4 ms·

Just setup a VPN on some cheap cloud provider. There are lots of sites UK ISPs block even though the sites themselves are not illegal or host illegal content.

Just setup a VPN on some cheap cloud provider. There are lots of sites UK ISPs block even though the sites themselves are not illegal or host illegal content. For e.g. torrent indexing services (the content itself may be illegal but purely providing a search across that content is basically doing what Google do). The UK internet is heavily filtered/censored and so doing this is useful anyway. Business ISP connections don't seem to be restricted. And neither do most cloud providers I've tried. Might be better than using temporary proxies.

Quarrel 5y ago
I travelled last week, and was horrified by how much is blocked by the mainstream ISPs in the UK. Afaik, my (London) ISP does not block anything. No idea why, as all the others quote high court orders.
- Reason077 5y ago
  Many UK ISPs have "adult content" filters, which tend to be wide-reaching and block a lot more than just porn sites. But these are optional and can be turned off very easily. There's a smaller set of non-optional blocks (pirate/torrent sites) which you need a VPN to get around.
  - sabjut 5y ago
    This seems to be just another small step towards a future where only pre-approved websites are accessible via the method most people will use. It will not be called banning, this is just a measure to "ensure that the content we are serving to our users is held against our high quality standards" or the classic "it's to protect the children" or to "condemn terrorism". Porn is not really Illegal, just unwanted, which is apparently reason enough to block it. Does this mean any content which is "unwanted" can be blocked just like that?
  - regularfry 5y ago
    I have a theory that the ISPs over-block with their adult content filters, so you've got plausible deniability and don't have to ring up and say "I want porn please." Because the alternative is that they lose a customer to an ISP who doesn't embarrass them.
  - Quarrel 5y ago
    My ISP does not block any of the non-optional blocks either.. While I do use a VPN at times, it is never to get around blocks. Although I don't use my ISPs dns, so if that is how they're attempting to comply I wouldn't notice.
  - poooogles 5y ago
    >There's a smaller set of non-optional blocks (pirate/torrent sites) which you need a VPN to get around. This https://unblockit.pw/ https://unblockit.pw/ also does the job too (scihub is at the bottom).
- crtasm 5y ago
  Open Rights Group run https://www.blocked.org.uk/ https://www.blocked.org.uk/ to make blocking more visible and prompt action to contact ISPs about cases of overblocking. You can enter any domain to test it, the data is collected by volunteers running an automatic tool.
Reason077 5y ago
My UK ISP (one of the major UK mobile networks) does not block sci-hub. They do block torrent sites such as Pirate Bay, etc.
koheripbal 5y ago
Are there good recommendations for privacy centric cloud providers?
kypro 5y ago
Also worth adding if a site isn’t banned by the UK government many sites now georestrict UK residents or give you several opt-in pop ups because of GDPR.

Quarrel 5y ago

I travelled last week, and was horrified by how much is blocked by the mainstream ISPs in the UK. Afaik, my (London) ISP does not block anything. No idea why, as all the others quote high court orders.

Reason077 5y ago
Many UK ISPs have "adult content" filters, which tend to be wide-reaching and block a lot more than just porn sites. But these are optional and can be turned off very easily. There's a smaller set of non-optional blocks (pirate/torrent sites) which you need a VPN to get around.
- sabjut 5y ago
  This seems to be just another small step towards a future where only pre-approved websites are accessible via the method most people will use. It will not be called banning, this is just a measure to "ensure that the content we are serving to our users is held against our high quality standards" or the classic "it's to protect the children" or to "condemn terrorism". Porn is not really Illegal, just unwanted, which is apparently reason enough to block it. Does this mean any content which is "unwanted" can be blocked just like that?
- regularfry 5y ago
  I have a theory that the ISPs over-block with their adult content filters, so you've got plausible deniability and don't have to ring up and say "I want porn please." Because the alternative is that they lose a customer to an ISP who doesn't embarrass them.
- Quarrel 5y ago
  My ISP does not block any of the non-optional blocks either.. While I do use a VPN at times, it is never to get around blocks. Although I don't use my ISPs dns, so if that is how they're attempting to comply I wouldn't notice.
- poooogles 5y ago
  >There's a smaller set of non-optional blocks (pirate/torrent sites) which you need a VPN to get around. This https://unblockit.pw/ https://unblockit.pw/ also does the job too (scihub is at the bottom).
crtasm 5y ago
Open Rights Group run https://www.blocked.org.uk/ https://www.blocked.org.uk/ to make blocking more visible and prompt action to contact ISPs about cases of overblocking. You can enter any domain to test it, the data is collected by volunteers running an automatic tool.

Reason077 5y ago

My UK ISP (one of the major UK mobile networks) does not block sci-hub. They do block torrent sites such as Pirate Bay, etc.

koheripbal 5y ago

Are there good recommendations for privacy centric cloud providers?

kypro 5y ago

Also worth adding if a site isn’t banned by the UK government many sites now georestrict UK residents or give you several opt-in pop ups because of GDPR.