This document discusses navigating the censored web and how WordPress sites can be blocked globally. It provides examples of how different countries like China, Russia, Turkey, Iran, and South Korea censor the internet by blocking sites outright, forcing data localization, using DDoS attacks, and DNS poisoning. Common reasons WordPress sites are blocked include political dissent, terrorism, religious content, and anti-government memes. The document offers tips for designing WordPress sites to avoid censorship, such as using SSL and global CDNs, and what to do if a site becomes blocked, such as moving hosting locations or checking if the domain or IP is blocked. It concludes by considering issues like internet sovereignty and walled gardens that may impact internet
19. ● How do we 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?
20. You are not operating
on a level playing field
24. “WordPress is used by 59.4% of all the
websites whose content management system
we know. This is 28.5% of all websites.”
25. Internet Sovereignty
Internet management, network infrastructure,
surveillance and content restrictions are the
sovereign right of nation-states. The Internet follows
terrestrial boundaries and borders.
26. Ideas on Internet Sovereignty
are quickly being adopted by
countries that are known to be
“enemies of Internet” to
legitimize censorship of all
speech
28. 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
29. Forced 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
30. 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.
37. China
- All content CCP 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)
39. 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
40. How do I know if my site is blocked?
- Greatfire.org
🇨🇳
- BlockedinIran.org
🇮🇷
- Rublacklist.net
🇷🇺
- CloudMonitor.CA.com
🌍
- Engelliweb.org
🇹🇷
41.
42. What do I do 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
43. - Net Neutrality
- Walled
Gardens/Closed
Networks
- Continued push for
Internet
Sovereignty
What does the future hold?
The first thing they think of smog: like this photo from my apartment.
2. They think of the great firewall
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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:
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
Some Walled Gardens provide unequal access. Internet “Fast Lane” for preferred web services. Think: Free Spotify for T-Mobile