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Analysis of the GFW's Unconditional Port 443 Block on August 20, 2025

gfw.report

11–20 of 195 posts

Re: Analysis of the GFW's Unconditional Port 443 Block on August 20, 2025

#11
post #2

Terrible, this is Internet curfew. It's not uncommon to imagine they'd shutdown Internet across border during any war (like against Taiwan).

Could you bring something like a starlink mini for backup i wonder? Id imagine this would be very worrying being stuck there as a foreigner in such a situation.

Re: Analysis of the GFW's Unconditional Port 443 Block on August 20, 2025

#12
post #8

Think of how many people who have remote jobs with American companies couldn't connect to their meetings while they "work from home" while secretly being in China! Normally they have to fight VPN issues anyway, but having a sovereign state inject your packets is certainly a fun new one.

How common can this really be? And what kind of companies? I’m finding it really hard to imagine this to be widespread.

I live in a popular Digital Nomad friendly country, and myself included, work with Europe/American companies roughly matching their time zones.

Now, the people I work with know that I'm not really located in the same time zone, but I know people who don't bother to mention it. I rarely get phone calls, but I have a roaming connection active for banking/OTP/etc. Plenty of cheap cafes with great WiFi (500mbps+ almost everywhere), and several times cheaper too.

Re: Analysis of the GFW's Unconditional Port 443 Block on August 20, 2025

#13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect those connections worked fine. It’s good to know the boss.

I definitely appreciate that a percentage of so called "employees" are actually just full fledged Chinese nationals, living permanently in China, paid a salary to pretend to be an American who had their identity stolen. But there absolutely is also a non-negligible number of Chinese and Indian nationals, who have some type of visa status in the US (especially a green card) who spend many months in their original coun…

The green card isn't citizenship, you lose it if you don't live in the US. It's not like they don't know when you enter or exit the country.

Re: Analysis of the GFW's Unconditional Port 443 Block on August 20, 2025

#14
post #8

Think of how many people who have remote jobs with American companies couldn't connect to their meetings while they "work from home" while secretly being in China! Normally they have to fight VPN issues anyway, but having a sovereign state inject your packets is certainly a fun new one.

How common can this really be? And what kind of companies? I’m finding it really hard to imagine this to be widespread.

Yeah if I'd sneak off to work from another place I'd pick somewhere really nice. Not China.

Re: Analysis of the GFW's Unconditional Port 443 Block on August 20, 2025

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's what's so great about LoRA. Decentralized txt msgs, ultra cheap radios people run at home or wherever. $10-35USD ON AMAZON. Least txts get through.

It won't get you from where you are to China though.

No but something like WSPR or FT8 would. Needs a license though.

Re: Analysis of the GFW's Unconditional Port 443 Block on August 20, 2025

#16
post #8

Think of how many people who have remote jobs with American companies couldn't connect to their meetings while they "work from home" while secretly being in China! Normally they have to fight VPN issues anyway, but having a sovereign state inject your packets is certainly a fun new one.

How common can this really be? And what kind of companies? I’m finding it really hard to imagine this to be widespread.

Sadly much more common than it should be. The durations vary widely, but with the price of airline tickets and the nature of corporate software engineering jobs, it's extremely easy to self-justify a month abroad. The US government allows 6 months officially for green card holders.

If it wasn't literally 10x cheaper to live abroad than it is to live in Seattle/San Jose, it wouldn't be as prevalent. And not to mention, the quality of life is often better at the 10x cheaper price as well.

I can give you as much proof as you would like!

Re: Analysis of the GFW's Unconditional Port 443 Block on August 20, 2025

#17
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How common can this really be? And what kind of companies? I’m finding it really hard to imagine this to be widespread.

Yeah if I'd sneak off to work from another place I'd pick somewhere really nice. Not China.

You say that because you don't hold a Chinese or Indian passport. Now think of those who do, who have family obligations, food preferences, local bank accounts.

Re: Analysis of the GFW's Unconditional Port 443 Block on August 20, 2025

#18
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I definitely appreciate that a percentage of so called "employees" are actually just full fledged Chinese nationals, living permanently in China, paid a salary to pretend to be an American who had their identity stolen. But there absolutely is also a non-negligible number of Chinese and Indian nationals, who have some type of visa status in the US (especially a green card) who spend many months in their original coun…

The green card isn't citizenship, you lose it if you don't live in the US. It's not like they don't know when you enter or exit the country.

6 months is a very long time.

Re: Analysis of the GFW's Unconditional Port 443 Block on August 20, 2025

#19
post #2

Terrible, this is Internet curfew. It's not uncommon to imagine they'd shutdown Internet across border during any war (like against Taiwan).

In fact, it’s a common tactic to do something unusual, in a recurrent way, so people aren’t alerted when it happens for real. (When the Mossad stole 7 boats from a French port (that they had fully paid), they prepared a few months in advance by having the pilots start the engines every night at 23:00, pretending they needed it against the cold temperatures. When they day came, they started the engines and left, no-on…

It could also be a test to look for surprising things that break, in case they want to do this permanently at some later point.

Re: Analysis of the GFW's Unconditional Port 443 Block on August 20, 2025

#20
post #2

Terrible, this is Internet curfew. It's not uncommon to imagine they'd shutdown Internet across border during any war (like against Taiwan).

Could you bring something like a starlink mini for backup i wonder? Id imagine this would be very worrying being stuck there as a foreigner in such a situation.

A friend of mine tried, no signal.
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