The debate over Net neutrality took a new turn when AT&T confirmed on Monday that it had temporarily blocked Internet forum 4chan during the weekend, following a complaint about a 'denial-of-service' (DoS) attack by one of its customers!

However, AT&T refrained from giving any particular reason for blocking some sections of 4chan. All that an AT&T spokesperson told Central Gadget was that the block pertained to the 4chan content, and the action resulted from "following the practices of their policy department."

Admitting about the block, AT&T said: "Beginning Friday, an AT&T customer was impacted by a denial-of-service attack stemming from IP addresses connected to img.
4chan. org. To prevent this attack from disrupting service for the impacted AT&T customer, and to prevent the attack from spreading to impact our other customers, AT&T temporarily blocked access to the IP addresses in question for our customers."

Arguing that its key aim behind the move was to guard its customers against malicious traffic, AT&T added that it will persist in monitoring for DoS activity and other malicious traffic.

Meanwhile, criticizing AT&T for not giving 4chan any advance notice, the site's founder Christopher "Moot" Poole said that the sinister act of censorship was a poorly executed, disproportionate response from AT&T. About the action resulting in renewed interest in Internet censorship and Net neutrality, Poole said that it was like "a blessing in disguise!"