Hi all! I’m in touch with you again, Alexey. In this short post you will learn how to access a site blocked by Roskomnadzor. Quite interesting isn't it? You've probably come across resources on the Internet that you couldn't open.
Sometimes it happens that some resource becomes inaccessible on the Internet by decision of Roskomnadzor. And as a result, you cannot load the site because it is blocked by your ISP. For example, the same torrent tracker rutracker.org was blocked at the request of copyright holders. That was a year ago and to this day he remains blocked in Russia. You can check it yourself. This is what it looks like:
In general, after reading this article, you will be able to access absolutely any site. It also happens that some foreign resources are limited in access to visitors from other countries. Or, for example, you are abroad, and you need to open your favorite website that is not available.
So how can you learn to open blocked sites? There is more than one way. Although the principle is the same, but in a different execution. Now I’ll tell you everything, read on.
What is the principle?
As I already said, the principle is the same, but the execution is different. In order to download a blocked resource, you must be in another country. Who would move for such a trifle? Nobody. This is why, and not only why, there are so-called intermediaries. That is, this is a computer that will be located in another country and that will be able to transfer its traffic to us. They are called proxy servers. There is also VPN networks. All this can be paid or free. Actually, this way we will get access to any site. This is the principle - to use an intermediary between the user and the Internet.
A proxy allows several computers to access the Internet through one, which is actually a proxy server. That is, you can set up a local network at home or at work by connecting several computers, one of which will have Internet access. Special software is required for implementation. I won't go into details. I just wanted you to know about this. Additional information about the essence of a proxy, so to speak.
With VPN networks it’s a little different. This is a completely different technology, but nevertheless it will be an intermediary. You will enter a private network and exit into a global one
Turbo mode in Opera and Yandex Browser
The easiest way to open a blocked resource is to turn on turbo mode. In normal mode, the browser acts directly and immediately contacts the server of the site you need. If the turbo mode function is enabled, then your web browser accesses the Opera or Yandex Browser servers. Depending on what you are using. The server accepts the request and “goes” to load the web page for you. After downloading, it transfers it to you. This is how it works somehow. In addition to this feature, the servers will compress the traffic transmitted to you. Actually, this is the main purpose of this opportunity. It's not called "Turbo" for nothing
True, this does not always work if you are going to load sites through the Yandex browser. This is all due to the fact that some Yandex servers are located in Russia. Therefore, such a trick may not work. But you can always add an add-on and not think about it. By the way, since I started talking about extensions, I suggest you read the post here. There I talked about add-ons for Yandex Browser.
How to enable turbo mode in Opera: Click on "Menu" in the top left corner of the screen and select "Opera Turbo".
How to enable turbo mode in Yandex Browser: Enter the line in the URL - browser://settings and go down to the very end without opening “Advanced options”. Check the "Always" box. Or go to the link browser://tune and activate the mode.
Special browser extensions
There are special extensions that help you change your IP address. When enabled, the web browser accesses the site server through a proxy. I have provided examples of extensions below.
- For Firefox: anonymoX
- For Opera: ZenMate VPN
- For Yandex Browser and Chrome: FriGate
FriGate is already in the list of add-ons in the Yandex web browser. You just need to activate it. Go to the address browser://tune and turn it on.
For Chrome or Yandex Browser users, I suggest using an extension that will help save traffic and access blocked sites in one go. Google Developer. You can download it here. The truth is that it doesn’t work with HTTPS requests.
Special browser versions
I never use this option. Somehow it didn’t stick. Such browsers immediately work through several proxy servers, thereby helping to maintain deeper anonymity on the network and provide access to all resources on the Internet. I would like to note that when using such web browsers, sites load much slower. It’s either anonymity and access to resources, or speed. We'll have to prioritize
Here is one of them - Tor Browser. There is also Globus. Which one to download is up to you. Both are similar to Chrome in terms of interface. However, I recommend the first option.
Web anonymizers
Web anonymizers are an Internet resource with an input form. Everything is simple here. You need to enter the url of the resource you want to open. Great for occasional use. The Internet is full of them and easy to find. Personally, I use hideme.ru. Through the site you can access any others in an anonymous state.
