Many people will agree that consumers should have unfettered access to the internet via wireless and landline connections. There have been instances where access to specific websites and specific types of traffic have been filtered or outright blocked by ISPs and wireless carriers. In July 2009, AT&T Wireless blocked access to the 4chan message boards.

The 4chan site is a message board that reportedly has as many as 200,000 messages posted each day. 

The issue with the site and wireless carriers stems from the site being used to launch different types of internet attacks ranging from mere pranks to more serious network attacks. The 4chan.org website is reporting that it is being blocked by Verizon Wireless. The site posted a statement to its front page that read, "Over the past 72 hours, we've been receiving reports from Verizon Wireless customers having difficulty accessing the image boards."

4chan went on to claim that only traffic on port 80 was being blocked leading it to believe that the site had been intentionally blocked and that some sort of problem was not causing Verizon Wireless users to not be able to access the site. A 4chan administrator going by "moot" wrote that Verizon had been contacted and a Verizon representative said, "You'll need the customer to call to request it be unblocked."

The same user "moot" reported yesterday that after contacting the Verizon Network Repair Bureau the response received was that the site had been explicitly blocked. It's hard to say whether this is a good or a bad thing. If the site is a rally point for attacks online, some might argue that cutting the site off is a good thing. However, once you start down the slope of censoring and blocking content that some deem objectionable, those that use the same site for legitimate reasons are sure to be angered.