New 'error code 451' to show legal censorship

Various legal systems in different countries often lead to sites beings blocked or filtered for various reasons that are usually unclear. A new Internet 451 error code is designed to notify you that content has been blocked by legal obstacles and censorship. The new code will work in tandem with the 404 error code, which mean the page you were looking for was not found. The new code is designed to eradicate the lack of transparency problem on the Internet.

A co-author of the XML specification, Tim Bray, wanted web developers to adopt error code 451 (inspired by Fahrenheit 451) so that Internet users can distinguish it from other Internet error codes. This will let people know that they can't access a piece of content on a website for legal reasons.

According to Mark Nottingham, chairman of the IETF HTTP Working Group, the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) has approved the initial suggestion, allowing developers to start implementing it ahead of “a few more process bits”.

Bray originally submitted the draft for error code 451 more than three years ago when many sites were using 403 forbidden status code to block The Pirate Bay in UK following a court ruling. The new code will prevent any confusion around censorship and legally blocked sites but it's only optional and requires web developers to use it.

One of Bray’s biggest concerns is that Legal entities may not want people to know that the site is blocked as a result of some legal issues.