Ask Slashdot: Ideas and Tools To Get Around the Great Firewall?

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ask Slashdot: Ideas and Tools To Get Around the Great Firewall?

Posted by Unknown on Tuesday September 25, 2012 @07:33AM from the fire-extinguisher-of-course dept.

New submitter J0n45 writes "I will soon be traveling to mainland China. While I'm only a tourist, I will still be working freelance for a company back home. I know for a fact that a large amount of the websites I need to have access to on a daily basis for business reasons are censored by the Great Firewall of China. I have been using the Tor Browser for a while now for personal purposes. However Tor has been blocked by China. I was wondering if a personal proxy (connected to a computer back home) would do the trick. Would I be too easily traceable? Basically, I'm wondering if I need to try random public proxies until I find one that works or if there are any other options. What does Slashdot think?"

29 of 218 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Breaking laws by Mkaks · 2012-09-25 07:33 · Score: 3, Insightful

- While I'm only a tourist, I will still be working freelance for a company back home.
- are censored by the Great Firewall of China

What does Slashdot think?
That you are
1) Breaking immigration laws by working while on a tourist visa.
2) Breaking laws by trying to get around the web censors and doing something not allowed.

Honestly, if you are just going to China to break their laws, why not just stay at home? If you still want to continue then don't break immigration and other laws in the country you are visiting. It's not only illegal but greatly distasteful towards the host country. They are welcoming you as a visitor and yet you are just going to be breaking laws.
1. Re:Breaking laws by ottothecow · 2012-09-25 07:36 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Can't he just use a corporate-style VPN?
  I was under the impression that China was perfectly willing to let this go so that American business travelers had no trouble doing business with them. Maybe not some "shady" roll your own linux vpn...but some Cisco product? Why not?
  
  --
  Bottles.
2. Re:Breaking laws by Overunderrated · 2012-09-25 07:39 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Honestly, if you are just going to China to break their laws, why not just stay at home? If you still want to continue then don't break immigration and other laws in the country you are visiting. It's not only illegal but greatly distasteful towards the host country. They are welcoming you as a visitor and yet you are just going to be breaking laws.
  “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
  Martin Luther King Jr.
3. Re:Breaking laws by TheCarp · 2012-09-25 07:43 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Irrelevant to the discussion. He wasn't asking if he should do it, or why it would or woul dnot be disrespectful.
  Frankly, I am in the camp who says... if a country doesn't respect free speech, then why respect them at all? Good for him disrespecting them, they don't even respect the free speech rights of their own people...fuck their government.
  
  --
  "I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
4. Re:Breaking laws by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · 2012-09-25 07:53 · Score: 2
  
  - While I'm only a tourist, I will still be working freelance for a company back home.
  - are censored by the Great Firewall of China
  What does Slashdot think?
  That you are
  1) Breaking immigration laws by working while on a tourist visa.
  2) Breaking laws by trying to get around the web censors and doing something not allowed.
  Honestly, if you are just going to China to break their laws, why not just stay at home? If you still want to continue then don't break immigration and other laws in the country you are visiting. It's not only illegal but greatly distasteful towards the host country. They are welcoming you as a visitor and yet you are just going to be breaking laws.
  I was under the impression that people doing a bit of remote work for the home office while on vacation was an entirely normal and legal state of affairs(if an unfortunate corruption of genuine vacation time...) If he were doing work for a Chinese outfit, or work in China on behalf of home office, that would be a quite different state of affairs...
5. Re:Breaking laws by Bahumat · 2012-09-25 07:54 · Score: 2
  
  Because that invites reciprocation of that attitude from other countries. Most people tend to get angry when foreigners from anywhere come into their country and intentionally disrespect the local cultural mores and laws.
  I'll give you an easy, hyperbolic example:
  By that same argument, how do you feel about Sudanese refugees performing female genital mutilation just down the street from where you live? How do you feel about them snorting in contempt at you when you show outrage, saying: "If a country doesn't respect my cultural norms, then why respect it at all?"
  Etc. Etc.
  
  --
  "To pass through the jungle; silence, courtesy, ferocity, as the occasion demands." -- Kamau, "Proper Passage"
6. Re:Breaking laws by ThunderBird89 · 2012-09-25 08:01 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
  Martin Luther King Jr.
  And one has a vested interest in remaining under the radar of Chinese law enforcement. Or any other country's law enforcement, for that matter, especially a foreign country's.
  
  --
  Hyperbole: I use it liberally!
7. Re:Breaking laws by causality · 2012-09-25 08:02 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”
  Martin Luther King Jr.
  Ah, a very ironic statement, considering there is hardly anything moral about accessing the internet these days...something tells me this statement was for a far loftier purpose than ensuring that porn habits are fed while traveling.
  Porn is much, MUCH loftier than the desire to censor it.
  
