15/12/11 15th of December 2011 Version 1.0 Email improvements and possible additions to bearhorn@hotmail.co.

uk ################################# # Bypassing internet censorship # # by bear # ################################# "Knowledge is power" ################################# # Contents # ################################# # 1. INTRO # # 2. HOW THE FILTERS WORK # # 3. BYPASSING # # 4. CONCLUSION # ################################# Intro: Recently, many governments have been considering some form of a way to block and censor websites of their choosing. Like many others, I view these as huge attacks on the freedom of speech. These go beyond what they should be able to do. Sites could be censored because of many reasons, such as a copyright complaint(SOPA is based on this) or just because the government doesn't like what is on the site(China). This guide shows the many ways to bypass these filters and get the information you want. How the filters work: Filters tend to use several methods to block access to the targeted sites. These methods are not really that effective, which is laughable. The main types of filtering include are DNS and IP blocking. DNS blocking works by editing the DNS servers and not allowing them to resolve the blocked sites. It is a rather dumb way of doing it . IP blocking is added at an ISP level and stops people accessing the IP address of the website/server. These are the only types you are ever likely to ever

have to deal with, that can be a problem. BYPASSING: This is what we all came here to do, bypassing this shit. You need to look up what type on filtering your country is using. So lets first get on with bypassing DNS filtering. 1. Find a different DNS server, that isn't your ISPs, and in not your country. I recommend Telecomix's one. (Webpage on it: dns.telecomix.org) 2. Set the one you liked as your main DNS server. This varies between OS's: Windows: http://mintywhite.com/windows-7/change-dns-server-windows-7/ OSX: http://www.plus.net/support/software/dns/changing_dns_mac.shtml (GNU/Linux and BSD users should look how to do it on your distro) 3. BYPASSED. THAT WAS EASY! Now onto IP based censorship. The ways to bypass this is by using computers in other countries to get the data for you and sending it back to you. This is best done with encryption of the traffic, to avoid DPI(Deep Packet Inspection). You can use web proxies if you need to quickly bypass censorship, but these are easily blocked. proxy.org has a good list of these. You can also use SOCKS proxies. You can send all your traffic though these, so it can be useful for other things than web browsing with HTTP/HTTPS. The issue is that they don't tend to last that long, so you have to get new ones regularly(It varies) http://www.samair.ru/proxy/socks.htm is a list of these. Another method is using VPN's, though, you have to pay for these. You also have to make sure you are using one that doesn't log connections. These are best for bit torrent and generally being anonymous, but, if you get outside your country, they can bypass censorship. https://airvpn.org/ Is one I have heard good things about. (Torrent freak also did an article comparing VPN's: http://torrentfreak.com/which-vpn-providers-really-take-anonymity-seriously-1110 07/) My preferred method is by using TOR, which mainly focuses on being anonymous online, but is useful for any bypassing filtering. It provides access to "onionland", which has some useful services/info. It lets you connect to the network a use the nodes to get to the site you want. It is rather slow though. If your ISP/country blocks access to TOR, you can use a bridge relay to connect to the network and not be

blocked access. Email "bearhorn@hotmail.co.uk" if you want one. (The website: www.torproject.org) There are other ways to do this, such as SSH tunnelling, but I need to improve my knowledge of them before I write on them. CONCLUSION: The methods above will bypass most censorship systems. Even the Great firewall of china can be beaten with these, if they are not blocked. If you have any suggestions, or need one of the tools or just more info, feel free to email me(bearhorn@hotmail.co.uk). -bear