There is another good anonymizer, called chameleon. I suggest you try it. Here he is .
Online text translators
With the help of such services, you can open a blocked site once or twice, and also get a translation. I use Google Translate. Haven't let you down yet! Just copy the link into the first translation form, an active link will appear in the second one that you can click on. Click and enjoy bypassing site blocking
Computer programs
Yes... There are also programs that will help solve this problem. On hideme.ru, in addition to the web anonymizer, there is a program that you can freely download and install on any operating system. That is, even on your phone with Android or iOS (iphone). You can try the full functionality for free for just one day. Then you have to pay.
For those who don’t want to pay, I suggest you cheat! You are given a unique key that is linked to an E-mail address. In the free version, it is valid for 24 hours. You can get a new one by entering a different E-mail. Everything is logical. Yes, but registering E-mail addresses every time is not so much fun. Therefore, you can find mail for 10 minutes. Search the Internet. Or do as I did, create a new mailing address in an existing one. This function is available in mail.ru, but also in yandex.ru. In gmail, I don’t know how. For mail.ru you need to go to your mail settings and you will see it there at the very end. Here's the link if you need it.
Proxy Switcher
In principle, a normal program. It just finds a bunch of servers that you can connect to. One thing worries me. I don't know where all these servers come from, honestly. Perhaps they just have a database that is being edited. Don't know. But the program is shareware and many people mention it, so that gives me a little confidence.
Proxifier
A simple proxy client. To use it, you need to know the IP address, port and version of the proxy server in order to configure it. To find all this, you can use the Internet and find free proxy sheets.
Hide IP Easy
Another program that will hide your ip. You will be able to open blocked sites, depending on the country you choose, and remain anonymous. True, it's paid
Underwater rocks
I decided to talk about them last. I won’t rant too much. Briefly and clearly. If you have any questions, write in the comments.
In general, the danger lies in free proxy servers. If it belongs to an attacker, then you may regret it. But what could possibly happen? The thing is that traffic will pass through his server, thereby giving him the opportunity to delve into it. Let's say you logged into the site by entering your username and password. There is a possibility that an attacker will be able to dig them up. By the way, this is what they do when distributing wi-fi, in a cafe, for example. As a result, he will receive the login information, and then you cry bitterly
So it goes. But not always free means bad. Although, of course, it is better to use a paid one, knowing this information. Or carefully choose proxy servers to avoid such situations.
Conclusion
In order to be able to access a blocked resource on the Internet, an intermediary is needed. A computer that is located behind a hill. In order to use it, you need special programs or extensions. I wrote about all this above.
Moreover, VPN and proxy servers help you remain anonymous on the Internet, which reduces the risk of attacks on your computer or mobile device. Unless, of course, you connected to the attacker’s server.
That's all, dear friends! If you have questions, be sure to write in the comments. I also suggest to my blog so as not to miss new posts. See you later!
Sites are blocked at the request of Russian government agencies. Roskomnadzor maintains a list (registry) of prohibited sites, and providers are required to block people's access to them. For example, the Prosecutor General's Office can, without a court decision, restrict access to sites that call for mass unrest, illegal demonstrations and marches, incitement to hatred, and participation in extremist and terrorist activities (Law 398-FZ). Also included in the register are sites (pages) that violate the law “On the Protection of Children from Harmful Information.”
In Russia, in particular, the sites Grani.ru and Kasparov.ru are blocked (more details below:). When you try to open any of the blocked sites, a message appears "Dear users! We apologize, but access to the requested resource is limited."
On November 9, 2015, the Moscow City Court decided to “permanently block” the popular torrent tracker RuTracker (the decision should come into force on December 9). This was done at the request of copyright holders. On December 4, a second decision was made on permanent blocking.
How to bypass the blocking?
On the computer
- The Tor Browser Project is a simple and popular way. You need to download and install the browser (you can choose the Russian version). Be prepared for the fact that pages will open noticeably slower than usual. There are versions for Windows, Mac OS and Linux.
- Roskomsvoboda OpenRunet project - open the site and you will be prompted to install an extension that matches your browser.
