The Internet is typically something that exists on computers that are in large warehouses of computers called data centers (with the exception of a website run by
@EmptyBottle apparently).
These severs have numerical addresses, like 100.101.102.103. Because it's hard for humans to remember large numerical strings to look up information, computer nerds from decades long ago created index files so you can type in a name, and then it finds the long string of numbers.
So a human might not remember 100,101,102.103 that easily, but they can remember something like onlyfans.com.
So these databases of what names equal what string of numbers are called domain name queries. It's likely Australia told every single ISP (Internet Service Provider) something like that "You must maintain an ISP DNS router and you must block the following list of domains:
www.anythingfun.com
www.anythingrelatedtosuicide.com
www.anythingrelatedtodingossincetheykillpeopleinaustraliaandarscaryapparently.com
So, for some mysterious shocking reason, it's quite possible that SaSu is on that list. In other words, the IP address to the server is still there, but when you type in sanctioned-suicide.net the DNS service goes "Hmm... nothing is here for some reason because the government force me to say so." and returns something like "This website must not exist!"
There are still plenty of other DNS routing services and your VPN likely uses one that isn't the ISP one. Most VPN services contain their own DNS.
That's because ISPs sell data and whatever information they can for money. So even if my ISP doesn't know the contents of the webpages, if I were using a VPN without a DNS service and the DNS queries went to my ISP, my ISP might see things like:
sanctioned-suicide.com
hardcoregaysex.com
gayporn.com
men.net
seancody.com
onlyfans.com
raelianufosexcult.com
and so on and that actually says a lot about me. And my evil ISP would sell all of it to the highest bidder. Suddenly, I'd be bombarded with ads trying to help me leave a ufo sex cult that I genuinely want to be a part of and the government knows that I secretly am into gay sex. I don't want that so I use a VPN with its own DNS service.
Is your family and mental health providers and police secretly working together to create technological blocks to you using the Internet?
Probably not.
The reason is most police are INCREDIBLY technologically illiterate. Unless you are a hacker doing really illegal shit or some sort of crazed radical, the sort of police that are interested in you probably don't know what DNS is, don't understand basic computer science, and may not even have the nerdy autistic superpowers needed to understand how computers work.
Police almost never catch hackers for this reason, and when they do, usually special agents are assigned to them, and many of the best hackers are in countries with limited enforcement, ie, no one there actually cares.
So did the police set up a secret DNS trick to stop you from viewing SaSu?
Probably not. Many law makers and mental health professionals believe that suicide is caused by misinformation and a lack of awareness. Like, "oh, if only I knew Prozac was available, I wouldn't have tried to end my life! If only I had been more aware!" It's idiotic, especially because many people who are suicidal are in part suicidal due to economic pressure, including the knowledge of economic pressures down the line they won't be able to meet due to depression or neurodivergence, and these assholes never go "Hmm... what if we made sure no one was sleeping outside in the elements and/or made people stateless and locked them up for no reason?" etc. So these assholes never address the underlying actual problems that really lead people to want to die, but they need to feel like they are doing things, so hence DNS blocks, campaigns for awareness in case people didn't know that they could talk to someone on the phone and then see an expensive doctor who would force them into locked care or drug them with or without permission. These are things to make regular normies feel better about suicide.
"Oh no! Sad people are dying! If only there were something we could do! I know... awareness!"
There is also a misconception that but for this website, people couldn't figure out how to commit suicide. It's very easy to blame SaSu. But I also do think sometimes young people on here, and in general, commit suicide too soon, before trying to get better. But at the same time, many people on SaSu have been depressed a really long time.
Most likely what happened is family members of people who have died from SN and blame SaSu went to Australian lawmakers and said "Why can't you do something to shut down that awful website?" sort of like trying to ban rope and cliffs and people from swimming as far as they can into the ocean. So eventually, a parent of someone who died, probably monitoring the board, realized they can ban DNS queries from resolving this site.
Is that a good thing? I don't know. SaSu provides a lot of comfort to people with really terrible lives including people with chronic pain and who are near the end of life. At the same time, it's probably good if young people in crisis who could get better and are not being impulsive regarding suicide. I just don't think this narrative that SaSu causes suicidality or impulsive choices to ctb has validity. But it sure is easy for bereaved people to latch onto.
Also, you are not the only person in Australia who has had problems with resolving this site via DNS. User
@EmptyBottle had this same problem a few weeks ago and didn't log in for a day or two. I figured he had died and created an entire EmptyBottle memorial shrine on his profile page, actually.
