simpleRussia starts blocking VPN at the protocol (WireGuard, OpenVPN) level
AntimuttHowever will they get messages through??
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wewbullIs this just address/port blocking, or DPI of some kind? I’m wondering what they can trigger off?
originalucifervpn traffic isnt directly hidden, but it can be helped along.
youd need to encapsulate your vpn traffic in a different protocol, make sure you shape your traffic to expected values for that protocol and then avoid known vpn endpoints.
Can this actually work? If you run Wireguard on a non-default port, is it possible to tell that it’s wireguard?
mruczekChinese firewall can detect it, AFAIK
Gfw is mostly picky about anything udp or where both ports are unknown. Also if the known port (server) isn’t from a licensed block.
Basically there are heuristics that lead to either a reset, a temp block, or a perm block, but it seems to vary from time to time a lot.
Wireguard through gfw worked fine when I tried it.
The other client did have a static IP and static Port tho, that probably helped
dr_robotMost open source vpn protocols, afaik, do not obfuscate what they are, because they're not designed to work in the presence of a hostile operator. They only encrypt the user data. That is, they will carry information in their header that they are such and such vpn protocol, but the data payload will be encrypted.
You can open up wireshark and see for yourself. Wireshark can very easily recognize and even filter wireguard packets regardless of port number. I've used it to debug my firewall setups.
In the past when I needed a VPN in such a situation, I had to resort to a paid option where the VPN provider had their own protocol which did try to obfuscate the nature of the protocol.
Shithole country
SpicyPeaSoupWorse: shithole country that turns everything they touch into shit too.
Bootlicking simply comes naturally to the Russian culture.
Racism comes naturally the Anglo brainpan.
Edit: My apologies to my Anglo brothers and sisters still fighting the good fight and blowing up US government property.
1: Russian isn’t a race, I’m actually being jingoist, you damn racist.
2: I’m Suomi/Celt. Slavs and Germanics can all get fucked, ancestrially speaking, you slaving imperialist pigs.
3:That was clearly a joke, go grow some sunflowers.
avaterusing a vpn is also illegal in russia since 2017 😅
ИльдарUsing is not illegal
This is not accurate information. VPN usage is not banned.
I’d appreciate a source for that statement. :o
In November 2017, the Russian government passed a law banning the use of VPNs, Tor, and proxies to access unauthorized content. Since that time, it has been used to restrict specific VPN services.
The ban targets VPN providers who refuse to submit data to the Russian government. The threat of bans came in 2019. Two waves of bans followed in 2021, covering 15 VPNs. Only one Russia-based provider is known to have complied with the rules.
surfshark.com/blog/vpn-in-russia
redcalciumIIRC Pakistan also do this (vpn is blocked by defauld and you’ll need to submit documentation to justify using VPN if you want to use VPN in your company), though their main reason is to reduce VoIP spammers.
talIt has got to be easier to just make phone authentication better than to hope that nobody in the country is going to spam and then block people on the outside.
This has nothing to do with phone security though. Pakistan is the source of spam calls in many developed nations. Those spam call center operators was able to operate on the cheap from Pakistan due to cheap labors and cheap access to international calls via VoIP, so by blocking unregistered VoIP and VPN, they hoped to kill the spam call center industries (or at least that’s what they tell people when they started cracking on vpn a few years ago, might be legitimate if they’re getting pressure from western goverments to control the spam situation). This will also increase tax revenue because legitimate call centers will have to use licensed VoIP services that pay tax to Pakistan government.
Oh, okay, I gotcha. I figured that it was the other way around, that people spamming from outside Pakistan were targeting people inside.
I see! So, to quote the sources you provided:
“Despite widespread speculation, the law does not directly ban the operation of VPNs and anonymisers. However, it does restrict access to banned websites with the help of these tools.”
I.e. the VPN providers themselves are not illegal, though the VPN providers technically have to not allow users to access content listed by rospotrebnadzor. That’s responsibility on the side of the providers, not a ban on use. Practically speaking it still is attempting to censor content, but neither of the three sources claim that VPN use is illegal in Russia.
You can argue as much as you want, but the full usage of a vpn is illegal in russia by law, because you could access real informations instead of their bullshit propaganda.
