Uploaded byJohn Gamboa
Navigating the Censored Web
The document discusses the challenges of maintaining WordPress sites in countries with heavy internet censorship, highlighting the prevalence of such restrictions and specific global examples. It underscores the importance of understanding internet sovereignty, the factors leading to site blocks, and strategies for designing websites that can circumvent censorship. The presentation also offers tools for checking site accessibility and suggests approaches for responding to potential blocks.
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Navigating the Censored Web
- 1. Navigating the CensoredWeb WordCamp for Publishers - 2017 John P. Gamboa Technical Success Manager, WP Engine @jgamboa
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- 14. China HTTP Trafficto Cloudflare April 12, 2012
- 18. ● How dowe reach as many people as possible on a censored Internet? ● Can WordPress do this? ● How do we make a WordPress site so that it can’t be blocked? ● What can we do if the site gets blocked?
- 19. You are notoperating on a level playing field
- 20. Freedom on theNet Report 2016
- 21. Is WordPress theright tool in a closed network?
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- 23. “WordPress is usedby 59.4% of all the websites whose content management system we know. This is 28.5% of all websites.”
- 24. Internet Sovereignty Internet management,network infrastructure, surveillance and content restrictions are the sovereign right of nation-states. The Internet follows terrestrial boundaries and borders.
- 25. Ideas on InternetSovereignty are quickly being adopted by countries that are known to be “enemies of Internet” to legitimize censorship of all speech
- 26. How are WordPress sitescensored globally?
- 27. Blocking Sites Outright -Iran: SmartFilter - Russia: Roskomnadzor, government agency - China: “Golden Shield Project,” aka Great Firewall of China - Turkey: Judicial blocks based on political needs
- 28. Force Data Localization -Russia requires local registration of bloggers with more than 3,000 followers - Apple removed VPN software in the Chinese app store - China - Germany - India - Indonesia - Kazakhstan - South Korea - Nigera - Russia - Turkey - Vietnam
- 29. DDoS For Hire -WP Engine customer based out of Phillipines often the target of Chinese DDoS. Likely for criticizing Duterte government. - /wp-login.php is a ripe location for lazy script kiddies triying to get into to sites to deface and take down content.
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- 31. SSL - Very importantfor security and SEO - Emerging Internet markets have lower adoption - Entire sites are more likely to be blocked
- 32. Why do WordPress sitesget blocked?
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- 34. Turkey - Political Dissent -Terrorism - Religious Protection - Kurdish Independence
- 35. Russia - Memes - “Protectionof children” - Anti-Putin - Crimea Annexation
- 36. China - All contentCCP can’t control or influence is blocked - Allows for compliant local variations of social media sites - River Crabs (河蟹), 50 Centers (五毛) and Big Mamas (大妈)
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- 38. Designing around censorship -Know if your plugins communicate externally - Ie: Jetpack - Decide if hosting overseas or registering in-country - Run tests around the world: Geopeeker.com - Full SSL could result in full site censorship - PHP 7 is a must - External advertising services and APIs - Consider global CDNs
- 39. How do Iknow if my site is blocked? - Greatfire.org 🇨🇳 - BlockedinIran.org 🇮🇷 - Rublacklist.net 🇷🇺 - CloudMonitor.CA.com 🌍 - Engelliweb.org 🇹🇷
- 41. What do Ido if my site is blocked? - Check if recourse is available - Move to a new server - Decide on hosting in- country or overseas - Check for noisy neighbors - Check if your domain or IP is blocked - There may be nothing you can do
- 42. - Net Neutrality -Walled Gardens/Closed Networks - Continued push for Internet Sovereignty What does the future hold?
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Editor's Notes
- #6 The first thing they think of smog: like this photo from my apartment.
- #7 2. They think of the great firewall
- #18 This is when I realized that the Great Firewall wasn’t quite like your corporate work network that stops you from wasting company hours on Facebook. This was much of complex than that. Since then, I’ve spent a lot of my free time reading and learning about the Great Firewall, and understanding how it affects business, privacy and the global security of the web. I won’t be able to talk about everything I want to, but this is going to be a start.
- #19 When I was working on that Shanghai Beer Week project in China, there were a few concerns the site owner had about building a site in a closed network. As such, we had to understand the limitations of the environment we were working in. Censorship in China was pervasive, and you had to know the rules of the game. One of the first rules I learned was:
- #23 In almost all the of the countries I’ve listed, WordPress.org, the website used to acquire the open source WordPress software itself, is not blocked. This is great news for those that are self-hosting their sites in countries that have issues with Internet censorship.
- #24 Because WordPress now powers 28% of the entire web, it would be an economic barrier from allowing people to use WordPress itself. It’s just a tool in this situation.
- #25 To understand the limitations we first have to figure out why there are limitations to hosting on WordPress in the first place. The best way to understand internet censorship and WordPress is to understand Internet Sovereignty. The idea that your country’s internet works the same way as your local laws is antithetical to the purpose of the internet, but is also the basis for almost all types of Internet Censorship.
- #27 Any rationale a country gives for blocking internet content in their country is wrapped up into the idea that it’s sovereign right to do so. So, the question becomes:
- #28 Iran: US corporate management software used to block websites for the whole country Russia: Blocks sites based on complaints and broad legal precedent. Fairly transparent but bad for shared IP customers China: A complex system of DNS injections, IP & domain blocks, local content management and legislation
- #43 Some Walled Gardens provide unequal access. Internet “Fast Lane” for preferred web services. Think: Free Spotify for T-Mobile