Ask Slashdot: How To Combat IP-Based Censorship?

An anonymous reader writes "For a while now there has been a lot of buzz on a new proposed censorship scheme in Turkey. The government wants to crack down on freedom of speech and other rights by preventing us from accessing any websites it deems unsuitable. The reasons for that could be criticism of the government, pornography and basically anything a politician might dislike (YouTube is blocked for example — I'm not sure about Google, etc., because I'm bypassing the filter). Right now the state is using DNS-based filtering which can be circumvented with OpenDNS or proxy services which everybody knows about in Turkey. On August 22, however, a new scheme will go into effect that uses IP-based filtering. Bypassing this by any means is illegal, but I wanted to get some opinions on how this could be done without having to set up a VPN server outside of Turkey and using it as a private proxy."

Request Assistance from Garden Networks?

[eldavojohn]

You know, there's not a lot of ways other than VPN and the other ways usually aren't as secure. The last link provided covers most of the bases -- albeit in subpar English. So I guess what I would suggest is you contacting a not-for profit like Garden Networks [wikipedia.org] and ask them to grant Turks the same status as Chinese users in that you don't have to subscribe to use their premium servers. Their gTunnel application seems straight forward and intuitive and appears secure. It appears that users in China, Kuwait and Iran [gardennetworks.org] enjoy it so I imagine you shouldn't have any problems either.

Furthering that idea, you might pass out "awareness" pamphlets while asking for donations to "keep the internet uncensored" and then pay for your pamphlets and donate the rest of that money to Garden Networks. I don't fully know what level of risk that might entail in Turkey, I certainly would not suggest that to a Chinese citizen.

I will say that it is conceivably possible for your government to go insane and block ranges of IP addresses so that you cannot access Garden Network's premium servers or Tor nodes ... that would be pretty extensive however.

Re:Request Assistance from Garden Networks?

[xnpu]

This is pretty poor advice. For one, the software is quite crappy (I can't get it to work here in China). More importantly, by using their software you associate with them. Which may already be risky. Then you go as far as to say the OP should help fund this NGO. Enough for the government to classify him as a danger to national security / terrorist / whatever.

IMHO it's much better to get that $2.99 VPN (I've seen them even cheaper) and claim you just wanted to talk to your Facebook friends abroad than to get involved with these type of NGO's.

My Apologies But Better to Act Now

[eldavojohn]

This is pretty poor advice.

Well, I apologize, I assure you that I have no affiliation with Garden Networks and, yes, their free service uses Tor -- which I think is largely German based if I'm not mistaken. I would imagine that would be better for Turkish users but who knows. I thought their protocol was novel but if you say they suck in China, I'll take your word on it.

Then you go as far as to say the OP should help fund this NGO. Enough for the government to classify him as a danger to national security / terrorist / whatever.

"Help fund this NGO" is not really what I said. I'm pretty sure I suggested raising awareness and, assuming Garden Networks is giving them free premium service, se

Re:

[messymerry]

Check out: http://gardennetworks.org/ [gardennetworks.org]

Tor with bridges?

[betterunixthanunix]

What about using Tor bridges?

https://www.torproject.org/docs/bridges [torproject.org]

This is assuming, of course, that simply using encryption will not put you under suspicion.

Playing Chicken With Turkey?

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

It sound like the Turkish government is beginning to emulate the repressive and regressive moral "leadership" established by the totalitarian Internet regimes in Australia [smh.com.au], the US [pcworld.com] and the UK [eff.org].

Hey! You get all the free speech [thedomains.com] you can pay for!

I2P

[Anonymous Coward]

You should look into I2P: http://i2p2.de/

Re:

[vlm]

You should look into I2P: http://i2p2.de/ [i2p2.de]

I use it, love it, also love the freenet, but the problem is those are "another net" not "the net". They will help you transfer files past the iron curtain. They will not help you log into youtube and facebook.

The problem is almost exactly like trying to replace ms office with openoffice.org. Whiners will not be satisfied with "doing about the same thing", they'll used it as a whining point unless they can get it exactly the same down to the pixel and last decimal point.

SSH tunnel to VPS?

[Anonymous Coward]

A cheap option could be rent a *nix VPS outside of Turkey and setup an SSH server with IP forwarding (in the kernel). You can then use a local machine to open an SSH connection to it and route traffic via the SSH tunnel.

