Understanding & Combating Global Censorship with WordPress
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Recent growth in places like China, Vietnam, India and Russia brought astounding economic and technological successes that also yielded some of the largest networks of censorship in history. The Great Firewall of China, DPI and SORM in Russia, and SmartFilter in Iran and Saudi Arabia are just a few of the tools used to block the free expression of millions of people. For this talk, we will discuss how WordPress can empower users while still understanding the pitfalls and considerations required to reach those affected by censorship. Other topics will cover how WordPress sites and plugins get blocked, issues designing and maintaining sites, and how the OpenNet Initiative affects WordPress. John will also give insight into his own experiences working with censorship and the Web from his time working in China. With this knowledge in hand, you’ll be able to leave the talk knowing what you can do to understand and combat censorship for your new or existing WordPress sites in a global web.
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Understanding & Combating Global Censorship with WordPress
- 1. Understanding & Combating Global Censorship with WordPress John P. Gamboa https://jpgamboa.com @jgamboa WordCamp Dallas 2015
- 2. @jgamboa • Enterprise Support Team, WP Engine • Four plus years of Web experience abroad • Founding Member - Shanghai Beer Week
- 3. What you’ll learn from me • Why and how WordPress and non-WordPress sites get blocked • Which plugins are blocked and how they affect performance • What to do when your site is blocked • How to work around the censored Web
- 5. What is Web Censorship • Domain and IP-level timeout, connection resets, removed content • Man-in-the-middle attacks, State sponsored DDOS • ISP directives • Trolls and hackers for hire • Judicial retaliation
- 6. What is Web Censorship • Domain and IP-level timeout, connection resets, removed content • Man-in-the-middle attacks, State sponsored DDOS • ISP directives • Trolls and hackers for hire • Judicial retaliation
- 7. How is WordPress Affected? • WordPress is now quarter of the entire Internet • More non-English Downloads than English Downloads • “Internet Sovereignty”, Segmentation and the Wuzhen Declaration • Democratization of the web
- 8. Web & WordPress Censorship
- 9. Russia • 2012 Government Decree • Trolls for hire - New York Times “The Agency” • SORM - Surveillance & Monitoring • RUBlacklist.net - list of blocked sites
- 10. Turkey • WordPress.com Blocked Because of a Single Blogpost • 77,000 Known Blocked domains (Ataturk, Armenian Genocide, Erdogan)
- 11. India • Fluctuating censorship protocols • Public discourse & discussion of the web • Targeted WordPress sites Vietnam • Communist state • Targeted blogs • Social media sites • Savviest users
- 12. Middle East • SmartFilter by Secure Computing of San Jose, CA, USA • Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, UAE • Lots of individual blogs • Facebook, Twitter, etc.
- 15. China • Most pervasive form of Internet censorship • Great Firewall of China promotes harmony • Causes the most trouble with WordPress
- 16. China, cont. • 96% all traffic within Mainland • The Three “T’s” • River Crabs, 50 Centers & Big Mamas 河蟹,五毛 & 大妈
- 18. Blocked Plugins & Functionality • API/External WordPress calls • Politically-sensitive discussions • Blocked IPs and domains on shared hosts • Jetpack, WordPress.com, Gravatar • Google (Plus, Fonts, Photos) • Be Mindful: BBPress, Yoast SEO, Social Media
- 19. Developing Around Censorship • Know your blocked plugins • Limiting reliance on outside sources • Reconsider SSL • Government hosting “registration” • Avoid sensitive discussion • You are responsible for your users • Hong Kong hosting
- 20. If you get blocked • Relax • Confirm (BlockedinIran.com, Greatfire.org) • Ask you host for help • Check for Noisy Neighbors • Consider changing domains/moving servers
- 21. What Can The Community Do? • Continue to Support Non-English WordPress • Follow and Understand OpenNet Initiative • Polyglots: Contribute to Core and Plugin Translations • Talk About it • Publish, Publish, Publish
- 22. What Did We Learn? • Why and How of Censorship: Government directive ISPs, DNS, Social Media • Blocked Sites & Plugins: Jetpack, Social Sign On & Discussion Free discourse, large databases • If you’re blocked: Greafire.org, Blocked in Iran, RUBlacklist Talk to your host, change domain/IP • Working with Censorship Know the limitations Know your audience
- 23. Q & A John P. Gamboa @jgamboa jpgamboa.com Slides: jpgamboa.com/slides
Editor's Notes
- Hey Everyone. I’m John P. Gamboa. I’m a Enterprise Support Specialist at WP Engine’s HQ in Austin, TX, USA Prior to being in TX I spent four years living and working overseas. One year in S. Korea and nearly three years in Shanghai, China I got my start in WordPress doing a few small beer-oriented websites for Shanghai’s burgeoning craft beer scene. And yes, there’s craft beer in China.
- Government: Most obvious and well-known type of censorship. This is information that a government doesn’t want you to know or so. Or information they can’t control. Religious censorship is a form of censorship where freedom of expression is controlled or limited using religious authority or on the basis of the teachings of the religion. This has been seen in all corners of the world. Moral censorship is the suppression of materials that the public considers obscene or offensive. Think snuff films and child pornography. This is most culturally-accepted type of censorship. Chief Justice Potter of the US Supreme Court once famously said about obscenity, IE, moral censorship “I know it when I see it.” This is the most dubious form of censorship, that has the most risks for free expression Self-censorship: This is the most commonly seen in our web 2.0 era. This is one of the most damaging for the posterity of the web, and its been seen in many different places. For example, buzzfeed deleting thousands of posts online.
- There are lots of countries, including my own native United States, that make numerous organization’s lists of enemies of the Web. However, for the sake of our discussion, we’re going to talk mostly about emerging or growing markets and how their censorship affect WordPress and its viability of a growing Web