ExpressVPN down in China - What to use now?

[roddy]

“You have exceeded your allotted disk space for attachments.”

I've upped allowances (for everyone, not just you). It is appreciated if people keep image and audio file sizes no larger than necessary. And I'm sure everyone believes you anyway, no need for evidence.

[imron]

surely just blocking your website (through which I understand you access the rest of the universe) would be enough to cut you off.

Until I ask my host to move me to a different IP, or I set up a low cost Amazon Web Services VPS with dynamically allocated IPs that I only turn on whenever I want to use the VPN. Basically the method is fluid and flexible enough that the only way to reliably stop it is to block all outgoing encrypted traffic.

[liuzhou]

I see. Not clearly, but I see.

[Kenny同志]

I uploaded the screenshot onto my blog http://attachedtoautumn.blogspot.com/ for 柳州同志.

Thanks Roddy for doing that.

[roddy]

Actually, I could imagine them blocking encrypted traffic, then whitelisting "legitimate" sites like banks and so on. Wouldn't be a small job, but the GFW is hardly a small undertaking, and they're not going to care if they block a certain amount of legitimate stuff.

[liuzhou]

Actually, I could imagine them blocking encrypted traffic, then whitelisting "legitimate" sites like banks and so on.

Yes. I've always been surprised that they haven't taken that route.

[imron]

Actually, I could imagine them blocking encrypted traffic, then whitelisting "legitimate" sites like banks and so on

Yes. I've always been surprised that they haven't taken that route.

To me, that's covered by 'fundamentally break' (because there is significant legitimate usage for encrypted connections beyond just using them for web tunnels) and the cost involved (both in implementation and the knock-on effect it will have on business/industry) is likely to far outweigh any benefit gained.

Also, for those interested in experimenting, AWS offers what is basically a 1 year free trial of their Micro plans, which might be an interesting option for anyone looking for a low-cost solution and who's not afraid to get their hands dirty with the technical side of things.

[Kenny同志]

So I suppose you've seen the picture? Okay, I am pulling it off.

[liuzhou]

the knock-on effect it will have on business/industry) is likely to far outweigh any benefit gained.

You may well be correct, but have they ever done anything logical in terms of their internet censorship? I see few signs.

[Kenny同志]

the knock-on effect it will have on business/industry) is likely to far outweigh any benefit gained.

The Party fears that the Internet will get out of hand one day and destroy it.To the top leaders, nothing outweighs the continuation of the Party's ruling.

[imron]

The thing is, even if some sort of whitelisting is enabled, unless they are only going to make it open to banks and large multinationals (i.e. stiffling any SMEs who would have a legitimate need for encrypted traffic) I can also make a legitimate claim to be added to such a list - because when I'm in China I do use the encrypted link for non-tunnelling legitimate work purposes also.

Sure, it's probably not going to help my whitelist application any, now that I've talked about it here but the point is, unless there are significant draconian actions taken, there will always be ways around it. I'm not saying they won't do that, but as I said previously, if they do, it means you're probably going to have larger concerns to worry about.

[Kenny同志]

the knock-on effect it will have on business/industry) is likely to far outweigh any benefit gained.

The Party fears that the Internet will get out of hand one day and destroy it.To the top leaders, nothing outweighs the continuation of the Party's ruling.

[imron]

The harm caused by people using my method is insignificant/trivial and mostly consists of foreigners wanting to access the websites they're used to accessing from overseas. It's already shut off to the vast majority of Chinese Internet users simply due to language, payment and technical issues involved in setting up such an account, and as such poses little to no threat to the Party in any way.

[gougou]

I can also make a legitimate claim

Should there ever be a whitelist, I don't think it'll come with ways to make legitimate claims.

[roddy]

If we're being all theoretical (sorry OP, but the answer to "what to use now" appears to be "your passport and a plane ticket")...

Any properly registered business could apply for white listing via the industrial and commercial authorities and their ISP, for an annual fee. It'd be one more bit of red tape, nobody making a profit would pack up and go home because of it.

[liuzhou]

the harm caused by people using my method is insignificant/trivial

I'd say the harm caused by 99% of people trying to vault the Firewall is insignificant or trivial.

I mostly use Facebook to keep in touch with family, but I realise that my use of YouTube to watch long dead delta blues singers is a major threat to the party.

[Guest realmayo]

You're not Chinese, the party doesn't care.

Biggest success of the firewall in my opinion is diverting Chinese people away from facebook, twitter, flickr, youtube, to home-grown versions which are more easily controllable. This only really applies to sites where mass popularity is important -- i.e. no point signing up to facebook if most of your friends won't be there.

[liuzhou]

Biggest success of the firewall in my opinion is diverting Chinese people away from facebook, twitter, flickr, youtube, to home-grown versions

I'm not convinced. Most of my Chinese friends are either on Facebook,Twitter etc or asking me how to get on. Is Flickr blocked?

Certainly most of my acquaintances move away from QQ to MSN when they get past college years. The Chinese internet has been going crazy worried over the last two weeks that MSN is closing down. If only they had read the full article instead of just the first sentence, they would have realised that nothing is changing, after all.

Sure, part (most) of the reason that they block stuff is to try to move traffic to home sites which they can control and from which they get the income. And they try to hide this blatant economic protectionism from WTO by pretending it's national security. It is so transparently dishonest, but then so are they. They even believe themselves. But, if they took exception to one or two videos on YouTube, why didn't they block those videos rather than the whole service?

Need I go on? It is all about their insane control freak mentality, which is a symptom of their total insecurity

[imron]

Getting back on topic, if I was the OP (who mentioned he's technically capable of setting up his own VPN), what I'd do is create a free AWS Micro account, install OpenVPN or possibly Freelan on a non-standard VPN port - maybe port 80 or some other typically non-encrypted port (what port does WoW run on?) and see how that goes.

[drencrom]

The GFW has been upgraded and now can learn. When it identifies VPN traffic, it blocks it. The process is automated. Enjoy the Xi Jinping era!