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arXiv · 1806.00459

A Bestiary of Blocking: The Motivations and Modes behind Website Unavailability

Sadia Afroz·Mobin Javed·Vern Paxson·Shoaib Asif Qazi·Shaarif Sajid·Michael Carl Tschantz
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Abstract

This paper examines different reasons the websites may vary in their availability by location. Prior works on availability mostly focus on censorship by nation states. We look at three forms of server-side blocking: blocking visitors from the EU to avoid GDPR compliance, blocking based upon the visitor's country, and blocking due to security concerns. We argue that these and other forms of blocking warrant more research.

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Sadia Afroz, Mobin Javed, Vern Paxson, Shoaib Asif Qazi, Shaarif Sajid, Michael Carl Tschantz. 2018-06-01. A Bestiary of Blocking: The Motivations and Modes behind Website Unavailability. https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.00459

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