Senior Australians learn to circumvent censorship filter

Senior Australians learn to circumvent filter

A Newcastle-based computer help desk business has become one of the first organisations in Australia to host a masterclass on how to "hack" the Federal Government's planned internet filter.

The class was held last Thursday by David Campbell of Newcastle-based service provider Clear Computers on behalf of euthanasia advocacy group Exit International. Campbell told around 70 senior citizens about the filter and how to get around it.

The hacking class is not illegal. While the controversial filter will block material that is 'Refused Classification' (RC), including illegal content like child pornography, it is not illegal to circumvent the filter per se.

"Such an offence would be almost useless, as it is trivial to circumvent filtering and very often necessary to do so; [for example], using international VPNs to connect to private networks or to encrypt sensitive communications."

itnews.com.au

This is another nail in the coffin for the viability of the internet censorship plan which will be forced over law abiding Australian citizens, just like other countries like Iran, and China. Luckily, such vilters are not difficult to circumvent. If the Internet censorship plan become a reality, circumvention methods will become very widespread.

Honestly now, did anyone not see this coming?

second line

'Lowly or junior' Australians can evade the filter by installing the Vidalia Tor bundle available...HERE. Combine Tor with Firefox using the FF Torbutton to toggle Tor on and off.

Exit are getting a head start as they know access to their site will be blocked by the filter...Their books are already banned for sale in Australia which is really alarming...

My "sources" tell me state chapters of Dying with Dignity are also about to start holding classes to teach their members to circumvent any filter should access to their websites end up blocked by the filter...

reply to post by Kandinsky


Tor's fine if you're not concerned about lack of encryption and potentially dodgy exit nodes...

Personally, I'll be forking out for a decent VPN provider in the likely event this filter becomes reality...

I bet that ones a nice little earner

2nd line just to reiterate

Originally posted by Retrovertigo
reply to post by Kandinsky

 

Tor's fine if you're not concerned about lack of encryption and potentially dodgy exit nodes...

Personally, I'll be forking out for a decent VPN provider in the likely event this filter becomes reality...

Fair comment. For a free way to slip past the filters, it's as good as most people need. I think very few people need to be concerned about who's looking at where they go. There's also the question of how safe are VPN providers?

A downside of Tor, in my experience, is the problem with streaming videos or downloading large files via P2P...bad manners. I ran a relay last year, spurred by wanting to avoid country content blockers...specifically South Park. I left it running for weeks to help boost the network and *hopefully* give political dissidents access to the Web and increased freedom of speech.

I finally abandoned it after reading an article on The Register and comments on Slashdot about UK Tor relays being raided by the authorities. I can stand the scrutiny, but the confiscation of electricals (PC, laptop, USBs, MP3 players etc) pending investigation (12 months in one case) would be costly. Last time I looked, the UK had a handful of relays compared to other European nations with dozens.

Occasional use of Tor, without being a relay, might not pose the same risk.

Originally posted by Kandinsky
Fair comment. For a free way to slip past the filters, it's as good as most people need. I think very few people need to be concerned about who's looking at where they go. There's also the question of how safe are VPN providers?

A downside of Tor, in my experience, is the problem with streaming videos or downloading large files via P2P...bad manners. I ran a relay last year, spurred by wanting to avoid country content blockers...specifically South Park. I left it running for weeks to help boost the network and *hopefully* give political dissidents access to the Web and increased freedom of speech.

I finally abandoned it after reading an article on The Register and comments on Slashdot about UK Tor relays being raided by the authorities. I can stand the scrutiny, but the confiscation of electricals (PC, laptop, USBs, MP3 players etc) pending investigation (12 months in one case) would be costly. Last time I looked, the UK had a handful of relays compared to other European nations with dozens.

Occasional use of Tor, without being a relay, might not pose the same risk.

Good point about how safe are VPN providers, Kandinsky...

I guess I trust a company providing a customer service over someone providing a Tor exit node, is all

But like you said, for quick and dirty surf, Tor is fine for most people...

Yeah I can imagine how your bandwidth can get chewed up being a relay...Some people just don't have any manners and don't realise relay providers are providing you with a safer way to use the Interwebz...

That's a good point, I never considered the possibility the Feds might come knocking if one of your "users" do something dodgy via your relay...For sure, its defo not worth risking all your kit for a potentially long period of time even if you're not guilty, and a big fine or worse if you are...

I've often thought of running a relay for a bit, but my thought has always been the bandwidth issue, the potential legal probs have never been a thought...

Thanks to you they are now and there's no way I'd run a relay after giving the potential legal issues some thought...

Originally posted by Kandinsky
A downside of Tor, in my experience, is the problem with streaming videos or downloading large files via P2P...bad manners. I ran a relay last year, spurred by wanting to avoid country content blockers...specifically South Park. I left it running for weeks to help boost the network and *hopefully* give political dissidents access to the Web and increased freedom of speech.

Yes that was bad manors! Spank your self!

The servers are all run by volunteers so it's strictly low bandwidth, does leaving it running 'boost' the network? Is it like torrents in that way? I'm not sure about that one, you heart was there tho

Are you in the UK? I only ask cos when I want to access country specif content (mostly american) I just switch on Hotspot shield - It's not a perfect solution, for instance Hulu seems to cotton on to the IP's, so sometimes you have to disconnect and re connect to get an IP they will accept... And sometimes the streaming buffers a bit, prob down to limited bandwidth... Nice handy tip tho for all American only content.

reply to post by Now_Then

Yes that was bad manors! Spank your self! The servers are all run by volunteers so it's strictly low bandwidth, does leaving it running 'boost' the network? Is it like torrents in that way? I'm not sure about that one, you heart was there tho

Whoah there! Tor gets slowed down by P2P users, I'd never do that. If I was to engage in illegal downloads...if...I'd abandon peerguardian apps and take my chances in the swarm for a minimum 1:1 share ratio. Honor amongst thieves lol.

The Tor Network needs more relays, leaving your relay running expands/boosts the network. It was interesting to see the email traffic being flagged by my security apps...most was from Vietnam, Hong Kong and China. Spammers, hackers or dissidents? I'll never know.