Re:

[Synerg1y]

How come?

SSH is a lot more common than openvpn, I would imagine flying under the radar is a lot more effective, on that note I use VPN all the time to gain access to an entire network and it is a lot better than sshing into every single server as well as more secure.

Also SSH tunnels offer better performance IMO sometimes by a lot. Remember a lot of people don't use TOR because it's slower than a 56k sometimes. I've never seen VPN achieve super speeds anywhere based on the nature of the technology and the e

Re:

[Dog-Cow]

OpenVPN uses SSL as its encryption layer. No worse performance than visiting an HTTPS site.

Re:

[rubycodez]

Yes, there is worse performance because of traffic to multiple ports and multiple protocols that have to be identified, wrapped and sent down the pipe to have those things undone. I use openvpn all the time, but its a resource pig when trying to do VOIP, web, rdp, etc. all simultaneously.

Re:

[elrous0]

From what I understand of Tor though, there is a bigger problem. By using it, aren't you opening yourself up to being charged for other people's shit? I mean, sure they can't trace my IP address if I'm downloading movies off Pirate Bay. But wtf good is that going to do me if the FBI is still kicking down my door because some other asshole used my IP address to download kiddie porn?

How about a solution that doesn't involve some trigger-happy SWAT team thug with a gun to my head because they think I'm diddlin

Re:

[betterunixthanunix]

You seem to be confused about the difference between using Tor and running a Tor exit node. A simple way to think of Tor is as a system that automatically sets up a chain of proxy servers for you, and then builds a new chain periodically (your connections to each proxy are encrypted, so there are many layers of encryption surrounding your connection -- hence "onion routing"). As a user, you connect to an "entry node," and use that node to connect to a "relay node" and ultimately to an "exit node," and fro

Re:

[That Guy From Mrktng]

By using it, aren't you opening yourself up to being charged for other people's shit?

No, only using it will not allow any other Tor dweller to use you IP/connection as an exit node, You have to explicitly set up and start the "Relaying" service which is not on by default (at least in Tor browser bundle)

I know I use Tor to access websites (lets leave it in forums that don't like non-white people) that block my IP range and my country have pretty good CP monitors, I've never had problems, I don't trust Tor to do anything stupid anyway so I don't get click-happy while using it. But then again

Re:

[Pf0tzenpfritz]

No. You're just plain wrong. You seem to be able to write, so you probably can read, too. Why don't you take a look at www.torproject.org or even Wikipedia and RTFFAQ before spreading FUD?

Which Turkish political faction is responsible?

[couchslug]

Which faction is supporting this?

islamists

[unity100]

the equivalent of republicans in america - a faction which merges capitalism (corporate capitalism like in america), and religion.

actually they are not 'supporting' it. they are doing it. due to majority.

Re:

[couchslug]

It figures. Ataturk's vision was always in conflict with the real culture of Turkey, and that culture is why it should never be allowed in the EU.

Re:

[Z00L00K]

As long as Turkey isn't acknowledging the Armenian genocide they should be kept on ice.

But the whole region there seems to be poisoned politically. Including Israel.

Depends on how much risk you want to take

[elrous0]

Bypassing this by any means is illegal

Well, obviously then just about anything you do WILL be illegal. Depending on how well this law is enforced, that could be an acceptable risk or not.

I wanted to get some opinions on how this could be done without having to set up a VPN server outside of Turkey

In your situation, just about any solution is going to involve outside help from SOMEONE. And an outside VPN is as good a solution as any.

Re:

[elrous0]

Because the first thing any block would do is to not only block all the known proxies and proxy lists, but probably log your IP for even trying to access them. And, depending on how well they enforce the "no bypassing" provision he mentioned, the next step may be them kicking down your door and dragging you off for questioning.

Re:

[Z00L00K]

If it's illegal in a country like Turkey you can always get around it using a sufficient amount of bribes.

Turkey and EU?

[tycoex]

And Turkey wants to join the EU. Don't make me laugh.

Re:

[tenco]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secularism_in_Turkey#Headscarf_controversy [wikipedia.org]

Re:

[couchslug]

You wouldn't have been correct thirty years ago, but as the Kemalists lose power Turkey will turn into another Iran. Muslims do not produce secularist democratic governments suitable to integration with the West.

Re:

[elrous0]

Hey, when you believe in polygamy, something has to be done with all those extra young men.

