Tor partially blocked in China

by phobos | September 27, 2009

On September 25, 2009, the Great Firewall of China blocked the public list of relays and directory authorities by simple IP address blocks. Currently, about 80% of the public relays are blocked by IP address and TCP port combination. Tor users are still connecting to the network through bridges. At the simplest level, bridges are non-public relays that don't exit traffic, but instead send it on to the rest of the Tor network.

If you want to help people in China get access to the uncensored Internet, run a bridge.

Feel free to mirror this post, or the Tor website. We have a list of mirrors at https://www.torproject.org/mirrors.html.en or search for tor mirrors via Google, Yahoo, Baidu, etc.

Links to other helpful sites (not run by us):

We knew this day would come, https://blog.torproject.org/blog/torproject.org-blocked-gfw-china%3A-so….

Tags
bridges
china
tor blocked
October 1
great firewall of china
great firewall of iran
Anonymous

blushingbunny (not verified) said:

September 28, 2009

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i'm in shanghai and i can't find a bridge

Anonymous

Anonymous (not verified) said:

September 28, 2009

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To whom it concerns,

This is a very important story and a *huge* and alarming move by China to further control the flow of, and access to, unfettered news from around the world, and from within China. This story is important because it shows China's ever increasing aggressive stance on the Internet and the freedom of the Chinese people.

If CNN runs with this story, and ties it into the unrest in Iran (ie. Tor usage by Iranians), I think CNN would have a major scoop and human interest story.

Below I describe Tor and offer some useful links and information. The Tor team would be very happy to speak with CNN, I am *sure*...

Thank you in advance for standing up to China and standing up for the Chinese people.

--Blog Entry from Tor Team Regarding Blockage by China:

blog_post_a) "Tor partially blocked in China"
https://blog.torproject.org/blog/tor-partially-blocked-china

blog_post_b) "Torproject.org Blocked by GFW in China: Sooner or Later?"
https://blog.torproject.org/blog/torproject.org-blocked-gfw-china%3A-so…

--Short Background of Tor:

Tor was originally designed, implemented, and deployed as a third-generation onion routing project of the Naval Research Laboratory. It was originally developed with the U.S. Navy in mind, for the primary purpose of protecting government communications. Today, it is used every day for a wide variety of purposes by the military, journalists, law enforcement officers, activists, and many others. Here are some of the specific uses we've seen or recommend:
https://www.torproject.org/torusers.html.en

--Reporters Use Tor:

(taken from the Tor page "Who Uses Tor?" https://www.torproject.org/torusers.html.en )

a) "Reporters Without Boarders" advises journalists, sources, bloggers, and dissidents to use Tor to ensure their privacy and safety.

b) "The US International Broadcasting Bureau" (Voice of America/Radio Free Europe/Radio Free Asia) supports Tor development to help Internet users in countries without safe access to free media.

c) Citizen journalists in China use Tor to write about local events to encourage social change and political reform.

d) Citizens and journalists in Internet black holes ( http://www.rsf.org/rubrique.php3?id_rubrique=554 ) use Tor to research state propaganda and opposing viewpoints, to file stories with non-State controlled media, and to avoid risking the personal consequences of intellectual curiosity.

--What Has Tor Done of Note Recently?

One example of Tor usage was during the unrest in Iran following the elections this year. Tor was a major reason why Iranians could report on the situation anonymously, without fear of government reprisal. (please see the following blog posts for proof positive data and great visual aids such as graphs, etc)

a) "Measuring Tor and Iran":
https://blog.torproject.org/blog/measuring-tor-and-iran

b) "Measuring Tor and Iran (Part two)"
https://blog.torproject.org/blog/measuring-tor-and-iran-part-two

c) "On the Recent Growth of the Tor Network"
https://blog.torproject.org/blog/recent-growth-tor-network

--Detailed Descriptions of Tor and Tor Usage:

"Tor Overview"
https://www.torproject.org/overview.html.en#overview

Try Fox as CNN is a liberal network that will probably not care about your issue because they would not want to offend China. The Obama government, like liberal CNN, is into "we want everyone to like us, so we will ignore any wrong doing".

Anonymous

Anonymous (not verified) said:

September 28, 2009

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I'm surprised that blog.torproject.org has not been blocked yet!

Anonymous

Anonymous (not verified) said:

September 28, 2009

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A few days after I set up a bridge using my own computer, I could not connect to any websites in China. Apparently they blocked my ip address to prevent people from logging on to TOR. As the GFW is bidirectional, I am blocked as well. Are there any ways to fix this?

