# My ISP is "not allowed" to connect to NASA. Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 13, 2004, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-isp-is-not-allowed-to-connect-to-nasa-why/239731 "2004-04-13T05:14:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-isp-is-not-allowed-to-connect-to-nasa-why/239731/1 "2004-04-13T05:14:47Z")
I’m just curious about this, and how/why such a thing might happen. For over two weeks, those of us who connect to the internet through [rogers.com](http://rogers.com) (a leading Canadian ISP), have not been able to access the NASA website itself nor _any_ NASA-related sites such as the JPL or APOD\*. I’ve called Rogers tech support about this (twice) and the best they can tell me are words to the effect that NASA is ‘rejecting’ or ‘not allowing’ Rogers to access their sites. Is this type of problem common? What might the explanation be? \*this is actually not trivial to me and my family since astronomy is a MAJOR aspect of my daughter’s grade school science work this year. The NASA sites are some of the best to help with her homework. ---
**Author:** ![Otara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a88e4f/32.png) [@Otara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Otara)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-isp-is-not-allowed-to-connect-to-nasa-why/239731/2 "2004-04-13T05:26:07Z")
Id say the most likely reason is that someone from your ISP’s IP range has carried out some kind of attack on their website, possibly a DOS (denial of service) attack, so they’re not accepting connections for now. It probably will be only temporary. Otara ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-isp-is-not-allowed-to-connect-to-nasa-why/239731/3 "2004-04-13T05:31:42Z")
> [@KarlGauss](#): > > I’m just curious about this, and how/why such a thing might happen. > > For over two weeks, those of us who connect to the internet through [rogers.com](http://rogers.com) (a leading Canadian ISP), have not been able to access the NASA website itself nor _any_ NASA-related sites such as the JPL or APOD\*. > > I’ve called Rogers tech support about this (twice) and the best they can tell me are words to the effect that NASA is ‘rejecting’ or ‘not allowing’ Rogers to access their sites. > > Is this type of problem common? What might the explanation be? > > \*this is actually not trivial to me and my family since astronomy is a MAJOR aspect of my daughter’s grade school science work this year. The NASA sites are some of the best to help with her homework. I just checked it out and I am with Sympatico , so it must be a Rogers thing. Declan ---
**Author:** ![eulalia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eulalia/32/457_2.png) [@eulalia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eulalia)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-isp-is-not-allowed-to-connect-to-nasa-why/239731/4 "2004-04-13T05:35:12Z")
My best guess is that someone was possibly sending spam or worms from Rogers’ servers, or at least they got on a blacklist under suspicion of spamming or propagating worms. Here are the email addresses of their webmasters, perhaps you can contact them that way and find out. [mailto:greicius@jpl.nasa.gov](mailto:greicius@jpl.nasa.gov) [mailto:jason.heidecker@jpl.nasa.gov](mailto:jason.heidecker@jpl.nasa.gov) [mailto:andrew.rader@jpl.nasa.gov](mailto:andrew.rader@jpl.nasa.gov) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-isp-is-not-allowed-to-connect-to-nasa-why/239731/5 "2004-04-13T05:39:01Z")
Take your pick: "Rogers sent me the following e-mail: …An issue has been identified between our servers and those of another domain which is preventing access to the [www.nasa.gov](http://www.nasa.gov) website. For your information, our reference on this is WFR00261910. Our engineers are working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible, and we apologize for any inconvenience." or [http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/31/1080544546727.html](http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/03/31/1080544546727.html) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2004, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/my-isp-is-not-allowed-to-connect-to-nasa-why/239731/6 "2004-04-13T05:42:29Z")
Sorry missed this. If you look [here](http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,9799210~mode=flat~start=40) it has been ongoing since February.