Re:

[makomk]

The Turkish version of secularism isn't exactly compatible with democracy; until recently the army were overthrowing the elected governments through coups on a regular basis. Turkey could well end up becoming more democratic thanks to the Islamic party currently in power.

Re:

[Pf0tzenpfritz]

Right! Greeeeeks! These bible thumping orthodox godsuckers are almost as disgusting as the Irish, Polish, Italian, Spanish and Portugese catholes. And they're not half the plague these protestant and Calvinist heretics from France, England, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland and the goddamn, degenerated COLONIES are! Get 'em all out!! Aaargh! Derr Chuttn Strafen!

Re:

[elrous0]

Sorry, I don't judge civilizations on what they did 2500 years ago. I gotta go with what they've done for me lately.

Re:

[xnpu]

That's why it will be the EU joining Turkey instead.

Re:

[Meeni]

Before we know it, we'll have similar laws in "civilized" countries.

Re:

[operagost]

But Cyprus is a member, and that country has a Really Obvious Problem That is Also Turkey-Related.

Re:

[gmhowell]

A large, vocal minority of the population of Cyprus would say they have a Greek problem, not a Turkish problem.

Re:

[dave562]

The EU needs to court favor with Turkey. The Turks are going to be a serious military and economic force in the coming decades.

Re:

[couchslug]

"Sounds like citizens of Turkey need to take a more active role in government."

They are doing just that, which is the problem. Democracy is fine, but don't delude yourself that it can't also be used by an Islamist people to produce Islamist government. Consider democratic Iran.

Re:

[leromarinvit]

Don't be so hard on them. They're just trying to pass the candidate requirements!

Re:

[sajjadG]

Youtube isn't banned in Turkey since quite some time

just wait. it will be :)

Re:

[AK Marc]

DPI has reassembled packets for the last 10 years as a requirement for DPI, because fragmentation was key in a number of successful attacks against security that didn't reassemble before checking contents. Most will be set to drop all fragmented packets, or those fragmented with a size below some reasonable threshold. So, given a misconfigured filter, your suggestion may work, but against anyone that's paid attention to network security for any time in the past 20 years, they'd not make such a rookie mist

Re:

[mstefanro]

I wonder what happens when sending multiple Host headers

Democracy

[PPH]

The government wants to crack down on freedom of speech and other rights by preventing us from accessing any websites it deems unsuitable.

Solution: Vote in a new government. It works for us.

Not.

If you can put with the FAP and LAG satellite

[Joe_Dragon]

If you can put with the FAP and LAG there is satellite internet.

Re:

[aiht]

In Egypt during the uprising against the government, the people used RDP connections to windows servers outside of the country to publish on facebook and twitter.

each end user had his own desktop and workspace. that's one of the reasons the government over there dropped all the BGP ...

using an SSH tunnel is alright for basic usage, but the bandwidth costs might differ from place to place.. so it's not that cheap if you Really need a lot of traffic.

Because RDP doesn't use any bandwidth...

Simple

[arthurpaliden]

Run for political office.

Options

[DaMattster]

This is easy and I recommend looking at a very inexpensive service called Tunnelr [tunnelr.com]. Tunnelr offers SSH and OpenVPN tunnels and is located primarily in the United States. Tunnelr also uses the most secure OS on the planet, OpenBSD, so you are fairly safe. However, I would be very careful because the last thing that you want to do is end up in a Turkish prison.

Re:

[fremean]

Yes because the united states is the bastion for free speech.. ask a mexican how they trap wild pigs

Re:

[fincan]

However, I would be very careful because the last thing that you want to do is end up in a Turkish prison.

Turkish people think exactly the same thing for US prisons. At least you don't have to worry about your ass if you drop the soap in Turkish ones.

Re:

[Anon8---)]

And how do you know this ?

Re:

[niw3]

Turkish prisons are much better than US prisons, if US prisons are exactly as they are pictured by movies and TV shows. Ironically, you rate Turkish prisons after watching ONE non Turkish movie, which is a well known anti Turkey propaganda everyone is apperantly willing to buy.

Create an outernet, or rather many outernets.

[thegreatbob]

Using off the shelf hardware, groups of people could pool internet resources to ensure their continued ability to access the internet. Even with a very large mesh network (not just wireless), it would only be a few hops to an internet gateway. This would have the added benefit of providing redundancy for the people involved (e.g. in an area where Comcast and AT&T are the only "physical" ISP's). It would also be imperative not to "oversell" your connection capacity, as this would basically kill the usab

if you are going to sink

[unity100]

then sink while fighting.

