On a related note, does anyone have insight into *why* the Indonesian government is doing this?
If it helps, here's some recent coverage:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/aug/26/indonesia-prot...
Ask HN: The government of my country blocked VPN access. What should I use?
151–160 of 775 posts
Re: Ask HN: The government of my country blocked VPN access. What should I use?
#152Earlier quoted context omitted.
OP: look into VLESS (and similar). And read up on ntc.party (through Google translate). There are certain VPN providers that offer the protocol.
I think REALITY is the newer protocol. I remember VLESS being somewhat more detectable
nah, vless is the protocol, reality is a newer obfuscation method that works over vless
edit: op, protonvpn has a free tier that works in russia, so likely works everywhere, or if you're comfortable with buying a vps, sshing into it and running some commands, look up x-ray, and use on of their gui panels
Re: Ask HN: The government of my country blocked VPN access. What should I use?
#153I'm currently traveling in Uzbekistan and am surprised that wireguard as a protocol is just blocked. I use wireguard with my own server, because usually governments just block well known VPN providers and a small individual server is fine. It's the first time I've encountered where the entire protocol is just blocked. Worth checking what is blocked and how before deciding which VPN provider to use.
A year ago I was traveling through Uzbekistan while also partly working remotely. IKEv2 VPN was blocked but thankfully I was able to switch to SSL VPN which worked fine. I didn't expect that, everything else (people, culture) in the country seemed quite open.
Re: Ask HN: The government of my country blocked VPN access. What should I use?
#154Earlier quoted context omitted.
If they're blocking other protocols then likely they're blocking quic also.
Very possible, though many of our users are saying that in network environments where WireGuard is blocked they were able to use Obscura.
Hey, I went to take a look at Obscura and I like the ideas but I can't find the source code.
You are making some bold claims but without the source I can't verify those claims.
Any plans to open-source it?
Re: Ask HN: The government of my country blocked VPN access. What should I use?
#155You've come to a wrong place to ask. Most people here (judging by recommendations of own VPN instances, Tor, Tailscale/other Wireguard-based VPNs, and Mullvad) don't have any experience with censorship circumvention. Just look for any VPNs that are advertised specifically for China, Russia, or Iran. These are the cutting edge tech, they may not be so privacy-friendly as Mullvad, but they will certainly work.
> Just look for any VPNs that are advertised specifically for China, Russia, or Iran. If I was working for a secret service for these countries, I would set up many "VPNs that are advertised specifically for x" as honeypots to gather data about any dissidents.
Mr. Kafka, suspicion is healthy. However, abstraction provides no way forward when faced with practicalities instead of theory. Creates a Kafka-esque situation - anything suitable is by definition unsuitable. Better to focus on practical technical advice.
Re: Ask HN: The government of my country blocked VPN access. What should I use?
#156Earlier quoted context omitted.
Wouldn't it be easy to block the individual servers, e.g. https://mastodon.social ?
There are many instances of Mastodon, and due to its federated nature, you can use any of them to access it, and even host your own.
What's stopping them from just blocking them all and continuing to block new ones?
Re: Ask HN: The government of my country blocked VPN access. What should I use?
#157Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am just waiting for red states in the US to try this too since their current laws requiring ID verification for porn sites aren’t effective.
> red states Well you'd be surprised to find out that this stupid policy (and many more) have been brought forward by Labour (Left).
Both the major Australian parties (Liberal and Labor) seem as spineless as each other.
They're being pushed by media conglomerates News Corp and Nine Entertainment [0] to crush competition (social media apps). With the soon-to-be-introduced 'internet licence' (euphemism: 'age verification'), and it's working. If they ban VPN's, it will make social media apps even more burdensome to access and use.
[0] News Corp and Nine Entertainment together own 90% of Australian print media, and are hugely influential in radio, digital and paid and free-to-air TV. They have a lot to gain by removing access to social media apps, where many (especially young) people get their information now days.
Re: Ask HN: The government of my country blocked VPN access. What should I use?
#158HTTPS to you own proxy on a foreign VPS.
Re: Ask HN: The government of my country blocked VPN access. What should I use?
#159I'm currently traveling in Uzbekistan and am surprised that wireguard as a protocol is just blocked. I use wireguard with my own server, because usually governments just block well known VPN providers and a small individual server is fine. It's the first time I've encountered where the entire protocol is just blocked. Worth checking what is blocked and how before deciding which VPN provider to use.
Wow, kinda crazy to think about a government blocking a protocol that just simply lets two computers talk securely over a tunnel.
Well, think about it - almost every other interaction you can have with an individual in another country is mediated by government. Physical interaction? You need to get through a border and customs. Phone call? Going through their exchanges, could be blocked, easy to spy on with wiretaps. Letter mail? Many cases historically of all letters being opened before being forwarded along.
We lived through the golden age of the Internet where anyone was allowed to open a raw socket connection to anyone else, anywhere. That age is fading, now, and time may come where even sending an email to someone in Russia or China will be fraught with difficulty. Certainly encryption will be blocked.
We're going to need steganographic tech that uses AI-hallucinated content as a carrier, or something.
Re: Ask HN: The government of my country blocked VPN access. What should I use?
#160Earlier quoted context omitted.
Do you have any evidence for either of these claims?
It is absolutely self-evident that VPNs are considered high-value targets and that all spy agencies invest a chunk of resources to go after high-value targets.
I would invite you to read again the two claims made, and consider whether your statement actually addresses the veracity of either.
To be a little trite: we all agree that chickens like grain, but it does not follow that a majority of grain producers are secretly controlled by a cabal of poultry.