- Browsec extension for Chrome, Firefox, Opera browsers. There are free and paid versions (the paid version has faster servers).
- ZenMate extension for Chrome and Firefox browsers (there is no version for Internet Explorer). Widely known. Upon activation, you will be asked for an email address.
- friGate extension for Mozilla Firefox and Chrome. Quite convenient, does not require preliminary configuration. The developer claims that there is no loss in website opening speed.
- Opera browser with built-in VPN (appeared in version 40). At first, the VPN function will be turned off; you will need to activate it in the browser settings in the “Security” section. After this, a VPN icon will appear in the browser; clicking on it will turn the VPN function on and off.
- Opera browser old version 12 with Opera Turbo mode enabled. You can enable this mode in the status bar (usually at the bottom) or with the Ctrl-F12 key combination.
- Alternative DNS network Emercoin - requires setting up a network connection on your computer, allows you to access blocked sites whose owners have registered alternative addresses in this network (for example, rutracker.lib). Description | Setup instructions with pictures.
- Web proxies (proxy servers available through web services) - you open the website of a particular service, insert the link you want to open there, and the service opens it. One of the easiest to use is ProxFree, it does not add advertising on its own. You can also try ProxyWeb or Hide My Ass! (Russian equivalent - Hideme.ru).
- VPN (virtual private network) - this is usually paid, you can pay for a month to try it out. Well-known are NordVPN (from $3 per month), AltVPN, Hide My Ass! Pro VPN, SecureVPN, PureVPN, Witopia, Overplay, Strong VPN. Also pay attention to the interesting free project SimplyVPN.AntiBan - it can be used both as a proxy server and as a VPN (gives access to blocked sites, and you access the rest as usual). They also have VPN access for $1 per month.
Why is the site blocked?
On March 13, 2014, Roskomnadzor blocked the websites Grani.ru, Kasparov.ru, Ezh.ru and Echo of Moscow (grani.ru, kasparov.ru, ej.ru). Also, access to Live Journal (livejournal.com) and the Echo of Moscow website (echo.msk.ru) was closed for some time.
As Roskomnadzor press secretary Vadim Ampelonsky told Interfax, the websites Grani.ru, Kasparov.ru, Ezh.ru contain calls for illegal activities and participation in mass events held in violation of the established order.
The temporary blocking of LiveJournal and the Echo of Moscow website was associated with the request of the Prosecutor General's Office to block Alexei Navalny's blog on LiveJournal, copies of entries from which were posted on the Echo of Moscow website.
As of March 14, LiveJournal no longer provided access to Navalny’s blog in Russia; Echo of Moscow stopped hosting it. Access to both sites is now allowed.
Grani.ru was initially blocked at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office for “illegal appeals,” but prosecutors never reported exactly what materials on Grani contained these “appeals” (thus, the prosecutors themselves violated the law). In January 2015, Grani.ru received a second warning from Roskomnadzor in six months, and now the publication can be closed by court, in accordance with media legislation. The second warning was related to a publication illustrated with a photograph of the cover of Charlie Hebdo magazine with a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad.
Unfortunately, completely harmless sites are often blocked, which, by an unfortunate coincidence, are hosted on the same server as a site that is disliked by the authorities. This happens because they have the same IP address, and providers (Rostelecom and others) have the right to block a site not by domain name, but by IP address. In Russia, 93% of all blocked sites (about 70,000 pages) were banned for no reason, along with prohibited materials. In this case, it is recommended to simply use one of the methods to bypass the blocking listed above (as long as they work).
In the summer of 2015, Roskomnadzor demanded that Wikipedia remove information from an article that was declared prohibited by a Russian court. The Wikipedia community refused to do this because the article complied with the rules of the project. Then Roskomnadzor instructed Internet providers to block the article, but since Wikipedia uses a secure connection (HTTPS), the providers could not block just one article, and began to block the entire Wikipedia site. On the same day, Roskomnadzor excluded the article from the register of prohibited information, saying that the article had been edited and they were satisfied with it. Since the article hasn't actually changed, we can conclude that something else influenced Roskomnadzor's decision.
