Facebook blocked in China

[Loriquero]

That tracert command always shows like "timed out" even with chinese not-blocked websites...

[james_moat]

Chinese-forums.com is also currently blocked. Have to use TOR to use it now, so not Roddy's server problems.

Also, don't use Witopia. Can't be bothered going into reasons, just use any SSH VPN service, with an final destination hop in a country with loose privacy laws.

Traceroute still uses ICMP ping, most good websites block ping these days to limit the effect of DDoS attacks, but the 'sh!t firewall' of China also automatically blocks it when set by the government or agency who control it's functionality.

For slow browsing, or faster with images turned out, use TOR. It's free, and excluding rogue-endpoints is acceptable. If you've got something to hide, then start using a paid for VPN, not Witopia.

I'll repeat again, in Beijing, chinese-forums.com is inaccessible. I look forward to the 'new' government in 10 years time here.

[muyongshi]

Not blocked here but have had a lot of refresh's to get to it early today. But no problem. And BTW comments like:

I look forward to the 'new' government in 10 years time here.

Are both counterproductive to any real discussion and only serve to increase the possibility of the forums getting blocked [don't think that will actually happen though- hasn't happened yet as far as I know]

[gato]

chinese-forums is accessible for me from Shanghai without proxy, though. Maybe try again?

[roddy]

It's not blocked. The server seems to have burped about 40 minutes ago, that might have been it. Post your issues with Witopia here if you want, but I suspect most of us don't have anything to hide, we just like Youtube.

[muyongshi]

but I suspect most of us don't have anything to hide

Why do you think I live where I do?

[imron]

If you've got something to hide, then start using a paid for VPN, not Witopia.

Most people don't have something to hide, they just want to get around the GFW so they can use facebook/youtube or any number of other innocuous sites.

I'd also be interested to hear more on why you say Witopia is particularly worse that any other paid for VPN? I don't use it myself, preferring an SSH tunnel to my own server, but in China, the reliability and speed compared to TOR is quite significant (or it was last time I tried TOR).

[muyongshi]

If you've got something to hide, then start using a paid for VPN, not Witopia.

I'm starting to get confused: isn't witopia a paid service?

[renzhe]

The server seems to have burped about 40 minutes ago, that might have been it.

Yeah, I noticed that from Germany too, it was fine again a couple of minutes later.

[liuzhou]

then start using a paid for VPN, not Witopia

Witopia is paid for.

[muyongshi]

[how come there is no smilie that shows relief by wiping sweat]

Witopia is paid for.

Good, I was starting to wonder what that credit transaction was for every february.

[~zagbie]

I'm staying in Nanning. I'm from Vietnam. I've arrived here for 1 week and I can't get access to FB, twitter and youtube. how could i know what's going on w/ my friendsin vietnam?

[adrianlondon]

Email, phone calls, faxes ;)

[~zagbie]

yeah but we rarely use emails in vietnam anw it's better to communicate through fb )) hope it'll be unblocked soon ))))

[tai4ji2x]

anyone else using witopia having trouble with facebook and twitter for the first 3 or 4 minutes (sometimes as much as 10 min)? most other sites which are blocked, such as blogspot, wordpress and xanga, do just fine immediately upon connecting to the VPN

[marco-polo]

Quoting james_moat:

Also, don't use Witopia. Can't be bothered going into reasons, just use any SSH VPN service, with an final destination hop in a country with loose privacy laws... If you've got something to hide, then start using a paid for VPN, not Witopia.

James - when you get a moment, please write up your objections to Witopia. I think it's an excellent service, but if there is some terrible flaw I'd sure like to know about it, as would the others on this forum who have signed up for it after hearing about it here.

Also, could you clarify your comments above? In particular, why would you want the final hop to be in a country with loose privacy laws? Surely it's just the reverse, the final hop should be in a country with strict privacy laws so that your data is protected. Also, an SSH VPN is a VPN connection established over an SSH tunnel, right? What is the advantage of this over Witopia's SSL VPN? What 'paid for VPN' do you suggest as an alternative to Witopia (which, incidentally, has an annual fee)?

[tai4ji2x]

meanwhile, is anyone else still experiencing what i described in my previous post?

[muyongshi]

I was but then I figured out I didn't have "set nameserver" box selected and now, I'm fine just so long as I don't stay on for long periods of time.

[trien27]

yeah but we rarely use emails in vietnam anw it's better to communicate through fb )) hope it'll be unblocked soon ))))

If your relatives in Vietnam already has Skype installed, you can talk and use webcam via Skype too for free. Just download it on your computer @ Skype

Not only could you use Skype to call and see each other via webcam, you could also chat on it.

PS. Before calling, just make sure Skype isn't blocked in China first.

or

Use Yahoo Messenger by downloading it @ Yahoo messenger, but make sure your relatives in Vietnam has Yahoo messenger first.

FB isn't really good for contacting each other online, only occasional chats. It's possible that they might not sign on to FB for a while.

Edited July 25, 2009 at 11:04 PM by trien27
additional information.

[Don_Horhe]

Could the ban have something to do with this? There's a certain mafia game on Facebook which I've seen quite a few Chinese play.