451 on the Internet: a new status has appeared in HTTP for sites blocked by authorities

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    The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has approved a new HTTP status code : " 451 Unavailable for Legal Reasons ." It will be issued in response to requests to sites blocked at the request of authorities related to political issues, copyright infringement, etc. The code got its number in honor of Ray Bradbury's famous science fiction work “451 degrees Fahrenheit”.

    The practice of blocking sites in connection with copyright infringement over the past few years has become widespread in many countries around the world. Government services require providers to restrict access to blacklisted sites. The restriction method is left to the discretion of the providers.

    Naturally, each provider fulfills these requirements in its own way, and therefore a new standard has matured. Providers are not required to comply with IETF decisions, but the use of standards usually benefits the system.

    There is a project 451unavailable.org whose purpose is to promote the use of the new HTTP status. Its founders recommend that judicial decisions be publicly posted, which caused blockages, so that the public is better informed about what is happening, and not just receive an incomprehensible message about the lack of access to “403 forbidden”.

    As written on their website, “a truly correct error message 451 should inform the user how to deal with the lock, how long it will last, where to find the documents matching it, and which service initiated it.”

    To introduce a new status was proposed in 2012 by a programmer from Google Tim Bray. He has been involved in the development of XML and a development environment for Android. He approved the emergence of a new status in the standard, but at the same time expressed concern that some services might want to not only block the site, but also hide the very reason for the block.



    "451 degrees Fahrenheit" 451) - Ray Bradbury's science fiction dystopian novel, published in 1953. It describes a society that relies on popular culture and consumer thinking. At the same time, books that make you think about life are subject to burning; keeping books is a crime; and people who can think critically are outlawed.

    In fact, the paper ignites at a temperature of about 450 ° C - the author, who consulted with specialists during the writing of the novel, mixed up the temperature scales.

    The Internet Engineering Council is an open international community of designers, scientists, network operators and providers, created by IAB in 1986 and dedicated to the development of Internet protocols and architecture.
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