In general, it should be recognized that at the moment the Russian authorities have every opportunity to block any site, and they do not even need to explain to anyone the reasons for the blocking. Without the use of special means, access to such a site on the territory of Russia will be impossible.
The human rights group “Agora” released a report “Internet Freedom 2015: The Triumph of Censorship,” dedicated to restrictions on Internet freedom in Russia. During this year, more than 9,000 acts of censorship were counted.
Why is the site unblocked, but you can’t access it?
If you know that a previously blocked site has already been unblocked, but you still cannot access it (the message “access is limited”), try completely refreshing the page using the key combination Ctrl-F5.
For several years now, Roskomnadzor has been obliging Internet providers to block sites that the so-called “Experts” have considered unacceptable on the Russian Internet. They end up on the banned list. This contradicts the principles of the Internet, where all information should be distributed freely. Fortunately, there are ways to bypass the blocking.
This article will also be useful to those who want to bypass the blocking at school or at work. The instructions will only contain the simplest methods. Choose the one that suits you best. At the end of the article there are instructions for mobile devices.
Browser cache
Try using cache. This is temporary information. In this case, it contains the site at the time when it was last working. The only downside is that it may not be relevant.
In the Google search engine, you can use this by clicking on the small arrow next to the site address. When you go to the site, the date it was saved will be indicated. The same can be done in other search engines.
Browser extension
The easiest way to visit a blocked resource is with an extension friGate. It is popular because of its operating algorithm, which allows you to view blocked sites without reducing speed due to its own list. The list is constantly updated.
The extension uses its own proxy servers ( intermediate computers). Just turn it on and forget it. You will see a semi-transparent icon on the right. It means that the extension is working ( appears only if the site is in the list).
Install and use for:
If you are logging in from work or school, you will most likely have to add the site manually, since the administrator has probably blocked popular Internet resources.
If sites are not in the list, try adding them manually. To do this, go to settings and create your list.
Then open it.
In it, enter the address of the site you want to access.
TOR - browser for anonymity
Download the free TOR browser. It allows you to hide your location. With each new session, your IP changes randomly. The data begins to pass through the same users as you. This allows you to easily bypass the blocking.
Outwardly it looks like Mozilla Firefox. Use it like a regular browser and easily access blocked sites. Its main drawback is its slow speed. Loading will take much longer than usual.
Turbo mode in Opera and Yandex
In this mode, not only does page loading speed up, but it also makes it possible to bypass blocking due to the fact that traffic goes to the server where the data is compressed and only then transmitted to the client. Enable it in the menu as in the image below.
In Yandex it looks a little different. If you don’t want to constantly enable the mode every time you start, then go to the settings.
At the very bottom, check the “Always On” option as shown below.
Anonymizer sites
Any anonymizer will do an excellent job with the current task. It is a site through which others can browse anonymously. In the process, your IP changes and thanks to this the blocking does not work. You just need to enter the address of the desired site in the line.
Here are a few of them:
An example of a successful login to a website from the Roskomnadzor registry. As you can see, the link has been slightly changed, but otherwise there are no differences.
Login from mobile devices
All of the above methods are also suitable for mobile devices. In the case of the TOR browser, you can use the Orbot application. These are proxy servers combined with TOR for android devices.
You can also enable it in the settings of the mobile version of Google Chrome traffic savings. This will allow you to log in from phones or tablets.
You can download Opera Mini, which will have a similar effect.
The above methods should be sufficient. There are even more advanced methods ( setting up VPN, proxy), but their use in this case is inappropriate. If you have any difficulties, please contact us in the comments.
How did you bypass the blocking?
Poll Options are limited because JavaScript is disabled in your browser.
I used the extension. 33%, 35 votes
Hello, dear blog visitors and readers!
Today we will discuss such a relevant topic as blacklists of sites and methods for bypassing blocking. As you know, in the fall the Government Decree on amendments to Federal Law No. 139-FZ came into force in Russia "On the protection of children from information harmful to their health and development", and the so-called “Register of Prohibited Sites” was created. It would seem, what's wrong with that? These are good intentions, there is no point in posting drug addiction, suicide and porn with minors online. But not everything is so simple with this “register” and the law.
