Hi anewman999,
I am providing you with general information that is found on the internet.
***I am not advocating you attempt or try to circumvent the goverment
policies and rules of internet access where you live.***
This information is only provided as general information.
You didn't mention what country you're in so I'm providing information
regarding both China and Saudia Arabia.
LivinginChina.com
Plumbing the Block by Jeremy - March 29, 2004 at 08:18 AM
http://www.livinginchina.com/archives/000733.html
"The easiest way to get around an Internet block is to use a proxy server.
Two popular proxies that are really easy to use are:
http://www.unipeak.com
http://anonymouse.ws/anonwww.html
Just go to either of those pages and enter the URL of the blocked site
into the box. Hey presto, up yours Nanny!
Update - an RSS reader does not really get around the Nanny, but the
information below is given for your interest.You can try using an RSS
feed reader instead of a web browser. Not all websites have RSS feeds,
but many blogs do, and an increasing number of websites for newspapers
and other traditional media.
If you see XML, Atom, or RSS on a website, it means that there is a
feed from that site that you can read with a special piece of
software, usually called an RSS Reader.
A recommended reader for Macs is http://www.fondantfancies.com/shrook/
Some sites do not make complete posts or articles available on their feeds,
some sites don't have feeds at all. But feeds are becoming more common.
Comments
Is it perfectly safe to access the blocked sites (in China) using the
two proxy servers?
My friend there just reported that his whole office network crashed as
soon as he tried to access blocked sites via proxy.
Posted by MJO | March 29, 2004 01:06 PM
Interesting article:
Bypassing China's net firewall
Numerous efforts are under way in the West to help Chinese web users
get around China's censorship of the internet, reports technology
correspondent Clark Boyd.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3548035.stm
Posted by john | March 29, 2004 01:44 PM
why are the authorities not just blocking the anonimizer sites? do
they know something we don't?
Posted by Adam Porter - March 29, 2004 02:04 PM
It sounds to good to be true. It it really possible to use these
proxys to access ALL blocked sites in China?
Posted by rob | March 29, 2004 02:14 PM
"why are the authorities not just blocking the anonimizer sites?"
Quite possibly they will at some point, especially as increased
blocking results in increased usage.
"It it really possible to use these proxys to access ALL blocked sites in China?"
I haven't yet visited ALL blocked sites - but the ones I have visited
have worked fine.
Posted by Roddy | March 29, 2004 02:39 PM
Yes, these proxies can be used to access any site on the net,
including those blocked in China. I also find it strange that no one
is blocking the proxies, since they're right up at the top of any
google search.
It's relatively safe to use these proxies, although if you're using a
connection that can be traced back to you (ADSL, cable modem, some
dialup servers), authorities could prove that you accessed a proxy
server. Depending on the type of proxy, they may or may not be able to
see what sites you viewed. However, as far as I know, it's not illegal
to view contraband information -- only to create or disseminate it. If
you're using a proxy to read and contribute to discussion of, for
example, a banned religious group, you may be liable."
[edit]
=================================================
http://www.planetcrap.com/blah.php?action=viewtopic&topic_id=722
=================================================
Saudis block 2,000 websites By Alfred Hermida
BBC News Online technology staff
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2153312.stm
"If you tried to look at Rolling Stone magazine on the web from Saudi
Arabia, you would find that access has been denied.
You would not have much luck either if you tried the American women's
lifestyle site iVillage.com.
These sites are among the 2,000 blocked by the Saudi Government, a
Harvard Law School has found.
Most of the blacklisted sites were sexually explicit or about
religion. But also caught in the net were sites about women, health,
drugs and pop culture."
[edit]
"For the study, Jonathan Zittrain and Benjamin Edelman at Harvard
tested 64,000 websites, with the full collaboration of the Saudi
Government.
Sample of sites blocked
Arab American Roman Catholic Community
Islamic Cultural Library
iVillage.com
Beach Queen swimwear
Warner Brothers Records
Rolling Stone.com
"Saudi Arabia was willing to let us test their proxy servers," said Mr Edelman.
"They were willing to connect to their version of the internet to let
us find what they allow and what they don't. Most other countries have
not been willing when asked."
The Saudis are also open about their censorship of the web. If a site
is blacklisted, the user is directed to a page that explicitly informs
him or her that access to the site has been denied.
This contrasts to other countries like China, where a surfer simply
gets an error message. It means they do not know if the site is
blocked or if there is something wrong with the connection."
[edit]
"Sexually explicit
Saudi Arabia filters all internet traffic through a central array of
proxy servers maintained by the Internet Services Unit (ISU). The
servers route and filter all internet traffic.
"Our internet service is unique in the way it preserves our Islamic
values, filtering the internet content to prevent the materials that
contradict with our beliefs or may influence our culture is one of ISU
tasks," says the ISU site.
Edelman: 64,000 websites tested
The researchers found that many of the blocked sites were sexually explicit.
"It comes as no surprise that the same countries that would be
concerned about certain books and newspapers crossing their borders
would also be concerned to find similar information crossing their
borders electronically over the internet," said Mr Edelman.
