An update on the censorship in Ethiopia
A few days ago, we published a blog post exposing the use of Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) to filter all Internet traffic in Ethiopia, including connections to the Tor network. We concluded that they are doing some sort of TLS fingerprinting, but had not been able to figure out exactly what they are fingerprinting on. Since then, we have managed to determine exactly how Ethiopia blocks Tor and we have developed a workaround. We will publish a full technical analysis very soon.
The long-term solution for Tor users in Ethiopia is to use the Obfsproxy Tor Browser Bundle. The bundles are, unfortunately, not up to date at the moment, but this is something we are working on (see #5937 for details). In the meantime, try using one of the following three bridges:
213.138.103.17:443
107.21.149.216:443
46.137.226.203:55440
If the bridges are not working, or you have questions, send an email to help@rt.torproject.org.
Comments
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<3
<3
oh.. lucky those who can
oh.. lucky those who can make a connections on other
country, bad luck here on thousands filipino's here in the philippines
who's relying on tor...
recently 2 of the biggest ISP's blocked Tor
If I;m not mistaken through port 443.. .
even vpn are all blocked.. .
status now here is in back to zero.. .
we' in our community join together in the fights against censorship..
net cost here are so expensive &
I guess in your country the speed that gives to us by the ISP's is just a free..
but in a long run .. failure!
i pinged the first two,
i pinged the first two, nothing was found.
Define "nothing was found"?
Define "nothing was found"? They are all up and running, but they don't necessarily respond to ping.
Try nping.
Try nping. http://nmap.org/book/nping-man.html
Keep doing the best, Tor.
Keep doing the best, Tor. Thanks
I'm running a bridge node.
I'm running a bridge node. Should I run an obfsproxy endpoint, too, when the tests have run smoothly?
If you can run an Obfsproxy
If you can run an Obfsproxy bridge, please do!
Would it be a good guess
Would it be a good guess that this is not home-grown Ethiopian blocking technology, and that they're paying some outside firm to do it for them? If so, any chance of identifying and shaming said firm?
My guess is that they are
My guess is that they are only blocking Tor because whatever device (probably from an outside firm) they have came with a block-Tor-plugin.
It's probably a European
It's probably a European firm, Erricson setup the initial network, ZTE is rolling out new networks, and Orange/France Telecom seem to be running the telecom part of it. http://www.globaltelecomsbusiness.com/Article/2727063/Sectors/25198/Ora…
BTW, blocking sites in Ethiopia is pretty old, net2phone (VoIP) when introduced was already being blocked. It's gotten political, used to be a net neutrality issue.
Currently the parliament has
Currently the parliament has approved a bill that leads to 15 years of imprisonment and 150K ETB (Birr) fine if some one is found using illegal ( As to the law of the government) sites and services. So guys, be serious to what you are using and let others use.
Thanks
It's Chinese. The ethiopian
It's Chinese. The ethiopian government is very close with the chinese government. This relationship has translated into the chinese building infrastructure for the ethiopians while getting certain concessions for their work.
Thank you, tor.
Thank you, tor.
To all of you TOR
To all of you TOR developers, thank you. You're building up massive karma points squinting into your monitor screens, scratching your heads, and alternatively staring out the window as you figure out all these solutions time and time again. Your work has aided so many people who rely on TOR -- Internet access and participation in social networking activities can have a very profound effect in countries where oppressive governments (their numbers are sadly increasing) want to keep their own citizens in seclusion by restricting the sharing of ideas, information, and community involvement. Facebook loves to bask in the news media glory for things like the 'Arab Spring' social upheavals but most of us know that TOR was the real infrastructure and backbone for Internet access.
It's "Tor", not "TOR".
It's "Tor", not "TOR".
>It's "Tor", not "TOR". I am
>It's "Tor", not "TOR".
I am aware that "Tor" is the official form, but why? It is an acronym for The Onion Router and acronyms are properly all-caps.
Clearly, it is for this reason that so few people use the official but idiosyncratic "Tor" over the intuitive "TOR".
Again, it's "Tor" not "TOR".
Again, it's "Tor" not "TOR". Don't be a hero...help others.
Are you suggesting that
Are you suggesting that people who use "TOR" and not "Tor" should be censored? Get over it.
Well spoken. And thank you
Well spoken. And thank you Tor.
update [Obfsproxy Tor
update [Obfsproxy Tor Browser] please !!!
It would be nice eventually
It would be nice eventually if you pushed an update to ALL of the servers so that they would be Obfsproxy relays, once most of the relays/bridges have been updated then push an update to the desktop clients. If Obfsproxy works so much better to circumvent censorship why not just put it everywhere?