- Firstly, I am an adult, and the very fact that I am told what to do, how to do it, what to read and what to be interested in irritates me.
- Secondly, because of this innovation and the imperfection of the blocking methods themselves, completely harmless sites.
According to resource statistics RosKomSvoboda, as of mid-April 2013, the picture with blocking looks something like this:
This is due to the fact that if regulatory authorities decide that a particular site contains prohibited information, then this resource is easily blocked by IP address. And they don’t think that in addition to the “harmful” site, there may also be other sites on the same IP address. dozens and hundreds of other sites!
With this article, I in no way encourage you to visit sites promoting drugs, sites promoting suicide and other “forbidden” sites. But those mistakenly included in this register are easy!
To begin with, let's briefly look at how the Internet generally works from the perspective of a user accessing a particular site (server).
Websites, in addition to the main domain name (for example, a website), also have a specific IP address. which can be either individual, dedicated, or general. You can get to the site not only by entering the domain name in the address bar of the browser, but also by entering the IP address. But this is completely inconvenient. Just imagine if, instead of www.yandex.ru, we constantly had to dial 213.180.193.3. Extremely inconvenient.
So that we do not need to remember the IP addresses of all known sites, there is DNS, which distributes addresses on the Internet.
DNS – Domain Name System, i.e. domain name system.
So, when we type, for example, google.com into the address bar of the browser, our computer first connects to the provider’s DNS server to find out where exactly the resource we need is located. And after that, the browser already receives the IP address of the site, connects to it directly, and in the browser window we see our favorite search engine. Schematically, this can be depicted something like this:
So, here are the “black lists of sites,” that is, the Register of Prohibited Sites consists of two types of entries:
- Blocking a website domain name
- Blocking a site by IP address
And to bypass domain blocking, it is enough to use public DNS, for example:
- Google Public DNS: 8.8.8.8 / 8.8.4.4
- OpenDNS: 208.67.222.222 / 208.67.220.220
- Comodo Secure DNS: 8.26.56.26 / 8.20.247.20
How to register DNS in Windows OS
In order to register public DNS, you need to go to the settings of the Network and Sharing Center. To do this, just left-click (LMB) on your connection icon (number 1 in the figure), and then select “Network and Sharing Center” (number 2):
You can also access this “Control Center...” through the “Control Panel”. Next, we need to select the connection through which we access the Internet and click LMB on it:
After which the connection status dialog box will appear, where you need to click on the “Properties” button.
Next we will see the properties window for our connection, where we need to select " Internet Protocol 4 (TCP/IPv4)"We click on it twice with LMB and see a new window with the properties of this protocol. This is our final goal. We check the box "Use the following DNS server addresses" and manually register the preferred and alternative DNS servers (in the figure there is an example of using DNS servers Google, you can use any public DNS)
Well, that’s all, basically. Don't forget to click "OK" when closing the properties windows.
Thus, if some resource is included in blacklist of sites by domain name, then by changing your provider’s DNS servers to public ones, you will certainly be able to access this resource, despite its blocking. In general, I recommend using public DNS servers not only to bypass website blacklists, but also in everyday work. From now on you already know how to register DNS.
Now let's consider the second option for blocking resources - by IP address.
How to bypass the registry of prohibited sites blocked by IP
There are quite a few ways to bypass such blocking, and they consist in the fact that if we are not allowed to directly connect to some server (site), then we will do this using an intermediate server from which access to this site is allowed. This becomes possible because these intermediate servers are located, as a rule, outside the direct jurisdiction of the Russian Federation, i.e. outside the country, and our laws cannot influence the routing and access to any resources through these servers. Schematically it might look something like this:
So we’ll talk about these intermediate servers. The easiest (but not recommended) way to bypass blacklists of sites is to use online anonymizers.
Anonymizers (Web proxies)
To get to a blocked site using an online anonymizer (sometimes also called - anonymizer, which is not entirely correct), first of all you need to go to this anonymizer site. There are a sufficient number of them on the Internet, but I do not recommend using little-known services, and even more so if, when you access such a site, the antivirus starts to “swear.” The most famous anonymizers are perhaps:
Just go to any of them, and in the field for entering the site address, enter the required one. For example, on the website HideMe.ru I entered the address whoer.net into the line to see if my IP address and country would change.