  --
  It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
8. Re:Breaking laws by causality · 2012-09-25 08:07 · Score: 2
  
  Because that invites reciprocation of that attitude from other countries. Most people tend to get angry when foreigners from anywhere come into their country and intentionally disrespect the local cultural mores and laws.
  I'll give you an easy, hyperbolic example:
  By that same argument, how do you feel about Sudanese refugees performing female genital mutilation just down the street from where you live? How do you feel about them snorting in contempt at you when you show outrage, saying: "If a country doesn't respect my cultural norms, then why respect it at all?"
  Etc. Etc.
  While I don't generally oppose the point you are making (and I agree that the original poster's idea is a bad one), there is a flaw in your illustration.
  
  Female genital mutilation has a victim. Accessing a forbidden Web site that is censored by insecure governments for political reasons does not. The two crimes are not in the same league. When law enforcement stops the former, they are protecting human rights. When law enforcement stops the latter, they are infringing human rights.
  
  --
  It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education. - Einstein
9. Re:Breaking laws by icebike · 2012-09-25 08:13 · Score: 2
  
  Errr, so when I'm at a resort in Mexico and feel like cranking out a few lines of code because I actually like my job, I'm breaking the law? That's either messed up or a gross misinterpretation.
  First, the Mexican's won't care, Ok?
  Second, doing incidental work for your regular job while on vacation isn't against the law in any place I'm aware of. Nobody said you couldn't take a call or answer email while on vacation. But intentionally traveling on a tourist visa with full intent to spend most of your time working amounts to lying on your visa application.
  Interacting with the locals (buying/selling/hiring/or being employed) in such a way that it takes away a local job is what every country is trying to prevent. If your employer wasn't going to hire a mexican national to fix the accounts receivable reconciliation routine, and you are dumb enough to do that instead of sucking down a cool one while girl watching on the beach, I'm sure they don't care, as long as you leave money in their country.
  But the Original poster stated"
  
  that a large amount of the websites I need to have access to on a daily basis for business reasons
  Really? A "LARGE" amount of websites on a DAILY basis for BUSINESS reasons??? On a Tourist visa? That says visa Fraud right there.
  
  --
  Sig Battery depleted. Reverting to safe mode.
10. Re:Breaking laws by tapspace · 2012-09-25 08:19 · Score: 3, Informative
  
  Maybe not some "shady" roll your own linux vpn
  I was in China for 10 months, and I used a "shady" roll my own linux vpn (I mean, I didn't roll my own software, I used OpenVPN), and it worked fine. It was faster and cheaper than my friends' solutions.
  Obviously, it's a good idea to have a backup to access the web for debugging (openvpn.net is blocked in China, go figure!). Ixquick.com or Startpage.com are great for a super simple proxy fallback.
11. Re:Breaking laws by racermd · 2012-09-25 08:24 · Score: 2
  
  It sounds like he's going to be doing freelance work for companies back home while he's visiting China on his own time. This doesn't sound like he's going to China specifically to work there. If he picks up a freelance job from back home, from a company back home, who will pay him back home, who cares what he does with his time in his own hotel room in China? As far as they're concerned, he's simply enjoying his time visiting China.
  That said, I wouldn't want to risk violating Chinese law by trying to get around their national firewall, either, for ANY reason. Additionally, I would be highly suspicious of the customs officials in both China AND the U.S. - neither government is exactly friendly with regards to computers entering/leaving their borders.
  If I were the one visiting China, I would leave most of my electronics at home, buy what I need/want locally while I'm there, and finally re-sell them before I leave.
  
  --
  My sources are unreliable, but their information is fascinating. -- Ashleigh Brilliant
12. Re:Breaking laws by Creepy · 2012-09-25 08:46 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Not sure about multiple VPNs, but I have coworkers that were able to connect to my work VPN just fine from their hotels when in China. A proxy would work, as well, but you'd want to use https for an encrypted connection. Either way requires a certificate, and the only free way to do that that I know of is create a self-signed certificate and give your browsers exceptions (I haven't looked into this in years, maybe there are free options).
  Also AFAIK tourist visas don't stop you from doing business at home, you just can't do business in/with the country you are in. If the original poster is correct and I am wrong, I know of hundreds of people that have broken various laws, including me, by replying to business emails on vacation in foreign countries (when you're the first point of contact and nobody else can do what you do, there rarely is a true vacation).
SSH by betterunixthanunix · 2012-09-25 07:39 · Score: 3, Informative

I hear that the Chinese won't stop you from SSHing to a system outside of the country. You can turn SSH into an ad-hoc VPN if you'd like:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SSH_VPN

--
Palm trees and 8
Hi, I'm visiting the US soon... by Richard_at_work · 2012-09-25 07:40 · Score: 5, Insightful

And although I will be going as a tourist, I still need to be able to regularly import large quantities of heroin and cocaine. However, this isn't allowed according to US law, so can anyone suggest how I can circumvent this law largely because I don't accept it and want to carry on with my massive heroin and cocaine habits while there...
Local laws, whether you believe they are right or not, follow them if you want to stay out of jail.
1. Re:Hi, I'm visiting the US soon... by Jeng · 2012-09-25 07:51 · Score: 2
  
  And although I will be going as a tourist, I still need to be able to regularly import large quantities of heroin and cocaine. However, this isn't allowed according to US law, so can anyone suggest how I can circumvent this law largely because I don't accept it and want to carry on with my massive heroin and cocaine habits while there...
  
