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Comment by EwanToo | Hacker News Reader

thepiratebay.org doesn't respond to pings from any network as far as I can tell, which is a typical firewall configuration.

Judging by the comments on the article it's not Comcast blocking, but some kind of network configuration issue, as multiple ISPs are impacted (though they could in theory be using Comcast as a carrier).

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I'm on Rogers in Canada and I can't get through either.

It is comcast/xfinity blocking. Speakeasy is unaffected. I can access the site from speakeasy, no problem. One of the perks of having 2 ISPs. Try checking it through any open wi-fi connections available to you. Many are probably able to access the site.

How would you explain the multiple people in Australia and other countries not able to access it?

Like I said, it's possible these other ISPS are routing via Comcast, but that's pretty unlikely. More likely is someone has made a config change that's broken the connection for some ISPs.

I could be wrong, but I expect these broken connections will lead right back to Comcast's blocking.

Comcast are denying deliberately blocking it, from their Twitter customer support team:

"We don't block websites. But did escalate and looking into it"

http://twitter.com/#!/ComcastBill/status/68657127429910528

Fascinating. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now, but didn't they deny blocking bittorrent in general before they finally admitted it later and stopped? Do you trust them? Do you think customer relations would be let in on what would obviously be a PR nightmare?

I worked for AT&T and was regularly left in the dark, finding out later on that what I was told to say was in fact not the truth. I'm not putting on a tin foil hat just yet, but I'm suspicious.

I'm on Time Warner in California, and I'm not able to access the site either. Likely some other issue.

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