And here is the required result:
Thus, any resource placed in blacklist of sites, we can easily visit and read. But don’t forget that anonymizers are not tools real anonymization, and if you plan to use them for something so bad, then under no circumstances should you do this.
It is also worth noting that many online anonymizers also provide additional paid services, such as elite proxies, VPNs, etc.
A small lyrical digression. Most often, I use the site http://whoer.net to determine the IP address. They position themselves as a service for checking anonymity. Those. checking exactly what information your PC is leaking onto the network. In particular, in addition to standard leak checks from JS, Java, Flash, you can also check whether your browser has closed the possibility of data leakage through a “hole” in the WebRTC protocol (I'm sure it's not closed...) . So, this “feature” of WebRTC is too insidious to forget about. And there are very, very few services for checking browsers for this “vulnerability” on the entire Internet. So enjoy it for your health.
Browser extensions
Some online anonymizers have special browser extensions. For example, the HideMyAss service has add-ons for Chrome and Firefox.
Let's look at the functions of this extension using Chrome as an example. Follow the link given above (or search for it yourself in the Chrome Web Store, just enter Hide My Ass in the search) and install this add-on. After installation, the configuration page will open. In principle, you don’t have to change anything there, everything will work as is. At the bottom we look for the “Save settings” button and press it, thereby saving the settings. Now a button like this appears in your browser:
If you click on it on any open page, then the same page will open through a proxy server. And if you click on an empty tab, you will see this field:
We enter the desired address, and it also opens through a proxy. Everything is very simple and can be done in one click. The extension for Mozilla Firefox works in a similar way. If you are not satisfied with the Hide My Ass service, you can search the Chrome Web Store for other similar extensions. Or just follow the link: Web Proxy for Chrome.
Added later: Recently, the extensions ZenMate (for Chrome, Firefox, Opera, as well as a mobile application for Android and iOS) and friGate (for Chrome and Mozilla) have gained great popularity. Highly recommend.
Built-in browser functions (Turbo Mode)
The simplest option for visiting any resource placed on blacklisted sites is the Opera browser. More precisely, its function is Opera Turbo.
Initially, this function was designed to save user traffic, because... All visited pages are first downloaded to Opera servers, the pages are compressed and only then transferred to the browser for display. And this function turned out to be very useful after the introduction of these very black lists, because... it acts as a proxy server.
Opera Turbo is very easy to use. We launch the browser, and in the lower left corner we look for this icon, as shown in the figure:
Click on this button (you don’t have to configure anything), and turn on Turbo mode. The button will turn blue and the browser will notify you that the mode is enabled. Let's now see what whoer.net "tells" us about our location and IP address.
In this mode, it sometimes happens that, for example, CSS is not loaded at all, but “bare” html is loaded. Loading speed can be very slow, and if a site takes too long to load, try turning off Turbo mode and turning it on again. Thus, the server will change, and the download may speed up. This method, like anonymizers, does not provide you with any anonymity, and your real IP is visible behind the proxy server.
Turbo mode is also available in the browser from Yandex. But in order to bypass blacklists of sites, it is not very suitable, because... Russian IP addresses, servers and routes are used. But, in fairness, it is worth noting that most blocked sites in the Turbo mode of Yandex still open.
Added:"Turbo mode" is also available in Google Chrome for mobile OS.
All of these are the simplest ways to bypass the blacklist of sites that are intended only for such purposes, because... They provide absolutely no security or anonymity. Next we will briefly look at more drastic, secure and anonymous methods. But within the framework of this article only superficially, because The topic is very extensive, and separate articles and manuals will be devoted to it.
Proxy servers
Proxy server is a set of specific programs that allows remote clients to perform various requests to other network services. Actually, all kinds of online anonymizers are also a kind of proxy, only with a web interface (i.e., a website where we can log in and use the services). We need to register proxies ourselves in the network settings. If you do everything manually, then you can go in different ways.
Browsers that use system network settings – Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer.
