Just now I got a text message from Bob Martin, who’s wondering why he can’t access Google’s search pages. Then, he said he can’t access his Google AdSense account pages as well. What happens, according to Bob, is he gets redirected to a landing page whenever he tries to access www.google.com. Take a look at this screen capture of Bob’s browser.
He’s connected to the Internet via PLDT myDSL. Why is PLDT seemingly blocking Google? In fact, it’s not just Google but AltaVista, Yahoo! and MSN as well. And on that landing page is PLDT’s own search engine, with advertisements.
If you notice, Bob’s using OpenDNS, but when he turns it off, he says the resulting page comes out the same. I use OpenDNS too, but I’m not having this problem.
To verify this, my other friends who are on PLDT myDSL confirm this strange development. A backward development, if you ask me.
Is PLDT blocking search engines and portals so that they can offer their own online services? If that’s the case, that is very much akin to the Gestapo tactics of World War II Nazis.
But there’s more. Check out this next screenshot.
This is a journalist’s blog, Istambay sa Mindanao, which is being blocked by PLDT, because it’s categorized as a blog. Other Davao blogs being blocked so far are Councilor Pete Laviña’s, Taga-Davao, Village Idiot Savant… My friend Bob thinks his blogs will fall into this black hole as well.
Are we in China here? Or Saudi Arabia? If this is indeed the doing of PLDT, do they think such deceitful devices will stand for long in a free and democratic country? (Where there are a lot of bloggers, I might add!)
I’m on SmartBro DSL, which is also part of the PLDT ilk. Are they going to follow suit as well?
This just in: Gmail is also being blocked by PLDT. In my estimate, tens of thousands of Filipinos use Gmail. What’s next?
baka napagkamalan nilang china ang philippines. hmmm…
I have the same problem and I suspect openDNS is causing it to happen. Even our own site in our own network is blocked by openDNS I have submitted a notice to our provider. When I change the DNS to another DNS it worked…
Kuya Andrew also blogged about it and he suspects OpenDNS is the culprit.
I tired with OpenDNS and also without OpenDNS and got the same results each time. Also, if it was OpenDNS, I doubt that a PLDT logo would have been displayed.
I am able to open all sites now… thankfully it is over!
Is it over though? More people using myDSL are telling me that there are sites that they still can’t access due to this filtering that’s being done.
What if… PLDT was hacked?
Woah, internet censorship!!
Bad PLDT! Good thing I am using BayanTel’s DSL.
hmmm.. wait a minute the check settings of the dsl modem, if it fails, then pldt should have the spanking. hehehe
[...] PLDT blocking Google [...]
why oh why? i’m on pldt mydsl.. fortunately, the pages i visit don’t get blocked… =)
@iceman9 i don’t think the modem has anything to do with it.
did pldt explain what happened?
No, I’m afraid PLDT isn’t letting on…
Gamit ko dati SmartBro. I left it kasi I can’t view Youtube there. Palagay ko, finifilter nila para di ma-overload servers nila. But that’s not right. Para naman tayong nasa middle ages!
@Tony — You’re right! Our Internet at home is on SmartBro, and we cannot access YouTube there.
@Tony I can access youtube from my smartbro at home. I’m not sure if it’s my browser or my isp which causes the delay in loading youtube videos (same thing happens even when using a different isp). The browser (if its the browser) waits until the first few seconds of the video are loaded before the buffer display shows up.
It’s been about a month now and I’m encountering the same problem. In fact, it’s gotten weirder. I tried to access youtube and I got the a similar looking page; except the text has changed. It now says : “IF YOU EXPERIENCE THIS PROBLEM, SEND SMS TO 2331(GLOBE/SUN/TM) AND 231(SMART/TNT) type BB JOSEF or also type BB NIKKI” (in the red font part) What the hell? Voting for the love team in Pinoy big brother teen edition will solve this problem?? Jeez.
Now that’s what I call blatant…
I dont think this is a problem with PLDT. I myself use openDNS+PLDT without any problems. I think the problem is the way opendns works. Opendns allows you to register your IP so that you can use site blocking. You need to have an account and I think happens is, when you get your IP dynamically from PLDT, the previous user may have registered that IP with opendns to their account which blocks the sites. If you use opendns, I suggest you get an account, its free, and they have the autologin tool so that your DNS settings will always be yours everytime you login. Plus it helps to block the adware and malware sites. You could also customize the block notices.
Disclaimer: This is what i think may have happened. Reality could be different. Cheers!
Contact me if you want to discuss. vicven2@yahoo.com