  I can't help you with large quantities, but otherwise I recommend FedEx.
  
  --
  Don't know something? Look it up. Still don't know? Then ask.
2. Re:Hi, I'm visiting the US soon... by Hatta · 2012-09-25 08:06 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Yes, yes it is. The war on drugs is a war on personal freedom, just like any censorship regime.
  
  --
  Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
3. Re:Hi, I'm visiting the US soon... by betterunixthanunix · 2012-09-25 08:08 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  In fact, the war on drugs is more ethically questionable than censorship by a government.
  
  --
  Palm trees and 8
Don't Like the Laws? Don't go. by JimMcc · 2012-09-25 07:42 · Score: 2

I don't know the legal issues at hand, nor do I know the laws of China, but if what you are planing to do is a violation of those laws you should be prepared for an extended stay as a guest of the Chinese government.
While you might not believe that what they do is correct, moral, or defensible, it is non the less their country. Just as you would expect foreign visitors to your own country to respect the local laws, you should respect the laws of a country that you visit. If you find the laws so personally distasteful that can not abide by them, don't go.
The Parking Garage by FormulaTroll · 2012-09-25 07:43 · Score: 3, Informative

Personal viewpoints on censorship aside, I'd be hesitant to break any Chinese laws while in China. Why, my dad just returned from a 14-year stint in a red Chinese prison...
Re:Sure - don't go by zethreal · 2012-09-25 07:43 · Score: 2

Exactly this. I have a relative that went there on vacation with 20 or so friends. They were walking around late in the evening & turned down a "wrong street" they were all arrested & held for no reason for several days. My relative & his friends think that the only reason they were released was because it was such a large group. When they were released, they were told to never travel without a guide again & make sure they didn't go down that road.
The Chinese won't arrest an American by betterunixthanunix · 2012-09-25 07:43 · Score: 2, Interesting

As long as you are not telling other Chinese people how to break through the firewall, I doubt that Chinese government will go after you. They do not need to add stress to their relationship with the USA, and they would probably prefer to sneak something onto your laptop so they can get some trade secrets than to stop you from using a corporate VPN. The purpose of the firewall is to control Chinese citizens, not to harass foreigners.

--
Palm trees and 8
1. Re:The Chinese won't arrest an American by DaMattster · 2012-09-25 08:13 · Score: 3, Interesting
  
  As long as you are not telling other Chinese people how to break through the firewall, I doubt that Chinese government will go after you. They do not need to add stress to their relationship with the USA, and they would probably prefer to sneak something onto your laptop so they can get some trade secrets than to stop you from using a corporate VPN. The purpose of the firewall is to control Chinese citizens, not to harass foreigners.
  At best this is an assumption you've made. The Chinese will willingly detain, try, and punish any foreigner that they feel poses a threat to state security. Moreover, it is probably the U.S. is more concerned with it's fragile relationship with China. When it feels threatened, the Chinese Communist Party will react and not care one iota about the world's reaction.
Let me Google that for you.... by DontScotty · 2012-09-25 07:44 · Score: 2

visitors arrested for circumventing china firewall
oh, I guess there are no results.
Go right ahead!!
(IANAL, URIDIOT)
Re:Sure - don't go by osu-neko · 2012-09-25 07:44 · Score: 5, Insightful

Let's be real - China is a Communist dictatorship, period.
Well, let's be real, then. The Chinese Communist Party is "communist" in the same way the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) is "democratic".

--
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."
Re:SSH by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-25 07:55 · Score: 5, Funny

Based on my firewall logs, they not only don't block port 22, they actively encourage it!
OpenVPN by Col.+Klink+(retired) · 2012-09-25 08:00 · Score: 2

I was in China last month and I just set up an OpenVPN server on my home machine and connected to that with no problems. It's noticeably slower, but worked just fine.
Note that it makes sense to use OpenVPN from just about anywhere.

--
-- Don't Tase me, bro!
Lived in China for years by nhtshot · 2012-09-25 08:07 · Score: 4, Informative

I used overplay.net's commercial OpenVPN. There's several competing services specifically tailored to bypassing the great firewall. Overplay in particular has a huge list of servers in different countries. Occasionally one would get blocked, but one of the others would always work.
Best $10/month I spent while I was there.
Regarding the locals laws, etc.. it's a definite gray area. The laws don't say you're not allowed to post or view certain things. The laws just say that the government is allowed to "normalize" (filter/censor).
I used a VPN for years and registered for my internet account using my passport. They knew who I was and could obviously see the VPN traffic. I never heard a word from anybody about it.
Jabronis by brojamma · 2012-09-25 08:11 · Score: 2

Do we really need all of these replies discussing the legality/morality? We get the point -- you're all a bunch of stand-up citizens.