It is enough to configure one of these browsers to work through a proxy, and all Internet connections in the browsers will be proxied (unless separately configured otherwise). You can register a proxy like this (using Chrome as an example): Settings - Show additional settings - Network - Change proxy server settings... The standard Windows browser properties will open. On the "Connections" tab, click on "Network Settings". The local network settings window will open. Enter the proxy server IP address and port.
Don't forget to click on the "OK" button after these manipulations.
A proxy can also be registered through the control panel: Start – Control Panel – Internet Options – “Connections” tab. And we will see the same window that we saw when we set up a proxy through Chrome.
Browsers like Mozilla Firefox and allow you to work through a proxy without using system network settings. That is, if you register a proxy server in Mozilla, then in all other browsers a regular direct connection will be used, and in Mozilla a proxy will be used. It's quite convenient. After all, as a rule, we do not need to constantly work through proxies.
In the picture, I indicated with arrows and numbers the procedure for proxying Mozilla Firefox. In Opere the principle is the same.
Free proxies have significant disadvantages:
- generally low speed
- They usually don’t “live” long, and you have to change them often
Oh, by the way, before I forgot to say: when using public proxies, anonymizers, etc. – do not use Internet banking, etc. You never know what kind of software is installed on a server unknown to us, and who owns this server.
How to choose the proxy server we need?
Since our goal today is “”, we are not interested in Russian proxies, we choose foreign ones. We look at the “Speed” parameter – the lower it is, the better. We will not look at the anonymity column in today's context. After all, we want to get to an illegally blocked site that does not contain any illegal information, and, therefore, we also have nothing special to hide. In general, in the screenshot (proxy list from the HideMe.ru website) I have highlighted the most suitable proxies:
That's all about proxies for now. I repeat, this topic is very extensive, and I will return to it later. Let me just say that there are also browser extensions for quickly changing proxies; proxy checker programs that check proxy lists for legal capacity; programs that are capable of building entire chains of proxies (for example, JAP), etc. In general, proxies (especially elite ones and chains) are mainly used for various illegal actions on the network, by cybercriminals and all sorts of politically objectionable people (such as oppositionists who want to remain anonymous ).
VPN (Virtual Private Network) - Virtual private network
In fact VPN (Virtual Privat Network, i.e. virtual private network) very useful technology. It is used both at the corporate level (various organizations to create their own secure tunnel) and ordinary respectable users.
For example, I strongly recommend using a VPN connection if you are on a public Wi-Fi network, as such networks are very often "sniffed", i.e. Various hackers and cybercriminals, using special software, scan all traffic on such networks to identify various credentials: passwords, logins, Internet banking data, etc. Therefore, a VPN tunnel in open networks is simply necessary, because... all traffic that passes through it is encrypted and becomes completely inaccessible.
VPN has a number of advantages compared to previous methods of bypassing blacklists of sites:
- very decent connection speed;
- fully encrypted traffic;
- very high anonymity if you use a service that does not store any logs, and even if it does, then what do we care? We are not criminals, no one will be interested in us.
One of the disadvantages is that VPN is 99% a paid service. But prices don’t always bite. They vary depending on the tariff plan and configuration. And we don’t need “sophisticated” configurations, so if you decide to use the services of a VPN service, choose the cheapest tariff plan first. We will also return to the topic of VPN more than once on the pages of this site.
Tor (The Onion Router) - very high level of anonymity
Using Tor, you can also bypass any blocking. Moreover, the level of anonymity is quite decent, encryption is present, and if no one is interested in you (law enforcement agencies, intelligence agencies), then you don’t have to worry about your anonymity at all. It is quite difficult to track a particular user using the Tor network. I recently published the news "", it says that they caught one hacker who was caught for quite a long time. And such cases, although rare, are still not isolated.
Briefly and figuratively, the Tor network is a huge network of computers around the world on which a special software package is installed that allows all users of this network to use each other as an “intermediate server” (this function can be disabled in the settings so that your the computer was not used for these purposes). Moreover, the chains of connections are selected randomly.