And they are now actively blocking protocols…so 🤷♂️
Don’t get me wrong, I think those restrictions are horrible and Putin is a tyrant, but it’s irresponsible to say that VPNs are illegal. They are not. People should use them to access alternative media like Meduza instead of accepting that there’s only state media. VPNs are still incredibly useful and we shouldn’t play into the scare tactics of the Russian government by insinuating that you can end up in jail by using VPNs. I think that’s coming, too, but these tools are still available to get around lots of the censorship. As you yourself noted, most of the VPN providers aren’t actually complying with the law, so you can access way more material, without current legal repercussions to the individual, at least based on the sources you provided.
But also laws don’t really matter in Russia.
well 😅
annnd another dictatorship box checked off the list... wont be long now
bufordtUntil what? Until Russia is a dictatorship? That ship sailed a long time ago.
Won’t be long before Putin catches up to Kim Jong Un in the Oppression Olympics
No drug testings pls
Stalins_SpoonStill wouldn’t be able to catch up with the US, they are gold medalists
The US has some serious issues with corruption, but it’s FAR from a dictatorship, lol.
Highest prison population w/ privately owned prisons, besides the elite class of your country controls what happens in your country (media included), you have no say in it.
Is there any state, current or historical, that was not a dictatorship according to your metrics?
That would be a oligarchy, not a dictatorship.
So you admit the US has the same form of governance that Russia has? Also you could argue that all parliamentary ‘democracies’ are oligarchies or as Marx said ‘dictatorship of the bourgeoisie’
The dollar rules in the US. That is 100% true and is definitely not a good system. However, that doesn’t make it a dictatorship unless you consider money to be their dictator.
Money cannot be a a dictator, it’s just pieces of paper with value, however the people who hoard it in massive amounts and use it to exert influence on the system, resulting in laws that favor them and their companies, are.
That’s an oligarchy, not a dictatorship.
It’s capitalism’s natural evolution, it happens in every capitalist country, regardless if it brands itself as social democratic, parliamentary democracy, etc.
TwoGemsIt’s getting there though due to what Trump did. Hopefully people have the smarts to vote in the next election.
You are talking to someone who has Stalin's portrait as his avatar.
That’s ok, just know that we are the biggest left wing ideology and cry about it
This is utter nonsense. If the US was a dictatorship, I wouldn’t be scared to death of the upcoming elections.
Ask anyone who lived in a US controlled military dictatorship if they are scared of the upcoming elections. (Read the Jakarta Method by Vincent Bevins)
I have never before encountered someone who used the word “bourgeoisie” unironically. So cute! Now say something about the proletariat and the means of production!
How about I say that your country will collapse in the next 30ish years, while the rest of the world celebrates. Hopefully you can enjoy the horrors of war that you inflicted in so many places.
Go home, Joe. You’re drunk.
The cracks are already showing, one of your idiot political groups decided to tell its supporters to storm a government building, and with US influence waning on the global stage, it will start exerting its power inward, rather than outward.
Until he stops pretending?
Wispy2891Didn’t he say that’s so sure to be re elected that it doesn’t even need to waste money on useless elections?
Proton vpn has a feature that can be turned on for oppressive governments, ‘alternate routing’ I believe. Would that be sufficient or no?
eroc1990Theoretically, yes, since there are options other than WG/OVPN available through Smart Protocol, which Alternate Routing leverages.
mintycactusNope, Proton VPN is super simple and is blocked long ago.
Couldn’t you just use any server/droplet/AWS instance via SSH to get around this law? Seems much simpler.
If you’re savvy enough, sure. But for the lay person who doesn’t want a clouded view of the world, they likely won’t have the same resources or technical capabilities.
It’s not without drawback though. SSH tunnel consumes a lot more cpu compared to wireguard. If your vps has a weak cpu, it might not even able to fully saturate a 1gbps connection due to cpu bottleneck on certain ciphers. If you’re using a mobile device, it will drain your battery faster than wireguard.
cizraSo it’ll take you 10 minutes, instead of 5, to download a DVD rip of a movie… This limitation would have next to no practical impact on being able to communicate with the free world.
True, it’s not like Russian need to use VPN to pirate stuff anyway.