Israeli IP? You're banned
Increasing amount of internet storage sites placing blanket regional bans on all Israeli users; says huge amount of Israeli surfers violate their terms of use
Banning Israeli web surfers - A number of internet storage sites have begun banning Israeli surfers from accessing their services, saying that "unsuitable" behavior has forced them to block IP addresses from Israel.
The websites say Israeli surfers have used the site to upload and share pornographic material in large numbers, "forcing" them to place a blanket ban on Israeli web users.
100WebSpace, a storage site, has blocked all IP addresses originating from Israel, following what it says were “repeated attempts to exploit the service from Israel.”
Other foreign sites have followed suit, saying they too would ban Israeli web surfers, citing similar reasons.
One such website, putfile.com, is a free storage provider for images and video files.
An attempt to reach the site from Israel results in an error message which reads, “Due to prolonged attempts to abuse the service we are sorry to announce that you cannot upload files from your area at this time.”
"Gordon," of putfile.com, insists that the blanket regional ban on Israeli users was the correct course of action.
“This is not a small amount of users, but a large number, that have ruined the enjoyment for everyone else,” he says.
Terms of use
Putfile.com’s terms of use forbid the use of pornographic images, but Gordon says that out of 22,157 file uploads from Israel, 15,741 contained sexually explicit material.
Over 3,500 uploads contained graphic scenes of violence, such as murder and accidents, while 27 file uploads infringed copyright laws. Gordon says 87 percent of Israeli users broke the site’s term of use.
“We try to provide a free service to everyone,” he says. “But the violations of our terms of use are bogging down our services. Pornographic content ties up a lot of space and content that violates copyright law creates legal complications.
"This buildup damages the quality of our service for legitimate users. We are planning a free registration for all users in the short term future, and we hope this step will allow us to provide our service to all users,” Gordon says.
Enom.com, another site providing free web storage, has also begun blocking potential users from Israel.
Ynet was told that the ban was taken following “the especially high level of attempted fraudulent use from your area.”
