For reader info, in case it happens when you try to access Uncommon Descent or a page here:
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has approved the use of HTTP status code 451.
The code alerts readers when a page has been blocked for legal reasons or censored.
The code number was inspired by Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury’s novel about censorship.
From Fast Company:
Code 451 is a big step for transparency, but since it’s optional, it probably won’t be a final solution. As Bray tells The Verge, “It is imaginable that certain legal authorities may wish to avoid transparency, and not only forbid access to certain resources, but also disclosure that the restriction exists.”
Others will righteously flaunt the censorship, convinced that they are helping humanity rise above the wrong views of their neighbours, by preventing anyone from accessing them.
In Wired, K. G. Orphanides reports
In The Next Web, Owen Williams reports
At Vice’s Motherboard, Michael Byrne reports :
Hat tip: Book and Periodicals Council of Canada Freedom of Expression Committee