Its postponed for 3 months

[unity100]

until the isps can comply with demands.

You might check Ultrasurf

[white_owl]

Ultrasurf was developed to evade the Great Firewall of China. I would not be surprised if Turkey is getting consultation from China. There is a wired article at http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/11/ff_firewallfighters/ [wired.com]

A good starting point for UltraSurf and some of the other options is a consortium of several organizations including the folks behind gTunnel which is at:
http://www.internetfreedom.org/ [internetfreedom.org]

Their web site has not been updated very recently, but I don't know how the individual organizatio

Re:

[couchslug]

"In that instance, it would be much harder to prove you have been bypassing the filter since your computer itself won't have these cache files, cookies and other misc traces on the hard drive,"

Use a live CD and leave your hard disk untouched. Do searches etc using your hard disk whose traces make you look innocent.

You can conceal a live CD/DVD by burning the live content as a boot image then filling the rest with music or video.

Re:

[couchslug]

Rename them as video or mp3 files, mix with real video or mp3 files, and use a DVD. That way casual inspection won't indicate the files are not what they seem since you cannot rename files on read-only media.

A few cosmetic scratches for effect wouldn't hurt either.

My pal...

[sam0737]

Welcome to China!

IPv6?

[jiadran]

How about switching to the new technology? Some sites have already native IPv6 support, and for others you can use public IPv6->IPv4 proxies. See for instance: http://www.sixxs.net/tools/gateway/ [sixxs.net]

Turkish "safe internet" is opt in

[dj-nix]

While it doesn't change (or answer) the question on how to bypass the filtering, what the poster does not make clear is that the "safe internet" infrastructure that will be enabled by all operators (due to government regulation) will be opt-in. Unless subscribers specifically request that their internet be filtered, their traffic will not even pass through the filtering system, and the Turkish government has specifically stated (believable or otherwise) that they have no intention of making the system manda

Re:

[unity100]

no. the 'opt in' they talk about, is the 'main' package which will keep filtering websites just like they do. the difference is, it will be ip based filtering instead of dns based filtering, and it will be illegal to circumvent it. so basically the 'opt in' just covers the fact that websites will be censored nation-wide, but there will be 2 heavier censored packages.

SSH

[Krneki]

While the VPN is a good solution it is also the most visible if someone is tracking this activities.

A ssh tunnel is the most discrete and while it is not a solution for everything like VPN, it does cover all you need for web surfing.

Also you could use something like foxyproxy addon for Firefox and you can tunnel SSH for only the web pages you needs, thus reducing the chances to get caught to the bare minimum.

And SSH tunnel is the most difficult type of connection for a firewall to block.

Complain to the EU?

[lucidlyTwisted]

Turkey is an oppressive regime with little to no regards for its subjects (e.g. Ilisu dam) yet still wishes to join the EU. If you are willing to take some personal risk, you could always contact the EU and complain; although it may be better to find a contact in another EU country to complain on your behalf. And, of course, many "free" EU states see little wrong with censoring the Internet and have plans to do so. If you are prepared to wait a while, more secure systems will become available to by-pass

dont bullshit.

[unity100]

did you or did you not read the law draft. apparently, you havent. then dont come talking here like an idiot.

Make the world aware

[xenobyte]

Turkey really, really, really wants to become a member of EU, but there's been several obstacles already, including the state mandated denial of the Armenian Genocide and their less-than-equal treatment of women and other human rights violations. Adding full censorship to the list will make sure life will get better in Turkey as their desire to become an EU member is so strong it just might make them drop this stupid censorship and correct the other 'follies'...

Namecoin

[seanbruckman]

I know Slashdot has developed a cultural sense of anything Bitcoin-related as being utter shit, but does anyone follow the development of Namecoin, or think they could help? It's in an alpha stage right now, but as i understand it, the intention is to incorporate dns services in addition to the current simple name registering scheme.

Rules are there to be broken.

[sakdoctor]

Why just follow them?

Re:

[sajjadG]

because following sucks. nobody likes to be treated like poppets imagine that youtube, wordpress, blogspot, facebook, google+, twitter, any video hosting site and any outside news site are filter. Do you like it yourself?