But sites about religion, humour and music also figured prominently,
among them film studio, Warner Brothers.
"We weren't expecting them to block big California media companies,"
he said. "It's possible there is something particular offensive the
Saudi Government about a singer's lyrics or a musician hostile to
their politics."
Also blocked were most of the major personal homepage domains,
including geocities.com and members.aol.com, as well as sites about
women's rights, perhaps unsurprising in a country where women are not
even allowed to drive.
Net controls
Anyone trying to get around the censorship would have trouble, as the
researchers found that the Saudis also blocked proxy servers allowing
a way around the filtering restrictions.
There are plenty of forces trying to constraint who does what on the internet
Ben Edelman, Harvard Law School
"Even if you manage to find a proxy server that works on one day, you
never really know if its going to be there the next day," said Mr
Edelman.
"Perhaps more seriously, since all accesses are logged, it's quite
possible that the Saudi Government could be watching what you are
doing."
Saudi Arabia is one of dozens of governments around the world trying
to control what their citizens see online.
But only a few, such as Vietnam, China and the United Arab Emirates,
actually attempt to filter their entire national internet traffic.
"There was an instance when it looked like the internet would be a
free source of information," said Mr Edelman."
=================================================
Please note the following article was printed on: Saturday, 3
November, 2001, 23:00 GMT
Saudis pay to surf censored sites
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1636789.stm
"Enterprising computer experts in Saudi Arabia are making money by
evading the tight censorship controls on the internet, according to
the local Saudi newspaper, Arab News.
The hackers charge between $30 to $70 a time for providing access to
restricted websites
The Saudi Government has tried with limited success to stop its
citizens from accessing pornographic and political controversial
websites.
But where there is a will there is a way, and there is no shortage of
people willing to pay to log onto forbidden websites.
It could be porn, it could be politics, but whatever is banned here in
this conservative Muslim country is available somewhere - for a price.
According to Arab News, every computer centre in Riyadh has hackers on
hand who can offer to gain access to pornographic material or people's
private email accounts.
New phenomenon
The paper said the hackers charge between $30 to $70 a time for
providing access to restricted websites.
The internet is a relatively new phenomenon here in Saudi Arabia..."
[edit]
Public protection
"But some officials have admitted privately that they are losing the
battle to block their citizens from accessing forbidden websites.
Many relatively wealthy Saudis make up for the lack of recreation here
by spending hours online.
Often they dial up a server in a neighbouring country or even in the
US, so as to join in a free-speaking Arabic language chatroom, or else
simply to download banned material at home.
The Saudi authorities appear powerless to stop those determined to
evade the system of controls.
Outwitting censors
The most recent example is the website run by the London-based Saudi
Islamic opposition, the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia.
Its leader, Dr Saad Al-Faqih, told the BBC how his group has outwitted
the censors by frequently changing their domain name.
He says those who log on to his movement's website are sent an
automated e-mail telling them the new domain name which then takes the
Saudi authorities several days to block.
Meanhile the Arab News reported that the government does plan to
introduce punishments for computer crime as part of a general law
governing the use of the internet."
=================================================
Confessions of a G33k
http://www.cleverhack.com/blog/archives/000140.html
"Visitors from Saudi Arabia are routed through a "national" proxy
server to the outside Internet. A proxy server is a computer that can
route requests to different Internet resources according to some
standard rules. This computer sits between your PC and the Internet at
large. In some instances, proxy servers are good in a setting where
you want to mask your individual IP addresses, like in a large
organization. Or, in other instances, proxy servers are used to block
access to certain Internet resources, such as specific Web sites,
email, Instant Messaging, and P2P access. There are some special types
of proxy servers ://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=anonymous+proxy+servers&btnG=Google+Search
which purport to anonymize your presence online.
Remember, all computers that are connected to the Internet have an IP
address. However, if you are behind a proxy server, all that the Web
site operator sees is the address for the proxy server, which is what
I saw in my logs.
The political implications of national proxy servers are significant,
since they can be used to block access to Internet resources that
governments deem unacceptable. National proxy servers are known to be
used by the governments of China and Saudi Arabia. For example, the
popular blogspot blog network was banned by China a few days ago, but
is apparently unbanned as I write this. As for Saudi Arabia, the
government has been unapologetically banning sites. This is the recent
Harvard study which detailed Saudi blocking, and apparently the study
was performed with the cooperation of that government.
Now this being 2003, there are always people trying to subvert the
rules. This guy in Shanghai
http://www.shanghaiguide.com/articles/display_article.php?ArticleID=78#details
has set up some quick links to help his fellow Internet users use a
proxy server. And here is another site
http://members.aol.com/lumabner/china/proxies.htm with instructions on
how to set proxy server settings in your browser. To use a proxy
server, you need to know the IP address of the server and to configure
your browser in the preferences or tools menu to communicate with the
proxy."
Keyword search:
china blocks websites
saudia arabia blocks websites
proxy servers
countries block internet sites
forbidden websites china + saudi arabia
Best regards,
tlspiegel |