Unfortunately I could not change my ip...

If the GFW uses a binary search to match ip addresses with the blacklist, they would have a great advantage because searching is only O(log n). It is very hard to compete with blocking by establishing new bridges. Perhaps we should think about other ways to penetrate the wall.

simple, use Tor when you need access website out of china. For other websites in China, just access them with Tor.
Two browsers, am I clear?

I have put some bridges but it does not seems to work. Am i doing something wrong?
how many address can I put ? How long do the adress last?

I have put some bridges but it does not seems to work. Am i doing something wrong?
how many address can I put ? How long do the adress last?

i heard that china gov install new software "Blue Shield" on every ISP international gateway start on Sept, 11.

no one known the mechanic of this software.
but we can see how effective of it.
most of the software which ever can cross over GFW is now blocked.
----
personally, i think "Blue Shield" should scan for every packet across it
both header and content!
if it found that packet content is special software (ex. FreeGate)
it will auto block the IP.

seem old GFW scan only header, this way is cheap CPU cost,
but absolutely fail to catch special software.
so china decide to scan its content with big cost of CPU.
China Internet user can notice dramatic speed drop when they want to browse international website, since Sept 11.

"China Internet user can notice dramatic speed drop when they want to browse international website, since Sept 11."

but it seems that users from other country, especially form Europe and North America,who want to browse those china websites （eg Baidu）are blocked in some degree. well when i get Tor connect, and to go to the international websites, like BBC, it's just ok, but when i opening those china public website like Baidu through Tor service, the speed drop down.

i disagree that china will block access from outside.

but because new GFW scan for all packet "going outside"
and Baidu is sending data to your Tor exit which is outside of China!
that is why people outside china also speed drop
when browse website in china too.

maybe i should not use the words "block international users", but instead of “interfere other country users”.
u sure the new GFW will scan all packet now? and that's the problem of why browsing webpages outside china is more slower than within china?
thx 4 ur point

Do you understand what i mean?
1) I "assume" that china scan for all packet which going outside of china.
as i told no one known how "blue shield" work for now.
so my assumption still unsure, but there is great possibility.

2) china don't do anything outside of its country.
they just scan out-going packet and block IP,
if it found that the destination IP support for breaking GFW in anyway.

3) i will show it in easy way to understand
china people => china website = no change
china people => inter website = request to website is scaned so it slow
inter people => inter website = no change
inter people => china website = response from website is scan so it slow

the internet world seem divide to china and non-china now.

well thx and i do know what u said....
"inter people => china website = response from website is scan so it slow"
if like that, search engine who located in china like Baidu should not access any international websites that were blocked by GFW. but in fact u can open cached pages on Baidu even the straight links were blocked.
So, GFW has a white list？and it allow these websites access international resources without limitation, well let them decide which links should be blocked？
i thought GFW do blocked a series of ordinary IPs, especially from Europe, they were not websites, but just providing some service like tor.

Anonymous

dreamax (not verified) said:

September 29, 2009

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My Server IP has been blocked for running an TOR Server (whole IP, not only TOR Port), in both directions (i cant connect to chinese servers, and chinese people can't connect to my server).:

Shanghai.: Timeout
Beijing..: Timeout
Guangzhou: Timeout
Hong Kong: 324ms
New York.: 121ms

Connections from and to Hong Kong are currently possible...

//And no, that means not that i will shutdown my Relay.. i think i will make a second relay..(if i have enough money :-P)

Let change your IP, and you can connect to china again.
until GFW catch that the new IP is Relay,
then change IP again and so on.....
;P

if GFW still continue in this way,
i think GFW will block IP accumulatively to half of the world's available IP soon.

Anonymous

Arman (not verified) said:

September 29, 2009

Permalink

Why Tor Project stopped on the step of "establishing an encrypted directory connection"?

I live in Iran. Feom 19 September 2009 to Today 29 September, I tried Tor and it stopped in the step of "establishing an encrypted directory connection" , Please tell me how can I fix this?
These errors are also related to the "establishing an encrypted directory connection" problem: "no route to host" "No current certificate known for authority ..."

Initial indications are that Iran is blocking all public Tor relays as well. Perhaps China and Iran have talked about this.

Iran is also messing with SSL, in some cases, flat out dropping any SSL on any port.

This may only be from one ISP, but getting reliable connectivity into and out of Iran, with or without Tor, seems to be an issue right now.