[(JD)]

The USA gave away the controlling rights to the Internet this fall. This means we have lost, for all intents and purposes, our 1st Amendment rights to free speech. While many who use the internet are not from the USA, they have luxuriated in pretty much free speech unless their own country has blocked it.

There has already been some censoring tactics. And it wouldn't surprise me to find this "testing the waters" of the DDos to be a part of the new control.

However, when your fav site goes down...maybe it's still there and your computer has just been swamped that it cannot find it. Here's something to try. (I'd print this off as if that site is affected, you might not be able to go there to follow it.

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/how-to-c...COS-04-10aaa1a
Sometimes, when your favorite websites go "down," they're actually still right there. You just can't see them, because your computer doesn't know how to get there.
What if you could give your PC some better driving directions right now, in just a minute or two tops?
To do that, you just need to change your DNS server.

[Aardwolf]

As far as I can tell, and please feel free to disagree - all they have relinquished control over is the naming system of the internet.

For example Psychcentral.com physical "IP" address is 104.20.19.62. The IP address is a bit like the co-ordinates on a map. The URL (Psych Central - Trusted mental health, depression, bipolar, ADHD & psychology information) is like a nickname.

When we type that into our browser, if the cache doesn't already have it, then it sends a request to the DNS server .The DNS server performs a recursive search to find where that website is hosted on a server (this is where the IP address comes in) and then our browser can send a request to said server to connect to the page.

Obviously if the DNS server is down, or has been modified then it won't work quite as easily, but it will still work !...

Even if every DNS server crashed, you would still be able to connect to a website if you have the IP address.

Think of the Domain names as "shortcuts" on a map telling you where things are. Even if someone else has the shortcut list, you can still find the places you need.

I'm not entirely sure where the 1st ammendment principles apply to this case.. ICANN have been managing internet domains since 1988, and have only had oversight by the US, with thier power more or less limited to shutting down, or preventing new domain names !

The most prudent parts in red as follows..
ICANN’s status as a private non-profit organisation relying on governance by contract exempts it from First Amendment limits. The first amendment does not apply. The new transition plan, on the other hand, contains a prohibition on using ICANN’s power over DNS to regulate content.

No freedom of speech is being taken away from anyone with this change. If anything you will have more !

In my humble

[-jimi-]

To go to the forum via IP only you need a /something. No idea what that something is. Hope it is not a secret, LOL.