Bradbury Novel Honored With Error Code

There’s a new web error code out there. Web error codes are those strange messages you get instead of the page you meant to pull up. A common one is error 404. We explained the meanings of those sometimes cryptic codes in an article that you can read by clicking here. Now, there’s a new code to add to that mix. Error 451.

The Internet Engineering Steering Group has approved status code 451. This error will show up when web content has been blocked due to censorship on the part of governments who control what type of content residents can access via the Internet.   It will show up when a server operator has received a legal demand to deny access to certain web resources.

The user will see the error code and the reason access is blocked and also the name of the entity blocking access.

The code is named in honor of Ray Bradbury’s classic book Fahrenheit 451, a novel that features a dystopian futuristic society where books are burned by the fire department and television watching is mandatory.  If you haven’t read it, I highly suggest you do.

While many have viewed this novel as being about censorship, Bradbury himself insisted that his concern was that television was going to rot people’s minds and turn them away from reading books.

~ Cynthia