Exit International 2010 Australian “Safe Suicide” Workshop Tour

How to Bypass The Proposed Australian Censorship Firewalls. A Brief Class Presented By David Campbell From ClearComputers.com.au 2

Goals of This Class Understanding how websites get to your computer screen. Understanding how the Australian government plans to censor the internet. Developing skills to subvert Government Censorship today, and in the future. 3

LEGAL NOTE What you will be shown today is legal within Australia. It is illegal in China and most other countries that have been highlighted as good examples of censorship by the Minister for Broadband, Stephen Conroy. Please share this information with your friends and family, while you can.

How are websites delivered to your computer? 5

IT’S COMPLICATED It would take days to explain completely. What you will be shown today is a very basic concept of how it works to help you to understand firewalls and proxies. 6

CONNECTING TO THE NET Connect to an Internet Service Provider This ISP connects you to the internet. The internet is not controlled by any one country or organisation. Internet provides connectivity for thousands of services, websites and email for example. 7

FINDING OTHER COMPUTERS Websites are provided by other computers on the internet URL’s refer to computers all over the globe that are catalogued by ISP’s Often the same website will have several URL’s especially if it is controversial or popular 8

Port 80 for Standard Port 443 for Secure STANDARD WEB TRAFFIC Regular website data travels down only 1 or 2 ports, of the thousands available on the internet. Port 80 for Standard Port 443 for Secure But we can force websites To funnel down alternate Ports in encrypted tunnels 9

How does the Australian government plan to censor the internet? 10

“Refused Classification” A SECRET URL BLACKLIST The Australian Government are proposing that the internet is censored via a secret list of websites that it has deemed “Refused Classification” This requires every single website you visit to be logged and checked against a blacklist before allowing or disallowing access. Note: It is illegal to spy on users in Australia without a court order under the Telecommunications (Interception) Act 1979.  11

Refused Classification “Refused Classification material is a wide ranging category of content which includes material deemed to offend against the standards of morality, decency and propriety generally accepted by [hypothetical] reasonable adults, in the opinion of some or all of the members of the government appointed Classification Boards.” - ACMA Most “RC” content is perfectly legal to posses and access under state and commonwealth law It is also completely legal in most other western societies.

SECRET LIST LEAKED The initial blacklist was leaked from ACMA (organisation charged with maintaining the blacklist) It was full of falsely blacklisted websites Some of the things found personally on the list: Advice on dental care Hundreds of legal adult entertainment sites Vacation kennels for animal care Euthanasia research websites Online Poker and Casino’s Homosexual Rights Medical stem cell research

Q: What have the following websites got in common? www.Panty-ass.com www.Peacefulpill.com www.PickyourPerversion.com A: They are sequential entries on the Australian Government planned website blacklist

How to subvert the firewall! 15

How to get around firewalls There are two main ways to get blacklisted websites around a firewall The easiest way is via a Web Based Proxy. The advanced way is via a VPN tunnel

What is a PROXY? PROXY A proxy is a third-party computer A proxy works by retrieving the website you need and forwarding it on to you around the firewall Proxies can encrypt standard content and forward it over a secure connection PROXY BLOCKED WEBSITE FIREWALL

Web Based Proxies Web based proxies require no more technical skill than using a regular website. Side Note They can give mixed results. Complex websites can display incorrectly. Confidential information can be open to the proxy owner.

Finding Free Web Proxies Easily found with search websites like www.google.com The best search phrase would be “Free Web Proxy” Other websites like www.proxy.org track and maintain lists of free proxies, this is a good place to start. Judge the results carefully. Most proxies will look confusing at first. Take your time and look for somewhere to input a URL or address and a go button.

Using Web Proxies Locate a text box within the web proxy page to enter a url or website address Once this is entered, a tap on the enter or return key should be the equivalent of pressing “Go” You should take note of available options or look for an options button.

Web Based Proxy Options Encode URL is an important option for dodging URL based blacklists Remove scripts can make it load faster and cleaner Allow cookies may be necessary for websites that require logins.

Advanced VPN Tunnels VPN Tunnels are generally pay services They provide websites to your computer without additional advertising mess. Websites display correctly Data is more private and secure Recommended for more experienced users I use and recommend www.privacy.io

A VPN (Virtual Private Network) account allows access to the Net through secure encrypted connection to VPN’s own servers First connect normally to the internet 2. Connect a second time to our VPN Server

How? VPN routes your traffic through VPN servers via a secure encrypted tunnel (Virtual Private Network) This allows you to bypass filtering mechanisms in place by an ISP (as per Senator Conroy’s planned filter) Whenever you visit a web site, send email, chat, FTP, make internet phone calls etc., your IP (internet protocol) address is not shown – this means no one – including the government knows which sites you are really visiting

Internet Service Providers Internet Service Provides keep log files that shows the times your IP address is used and where you are connected to. Some ISPs save these log files indefinitely ISPs may give these files to authorities (eg. If called on by a court order) With VPN your ISP log shows only an encrypted connection to a server – Senator Conroy will not know you are accessing your secure Yudu website for login to the Peaceful Pill eHandbook All internet traffic directed via a VPN has the same IP address – you can see the problem for Senator Conroy!

VPNs to Explore include: Banana VPN Happy VPN Liberty VPN Black Logic Steganos Relakks

Virtual Private Networks are currently illegal in:   Cuba Iran Libya North Korea Sudan Syria Will Australia be next?

For further Information contact@exitinternational.net