8 Ways To Circumvent the PROTECT-IP Act 284
Dangerous_Minds writes "One of the things that the PROTECT-IP act is said to do is make DNS servers censor websites that have been accused of copyright infringement. Drew Wilson of ZeroPaid decided to look in to how many ways he could come up with that would circumvent such censorship. He found 8 ways to circumvent such censorship. The article includes pros and cons and links to guides on how to carry out these methods. The methods are: using a VPN service, using your HOSTs file, using TOR, using freely available DNS lookup tools, changing your DNS server to a non-US server, using command prompt, using Foxy Proxy, and using MAFIAAFire. If anything, the list raises serious doubts that the PROTECT IP Act will even put a dent on copyright infringement online."
Best idea (Score:5, Interesting)
Best idea: Don't use DNS servers located in the United States.
I mean, at the rate our country's going, it won't be long before other countries just start walling us in. Not out. In. "Those 'mericans are craaaazy. They think they own this shit. Well, this here is mah router, and this here is mah website, and those yankee bastards can eat a bag of dicks."
Progress: It's gonna happen, whether Uncle Sam wants it or not.
Re:9th way (Score:5, Interesting)
And how do you do that with a browser?
Interesting, another site, which happens to be blocked by DNS in my country, is also doing this rather stupid redirect:
baldur@pkunk:~$ host thepiratebay.org 8.8.8.8
thepiratebay.org has address 194.71.107.15
baldur@pkunk:~$ curl -v http://194.71.107.15/ [194.71.107.15] ...
< HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently
< Location: http://thepiratebay.org/ [thepiratebay.org]
Now try it with the "official" DNS server:
baldur@pkunk:~$ host thepiratebay.org 212.10.10.4
thepiratebay.org has address 212.10.10.15
This is what the site looks like if you do not override the DNS server:
http://212.10.10.15/#Engelsk [212.10.10.15]
Text in english:
The National High Tech Crime Center of the Danish National Police, who assist in investigations into crime on the internet, has informed Telia Stofa, that the internet page which your browser has tried to get in contact with may contain material which could be regarded as child pornography.
On recommandation of The National High Tech Crime Center of the Danish National Police Telia Stofa has blocked the access to the internet page. If you have any objections against the internet page being blocked, please contact Telia Stofa.
The Danish Anti-Distribution Filter covering pictures and movies showing sexual abuse of children is part of a European police co-operation (CIRCAMP) for the prevention of commercial and sexual exploitation of children.
According to Section 235 of the Danish Criminal Code it is a criminal offence to disseminate, possess or for a payment or through the internet to become acquainted with child pornography. The maximum penalty can in certain cases be imprisonment for up to 6 years.
Information on criminal conduct on the internet may be passed on to the National High Tech Crime Center of the Danish National Police.
Are you in need of help or guidance in relation to child pornography, please visit www.brydcirklen.dk.
In case you are wondering what The Pirate Bay has to do with child pornography, nothing. It was just easier to get this law into place using the "protect the children" argument. As soon we had this censorship system into place it got used for everything else too. You can expect the same with your new system in the US.
Re:Non-US = silly. (Score:4, Interesting)
Am I incorrect when I say that the root DNS servers are controlled by the US and all other servers are programmed to follow them?
The DNS system is a tree like hierarchy. The root servers only have the IP addresses of the next level, which is the .com, .org, .net and all the .[country code] (.uk, .dk, .se, etc).
It would not be possible to block illegalsite.dk using the root servers. You need the .dk servers to do that. The root servers could take the whole of .dk offline but that would be a major international crisis. Nobody wants that.
Now it is just as easy to get a court order in Denmark to block anything on a .dk domain. It is probably easier. But apparently the american lawyers are lazy and want to use the USA courts.
One can wonder however how it was that thepiratebay.org got blocked in Denmark. But not in the USA where they could simply turn off the domain since it is a .org.
Re:Best idea (Score:2, Interesting)
I'm also from Texas, native enough to know where the Chicken Ranch was and which governor personally shut it down, know people who consider stump-breaking as a part of owning a ranch, know the difference between Central TX, Eastern TX, and north TX barbecue by the sauces they use, and by sight, know the difference between a pickup truck owned by someone who is all hat and no cattle versus a truck owned by someone who actually takes it off the tarmac. Hint: 2WD and 4WD are secondary, although 4WD always is handy.
Before "W" got into office, Texas as considered cool and people actually wanted TX memorabilia in Europe. Heck, I brought some obnoxiously large belt buckles as a joke and sold them to Europeans before 2000.
Thanks to "W", who is no way a Texan, (he is a Connecticut carpetbagger), I hide my origin as much as I can. Every other country reviles Texas, even though the majority of the people really never cared for "W" or his politics. Because I like beer bottles kept away from my cranium, I just pretend to be from California, but just employed in TX. I'm really glad I don't have the TX drawl because I really don't need a nose job delivered without proper medical advice at a pub if I'm overseas.
Ironic CAPTCHA: doomsday
Citizen Internet (Score:3, Interesting)
They're laughing at you. (Score:4, Interesting)
This clumsy assault which you've thwarted with your technical prowess, and all of its sibling assaults in this diversionary and dissipative battle, are not the war however. They know they can't win the technical battle, so of course they will not even set foot on the field. They will say "We tried to build a secure network, but we've been continuously thwarted in our every attempt. Now we need to go after these [insert scary moniker]." The next phase will be increased and targeted criminalization. This phase is the building of the case in support of the draconian laws that are to come. It's difficult to take away people's freedoms for no reason. It's easy to convince people to give them up voluntarily in exchange for security. Especially for security from mysterious threats involving forces that they do not understand (eg. technology). By feigning technical restriction, they are drawing you out [xkcd.com] so that you might build the case against you yourselves. It's classic battlefield tactics--use your enemy's strength against them.
This war can only be won by defeating the enemy's ability to create legislation against freedom. Since it is the public's ignorance that will make this possible, the battleground of education is where this contest will be decided. Unfortunately, that particular topic is deep behind enemy lines and well nigh unassailable.