Blocking Kiwifarms (blog.cloudflare.com)

Article summary

Cloudflare has blocked Kiwifarms, a website that has been hosting revolting content and specific, targeted threats, due to an unprecedented emergency and immediate threat to human life. This decision is extraordinary for Cloudflare, an internet infrastructure provider, and may not set a precedent. Cloudflare had been providing security services to Kiwifarms, protecting them from DDoS and other cyberattacks. The company will continue to work with law enforcement to investigate the site and its users.

Main themes

• Cloudflare's role in hosting content
• Liability and safe harbor laws
• Censorship and free speech
• Internet infrastructure and protocol
• Cybersecurity and threat response
• Online harassment and hate speech

What commenters say

• Cloudflare's role as a CDN and reverse proxy means they are hosting content, even if it's just caching.
• The distinction between hosting and transit is crucial in determining Cloudflare's liability.
• Safe harbor laws protect ISPs and infrastructure providers like Cloudflare from the consequences of their users' actions.
• Blocking Kiwifarms may not solve the underlying problem and could even escalate the situation.
• Cloudflare's decision may be seen as a way to save face, but it was necessary to address the emergency.
• The internet protocol is not designed to be uncensorable, but rather a distributed networking system.
• Censorship resistance and privacy are not inherent features of the internet, but can be achieved through alternative protocols and technologies.