{"id":221717,"date":"2017-07-26T18:06:47","date_gmt":"2017-07-26T16:06:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=221717"},"modified":"2017-07-26T20:56:42","modified_gmt":"2017-07-26T18:56:42","slug":"how-to-get-around-an-isp-blocking-a-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/internet\/221717-how-to-get-around-an-isp-blocking-a-website.html","title":{"rendered":"How to get around an ISP blocking a website"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAFACT has reportedly issued ISPs with a request to block numerous piracy sites<\/strong><\/a>, sparking fears that certain domains will be blocked in South Africa.<\/p>\n

The sites are thought to be torrent indexers, which are popular among online pirates for downloading media and software.<\/p>\n

Internet censorship is common in various countries across the world, and usually consists of ISPs blocking access to specific domains or certain types of traffic.<\/p>\n

“The Great Firewall of China” prevents Chinese citizens from accessing the unrestricted Internet, even disrupting many VPN services.<\/p>\n

The UK also has a form of Internet censorship, with many major ISPs blocking websites linked to gambling, pornography, and piracy.<\/p>\n

It is relatively easy to circumvent an ISP blocking access to certain domains, however, as detailed below.<\/p>\n

\n

DNS and domain blocking<\/h3>\n

\"Online<\/a><\/p>\n

There are many ways ISPs can block Internet traffic, with one of the most simple methods the blocking of domains at the DNS level.<\/p>\n

This is simple to circumvent and requires users to change their client’s preferred DNS server.<\/p>\n

If you are using a Windows PC, you can do this by following the steps below.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Navigate to Control Panel > Network and Internet > Network and Sharing Center, and select Change adapter settings.<\/li>\n
  2. Right-click your active connection adapter and select Properties.<\/li>\n
  3. Right-click the Internet Protocol Version 4 (TCP\/IPv4) entry and select Properties.<\/li>\n
  4. Enable the “Use the following DNS addresses” option and enter 8.8.8.8 as your chosen DNS server address.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    This bypasses the ISP’s filtered DNS and uses a service called Google Public DNS.<\/p>\n

    Another option is to use a proxy website or browser extension to route web traffic through a different domain, circumventing your ISP’s domain name blocking.<\/p>\n

    Proxy websites redirect traffic through their own domain, allowing users to access any site as long as the proxy website is not blocked by the ISP.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Tor Network<\/h3>\n

    \"Tor<\/a><\/p>\n

    If the above is not sufficient and you require greater anonymity online, the Tor network may be the next step.<\/p>\n

    Tor is a network of distributed relays around the world through which your traffic is routed.<\/p>\n

    This prevents your connection and online activity from being easily tracked, as it is routed through relays which anonymise web traffic.<\/p>\n

    It should be noted that operators of exit nodes on the Tor network could eavesdrop on unencrypted communications over the network, though.<\/p>\n

    Users can download the Tor Browser from the the Tor Project page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

    While the Tor network is great for anonymity and general Internet activity, it increases latency and your maximum download speed may degrade if the relays are on slow connections.<\/p>\n

    It is therefore not suitable for file sharing, and by default, your non-web traffic will not be routed through Tor.<\/p>\n

    The Tor browser functions like a normal web browser and can be used to access any website on the Internet, including .onion websites on the dark web.<\/p>\n

    \n

    VPN service<\/h3>\n

    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

    If your ISP is still able to block traffic to certain sites – using methods like packet filtering – you may have to invest in a VPN service.<\/p>\n

    A VPN (Virtual Private Network) allows you to browse and access the Internet without your ISP examining your traffic.<\/p>\n

    An encrypted connection between your computer and the VPN prevents your ISP from accessing data traffic which your VPN sends on your behalf.<\/p>\n

    While certain services have a free trial offer, VPNs usually require a subscription fee. This gives you\u00a0more control over your online security.<\/p>\n

    The latest Opera browser features a built-in VPN, which can be turned on and off. VPN extensions for Chrome and Firefox are also an option for users.<\/p>\n

    \n

    Now read:\u00a0Top piracy sites South African ISPs may be forced to block<\/a><\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It is relatively easy to circumvent an ISP which is blocking access to certain domains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341028,"featured_media":131696,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_facebook_post_id":"","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_threads_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,27],"tags":[44865,35,26356,125,7189,13535],"class_list":["post-221717","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-internet","category-security","tag-blocking-websites","tag-headline","tag-isps","tag-piracy","tag-safact","tag-torrent"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221717"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341028"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221717"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221717\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":221751,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221717\/revisions\/221751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/131696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221717"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221717"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221717"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}