Blocking IP Addresses + Brazil

A while back I posted this message to see if anyone had trouble viewing my wife's site:

http://discuss.fogcreek.com/joelonsoftware/default.asp?cmd=show&ixPost=46450

I was amazed by the responses from around the world.

But, we still got reports from Brazil stating that people cannot view the site (which is primarily for a Brazilian audience). After lots of research and help from some people down there it seems that the site's host, ReadyHosting, is blocking the IP address range of 200.xxx.xxx.xxx. Furthermore, I understand that this range belongs to Brazilian ISP(s).

Can anyone here confirm the IP range of 200.xxx.xxx.xxx as  assigned to Brazil as well as tell me why it would be blocked (my host does not wish to clarify it, only to have individual Brazilian ISPs send an email to their abuse desk with a request to unblock).

Thanks for the help.

Chi Lambda
Thursday, October 23, 2003

If you talk to a lot of ISP support / abuse desk people you'll find that some of them have indeed written off whole areas of the internet because of the poor signal to noise (spam) ratio of traffic coming from these areas.

Robert Moir
Thursday, October 23, 2003

Here in DK, there are regularly mass-defacements of web-sites, and almost every time it is stated that the attack appears to originate from Brazil. This could be the answer to the "why"...

Martin A. Boegelund
Thursday, October 23, 2003

Change your hoster. If you want to block access from certain parts of the world that's up to you, but for them to take that decision for you is completely out of order.

Thursday, October 23, 2003

"If you want to block access from certain parts of the world that's up to you, but for them to take that decision for you is completely out of order. "

I'd agree they should warn you that they do this, but (assuming my guess at their reason is along the right lines) they are not taking this decision for their customers they are taking it for themselves.

In other words, they have decided that they need to do this to protect *themselves* from abuse from that address range.

Robert Moir
Thursday, October 23, 2003

Robert's absolutely right. Their action saves them time, inconvenience, and possibly money. The fact that it may cause their customers ten or a hundred times more lost time, inconvenience or wasted money, is irrelevant unless enough of their customers know about it, and are prepared to take their custom elsewhere.

Stephen Jones
Thursday, October 23, 2003

Only a wild guess.. but blocks of IP addresses are regularly blocked by countries for whom the government has considered them to be "off limits".  Many ISP's adhere to that policy.  Here in Canada, it is illegal (on e-commerce sites) for us to transact/do business with certain countries (for whom our government has closed diplomatic relations)... someone correct me if I'm wrong.. but not long ago this was Liberia, Burma (Mu) and for some reason Spain.  The only effective way is for blocks of IP addy's to be closed off if they originate in that country.  There was one other - but it elludes me at present.

Can't think why it might be Brazil..

As I say.. just a guess.

Sue Canada
Thursday, October 23, 2003

Canada had broken off diplomatic relations with Spain? A fishing dispute? They'd banned Celine Dione on humanitarian grounds so you'd retaliated by banning Julio Iglesias? You'd taken up roller hockey and they'd skated all over you?

Spain is part of the EU anyway, so you can't block commerical relations with Spain without boycotting the whole EU.

I wasn't aware Liberia or Myanmar actually had any ISP's.

Stephen Jones
Thursday, October 23, 2003

Probably Spanish fishermen stealing all the Newfoundland cod.

Simon Lucy
Friday, October 24, 2003

There had been a lot of cases of disputes over Spanish fishermen going into Canadian terrtorial waters in the best, but I wasn't aware there was any Newfoundland, or any other, cod left to steal.

Stephen Jones
Friday, October 24, 2003

Sue,

Please don't post info rhat you're not aware of. This information is wrong and certainly Spain is not being blocked.

Vancouver Canucks rocks
Friday, October 24, 2003

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