Freedom

[ABK]

Hi guys, hope you're all doing well

Let me first thank you for your great job, the less I can say is that you're very inspiring and giving us hope that internet will stay a space for freedom, 

I'm Karim (pronouce Kareem) from Algeria

As you know Algeria is a country where democracy is very approximative and I noticed few weeks ago that we are prevented from accessing sites, today it was youtube, can you explain how they can do that and if they are means to get over this other than tor browser, and to prevent ourselves from what I see as an intrusion ?

Thanks a lot for all your great job and for your help

Karim 

[0phoi5]

1 hour ago, ABK said:

can you explain how they can do that and if they are means to get over this other than tor browser, and to prevent ourselves from what I see as an intrusion ?

Essentially, in a very basic way, you can imagine your countries' connection the internet as being a single underwater cable (it's probably more than this, but we'll stick to the analogy of just the one).

The government running the country get to dictate what information can and cannot pass down this cable; if they spot a packet intended to load data from YouTube.com, they can block that packet and exchange it for one of their own, such as an instruction to load an error message, or a route to another website URL.

They can only do this if the data being sent back and forth is readable; that is, that they can tell that this particular packet was a YouTube request. If the data being sent back and forth is encrypted to the point that they cannot read it, then they cannot block it based on content. This is why TOR probably works.

Of course, they can always block all encrypted traffic, or traffic that appears that it could have been encrypted by TOR, etc.

Note that this includes the certificate/encryption information for the request; you could be visiting a website with HTTPS, which means your data is being sent back and forth encrypted, but the website still says 'hello, it's me, YouTube! I have some encrypted data to send, off I go!', in which case the 'cable' would still be able to tell it was a YouTube request. With TOR, the whole lot gets encrypted.

Edited December 27, 2017 by haze1434

[ABK]

Thanks  lot for your response Haze1434,

So there is no other ways to go over those restrictions than to use TOR, and even TOR can be stoped, what solutions can be investigated then to get rid of such intrusions in private life ? 

[Rkiver]

11 minutes ago, ABK said:

what solutions can be investigated then to get rid of such intrusions in private life ? 

Replacing the government with one that has no interest in your private life is about the only way, and that is easier said than done.

[ABK]

2 hours ago, Rkiver said:

Replacing the government with one that has no interest in your private life is about the only way, and that is easier said than done.

Thanks a lot Rkiver, but as you said it's easier to said than done, we are trying to do it the easy way, we knew the darkness of terrorism for decades, the fear of such chaos remains, we don't want to reiterate the Libyan or Iraky experience 

[ABK]

33 minutes ago, kdodge said:

This maybe your internet service provider, not necessarily your government. This is what can happen when you repeal Net Neutrality.

The only internet provider is the governement one 

[digip]

TOR is an option as mentioned, but just an example of a number of types of services such as proxies and VPN services or other tunneling scenarios, such as purchasing a domain from someone like Dreamhost, and then enabling shell access, and SSH tunneling over the domain, to reach other sites. Also changing your DNS to something like OpenDNS, can in some instances, unlock some things that might only be blocked by  a simple DNS filter on the ISP's DNS side only, and if not filtered by some other stronger method of blocking mechanisms, although tunneling would probably be the best route around filters and blocklists.

[ABK]

Thanks a lot digip, I will search for some tutorials for that, my first idea was to find a way to explore the network and find who is spying on us then figure out how to deactivate their tools, but I will consider your advise as a first step. 

Thanks a lot for your response et viva la libertad 

[digip]

Attacking your government and their filters, will probably not end well. Especially, now that you've publicly announced it. 

https://vlipsy.com/embed/acR1rJOb

[ABK]

 I'm not attacking anything, first I thought my anonymity was garanteed here, and even if it's not I don't have knowlege for that, second there is nothing bad whith studying a network, tertio there is nothing stupid when it comes to defend individual freedom in my opinion

[digip]

2 hours ago, ABK said:

 I'm not attacking anything, first I thought my anonymity was garanteed here, and even if it's not I don't have knowlege for that, second there is nothing bad whith studying a network, tertio there is nothing stupid when it comes to defend individual freedom in my opinion

I'm curious how you would disable their "tools" on "their" network though? Going around filters is one thing. To be able to control aspects of their systems and "tools" is another. Unless I'm not understanding what you describe above.