New Zealand relies on BGP router protocol to filter the 'Net

[lotuseclat79]

New Zealand relies on BGP router protocol to filter the 'Net.

The filter uses a BSD Unix-based appliance called WhiteBox from Swedish company Netclean ("We protect children on the Internet"). The government runs the filtering server and maintains the blocklist, which it advertises to ISPs using the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP). ISP routers then "know" that the best routing path to blocked addresses runs through the government's filtering servers; all other requests route through the conventional Internet as usual and are never scanned or logged by the government.
...
Because an IP address can host many domains, requests to blocked IP addresses are analyzed by the WhiteBox using deep packet inspection, rather than being blocked outright.

-- Tom

[caspian]

Do they allow people to use a VPN in Australia?

[lotuseclat79]

Hi caspian,

I doubt there is any such law in Austraila - and/or the rest of the world.

-- Tom

[caspian]

Am I correct in assuming that a VPN would bypass any of this filtering?

[ArtemisX]

Originally Posted by caspian

Am I correct in assuming that a VPN would bypass any of this filtering?

i might guess that VPNs won't be blocked in this sort of filtering....at least not immediately. Won't take long for some bright spark to suggest it im sure.

[tsec]

Originally Posted by ArtemisX

i might guess that VPNs won't be blocked in this sort of filtering....at least not immediately. Won't take long for some bright spark to suggest it im sure.

Indeed - a law prohibiting the obfuscation of internet communications (apart from that sanctioned by state) will be the next thing - once the 'filtering' is up and running.

[mvario]

Great, just what we need, another country using BGP routing tables for censoring. Pakistan tried that a few weeks back and rightly FUBARed things
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/200...kistans-accid/

[ArtemisX]

Originally Posted by tsec

Indeed - a law prohibiting the obfuscation of internet communications (apart from that sanctioned by state) will be the next thing - once the 'filtering' is up and running.

though that might happen, even if it doesn't royally fubar things up as always the cat and mouse game will continue. there is enough encrypted data out there they won't block - how else do we make safe online payments for our music on itunes!

[tsec]

Originally Posted by ArtemisX

though that might happen, even if it doesn't royally fubar things up as always the cat and mouse game will continue. there is enough encrypted data out there they won't block - how else do we make safe online payments for our music on itunes!

'They' will grant us the privilege of utilising 'their' super-safe encryption systems

Put all your trust in the corporatocracy and keep smiling

[arran]

Originally Posted by ArtemisX

how else do we make safe online payments for our music on itunes!

they will play man in middle for https some ISP's already do. and they will block
vpn tunnel connections.

[mvario]

I really wish countries would stop messing with Internet standard stuff to use it for censorship, it always ends up screwing things up outside their country.

The latest is China and DNS:

After DNS Problem, Chinese Root Server Is Shut Down

A China-based root DNS server associated with networking problems in Chile and the U.S. has been disconnected from the Internet...

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...shut_down.html

You're country, buy some packet filters and stop screwing with DNS (or BGP tables for that matter).

[mvario]

And now China:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04...nterweb_snafu/