The evil goverment is doing
The evil goverment is doing every thing to keep people in dark rule of his own. It arreset journalst, blogggers and any opposition. The evil Meles is doing censorship since he can not detain every citizen. Any how he is financed and supported by White House.
I hope the Skype obscure
I hope the Skype obscure proxy comes out soon. It sounded hard to block. Makes Tor traffic look like Skype traffic.
That would be extremely
That would be extremely easy... block all trafic that looks like skype traffic...
15 years in jail for using
15 years in jail for using skype,
http://stream.aljazeera.com/story/ethiopia-skype-me-maybe-0022243
HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't use Skype Tor cannot
Don't use Skype
Tor cannot help you with that
Stay away from proprietary & closed platform like that...they don't respect your freedom
Couldn't figure whether to
Couldn't figure whether to laugh my ass off or sympathize with Ethiopian internet users. I mean how can the government control internet infrastructure as if owned by an individual. If Tor doesnt work anybody in a fic can email me at evansrutoh@gmail.com i have a VPN solution that works well its free but don't share too much it will clog up!
A VPN will not make the
A VPN will not make the users anonymous. Can't you set up a bridge or relay instead?
спасибо TOR за
спасибо TOR за свободу
Yeah... the Tor bunch rock
Yeah... the Tor bunch rock fo sho.
Are the IP addresses mentioned for bridges long term ?
Many thanks in advance...
Go Tor team ... you rock !
two of the biggest ISP's
two of the biggest ISP's here in the philippines
blocked tor recently!
Please email
Please email help@rt.torproject.org with some more information about this.
I use Tor over a years and I
I use Tor over a years and I find it almost perfectly,
but suddenly,
after ISP upgrades or doing some activities/maintenance
on their system.. .
it stuck on 10% handshakes mybe some on 25%..
We need an official Tor
We need an official Tor discussion forum.
I didn't see this issue mentioned in Roger's *latest* notes post, so for now, mature adults should visit and post at one or both of these unofficial tor discussion forums, these tinyurl's will take you to:
** HackBB:
http://www.tinyurl.com/hackbbonion
** Onion Forum 2.0
http://www.tinyurl.com/onionforum2
Each tinyurl link will take you to a hidden service discussion forum. Tor is required to visit these links, even though they appear to be on the open web, they will lead you to .onion sites.
I know the Tor developers can do better, but how many years are we to wait?
Caution: some topics may be disturbing. You should be eighteen years or older. I recommend you disable images in your browser when viewing these two forums[1] and only enabling them if you are posting a message, but still be careful! Disable javascript and cookies, too.
If you prefer to visit the hidden services directly, bypassing the tinyurl service:
HackBB: (directly)
http://clsvtzwzdgzkjda7.onion/
Onion Forum 2.0: (directly)
http://65bgvta7yos3sce5.onion/
The tinyurl links are provided as a simple means of memorizing the hidden services via a link shortening service (tinyurl.com).
[1]: Because any content can be posted! Think 4chan, for example. onionforum2 doesn't appear to be heavily moderated so be aware and take precautions.
It's not just Ethiopia.
It's not just Ethiopia. There is an American pet forum, itchmoforums, linked to a blog that launched a legendary Internet empire. Here is the the blog ownership data. The owner is well-known:
http://www.ewhois.com/itchmo.com/
In spite of this web potentate's proclamations of opposition to 'censorship' and drama queen antics condemning SOPA, his pet forum instituted the most oppressive brand of censorship I have ever seen on the Internet. His mostly middle-aged female forum members were censored for the mildest jokes and any posting deemed 'political' by his moderators. If they followed the site's many conduct rules and yet expressed opinions out of lockstep with the site owner's moderators, subtly cruel forms of social engineering were used to make participation noxious.
Anyone with a glimmering of personality and sense of justice eventually left the forum, though their sincere efforts to communicate there must have driven up site stats and superficial popularity for awhile, allowing the site owner to prosper and launch his cheesy little LOL empire.
The forum somehow now blocks Tor IP's, in spite of seeming to allow naive Internet users to to post there anonymously. I have my own suspicions about the agenda involved, but that is not relevant to the hypocrisy of the site owner in toting the free speech line yet blocking anonymous opinions from being expressed freely. The only real goal seems to be making money in these cases of Tor-blocking.
Hmm, there appears to be
Hmm, there appears to be some difficulties with all the 1st link, because it returns a 404 error