrids of the above).


"All techniques can be circumvented to some degree by users and site owners who are willing to make the additional effort."

As a result "the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) will not impose website blocking responsibilities on service providers – at least for now" (here).

Ofcom's formal document says that "The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has redacted some parts of this document where it refers to techniques that could be used to circumvent web site blocks. There is a low risk of this information being useful to people wanting to bypass or undermine the Internet Watch Foundation’s blocks on child sexual abuse images [here]. The text in these sections has been blocked out".  You may see these parts below (on page 44, for example).

See previous posts - "Ofcom: ISPs Need to Reduce Online Copyright Infringement - How?" - here and "UK Culture Minister Vaizey:"ISPs have their role to play to help consumers find legitimate content" - here.