SEX, BOMBS & BURGERS

Further to my post last week about recently having my blog censored in the United Kingdom... I did actually receive an email response to my complaint from the offending internet service provider, The Cloud.

If you'll recall, I found that access to this blog on The Cloud's free wi-fi in several UK cities (London, Coventry, Fort William in Scotland) was blocked. Here's what "The Cloud Support Team" had to say:

Thank you for contacting The Cloud customer services. Please be advised that the content filters in place at McDonalds are a contractual requirement and can not be removed. These filters are not in place on other Cloud hotspots, only McDonald locations.

The response was troubling on two fronts. First up, it's not true - The Cloud is also widely available at Pret A Manger, a British sandwich franchise where the food is mildly better than McDonalds, and also considerably overpriced. This here blog was also in full blockage mode at each outlet I went to (I even tried to log in while standing outside a few). The second issue is, what exactly is this "contractual requirement" with McDonalds? I spelled out my concerns in a reply email:

Thank you for your reply. My site was also blocked at several Pret A Manger locations. Also, I'm not sure what you mean by contractual requirement with McDonalds. Do the terms of the contract allow McDonalds to arbitrarily block any sites it sees fit? McDonalds should not be blocking my blog any more than any other site. Exactly how is this being done?

I sent that reply off a week ago, and again yesterday, but have yet to receive a reply. If I don't hear back, I may try McDonald's UK to see why they have taken it upon themselves to become a net neutrality-violating ISP. And yes, isn't it ironic that here we have a case where burgers are blocking boobs?

Speaking of net neutrality, closer to home it was refreshing to hear the Liberals agree with the NDP in coming out in favor of keeping the internet free from ISP interference last week. Check out the video of Liberal MP Marc Garneau, former astronaut and current Liberal industry, science and technology critic, bringing the issue up in the House of Commons last week:



Having interviewed Garneau a little while back, I found him pretty much in the dark on net neutrality, with the same holding true for his predecessor Scott Brison. It seems pretty obvious the Liberals have realized there might be some votes in the whole issue. The Conservatives, despite hosting a one-day summit on the future of Canada's digital economy, remain non-commital.