The main disadvantage for using Tor for legal purposes is the very slow speed (note: at the moment, after a year since this article was written, the speed on the Tor network is already quite high). But this drawback, as a rule, is ignored by those who use it for illegal acts, because low speed pales in comparison to all the capabilities of this network. For greater anonymity and security, Tor is sometimes used over a VPN. Or vice versa.
You can download Tor on the official website. Now there is such a package as Tor Browser Bundle, having downloaded and installed it, you can immediately start working.
Many other projects are based on Tor, for example, OperaTor, Tails OS, Liberte, Whonix, etc.
I2P (Invisible Internet Project) - maximum degree of anonymity
I2P is almost impenetrable anonymity. Overall the implementation is similar to Tor, but with some "improvements". In general, everything there is simply “focused” primarily on encryption. Everything possible is encrypted, every packet, and more than once. The network also has very complex routing of these encrypted packets, which can change every N minutes. It is probably unrealistic to de-anonymize someone on this network.
I2P is, of course, more for hackers, cyber and other criminals than for the average person.
Added: In connection with the recent strict control over the Runet, more and more sites began to have their own “mirrors” on the i2p network. And more and more ordinary people became interested in this technology.
Virtual machines
There will also be more than one article on virtual machines on my blog, because... I believe (and I’m not alone) that they are very useful to use for all those who, in one way or another, are connected with computers and the Internet. For now, I’ll just mention one specially compiled distribution of the GNU/Linux family (Debian), tailored for security and anonymity - this is Whonix.
The distribution consists of two images for the virtual machine:
- Whonix-Gateway, which acts as a gateway through which all network connections go;
- Whonix-Workstation– actually, the distribution kit itself
The advantage of this build is that a special gateway is used, and any traffic goes only through him, and the traffic itself is directed to Tor. And since not all applications in Windows, for example, can be run through Tor, and traffic can sometimes leak through a regular connection, this threatens anonymity. Whonix has this excluded.
This is, for example, how my “virtual machines” now look with running Whonix
That's all for now, friends. I hope the article was interesting and useful. In the future, I will analyze in more detail what is described here, since I believe that all those who are not indifferent to the fate of the Internet should know this. After all, I am sure that soon in Russia, under the pretext of fighting extremism, drug addiction and pornography, any resources that are objectionable to someone will be blocked (note: This is already happening, unfortunately) . The mechanism has started...
And we should never forget that such giants as Google, Facebook, Yandex, etc., monitor every click of every network user every second. And it is unknown how this all may turn out in the future. So, don’t neglect anonymization tools, but don’t abuse them either. Because if you constantly use an encrypted channel (VPN, Tor, etc.), this may arouse suspicion from your provider.
Now it’s your turn, brothers;) Tell me, have you ever had a need to use such services? What exactly did you use? It's very interesting to hear about this. And don’t forget to subscribe to blog updates if you are interested in this topic. You can also offer some ideas about what kind of articles you would like to see on the blog pages. After all, the blog is created for you - for readers and visitors.
Thank you for your attention and see you soon!
Reasons for blocking Rutracker.org in Russia, possible ways to access the site.
The administration of the site Rutracker.org left it to the users themselves to decide the fate of the resource. The reason for blocking was creations of Russian authors Which no one downloads anyway located on the resource.
Voting lasted for about two weeks. 
based on the results of which 2/3 of the participants expressed next opinion: Do not remove prohibited content from the site, and allow access to the site from the territory of the Russian Federation to be blocked forever.
Thus, in a month, when trying to access RuTreker, users will see the now familiar message “This resource is blocked.” The official blocking of the site by providers began on January 25, 2016.
The easiest ways to log into Rutracker.org using a browser.
1. TOR browser
Bypassing torrent tracker blocking is the main application of the Tor browser. Installation file with installation instructions - download.
All you need is to install the browser from the archive. From the very first session, it will use a proxy server to connect to the required site. This also has its downsides: the connection speed can be quite low (when using IP, for example, Canada, New Zealand or Australia). All sessions in the Tor browser are one-time, so you will have to enter your login password each time.
To access, you can use both the main domain and a special onion link (http://rutrackerripnext.onion/). If the connection to the site does not occur, restart the browser or select “New Tor chain for this site” in the settings. A Russian proxy was probably involved.