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Imgur geo-blocked the UK, so I geo-unblocked my network

blog.tymscar.com

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Re: Imgur geo-blocked the UK, so I geo-unblocked my network

#61

Post by immibis »

HotGarbage wrote: post #54
JoshTriplett wrote: post #32

I was hoping, from the title ("Geo-Unblocked") that this would be about arranging an IP address block that wasn't associated with the UK, rather than just selectively running some traffic through a VPN.

If you're your own ISP you can be wherever you want to be https://blog.lyc8503.net/en/post/asn-5-worldwide-servers/

Sometimes. You can publish whatever geolocation data file you want, but others aren't required to respect that file. It's known that geolocation providers run pings and traceroutes from different locations as well as looking at BGP data.

Re: Imgur geo-blocked the UK, so I geo-unblocked my network

#62

Post by arjie »

Another thing that you can do when you have the IP address range is just run a traditional split-tunnel. A simple way to do that is to run Wireguard on a cheap VPS, then have only traffic to those fixed IPs go to that tunnel. The nice thing about this is that tiny WiFi routers (e.g. hAP AX S) these days support Wireguard at pretty decent speeds. Then anyone on your network gets this, and if you want it while you roam you can just run the Wireguard VPN on your phone as well with the same rules.

Re: Imgur geo-blocked the UK, so I geo-unblocked my network

#63

Post by ErroneousBosh »

2b3a51 wrote: post #24
ErroneousBosh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> archive.org is blocked (along with other nsfw type sites), but as the last post in your link to an earlier discussion says, I could get it unblocked by filling in a declaration that I'm over 18. Paying by credit card isn't enough to unblock automatically for this particular package That's something to do with your provider. Maybe you need a non-crappy provider. You do not need to provide any kind of declaration tha…

See comment from another UK resident further down. I suspect it depends on the contract you have, and quite possibly when the contract started.

It appears to be something to do with using PAYG SIMs for mobile broadband. Back when I lived ten minutes from one of the largest cities in the country I used 4G, but didn't run into this or their CGNAT crap because I tunneled out to a sane ISP.

Given that you can buy a SIM that'll give you a couple of hundred GB of data for under a tenner, it seems reasonable that they'd block stuff you didn't want young children getting access to (easily).

Re: Imgur geo-blocked the UK, so I geo-unblocked my network

#64

Post by juntoalaluna »

michaelt wrote: post #58
netXten wrote: post #55

So you are just a simple GB citizen and some external site blocked access by country affiliation?! Is there any practical reason for blocking access to that site by geotargeting?

The UK’s “online safety act” means a number of medium sized sites have decided it’s not worth doing business in the UK.

This is not why imgur have left though, they didn't want to comply with Data Protection laws.

Re: Imgur geo-blocked the UK, so I geo-unblocked my network

#65

Post by prism56 »

oliwarner wrote: post #28

This is quite easy with OpenWRT. Install the Wireguard packages, create a connection to your VPN of choice in a nearby country (I chose Sweden). Then I used the "vpn-policy-routing" package to route Imgur IPs (199.232.196.193 199.232.192.193) through the VPN. Works for websites that keep nagging you for age verification too. But seriously, it's been more emotional than I'd expected to get my cat memes back.

Didn't even know it was possible. But thanks to this comment - got the same setup via my Unifi router too. Thanks!

Re: Imgur geo-blocked the UK, so I geo-unblocked my network

#66

Post by Havoc »

mr_mitm wrote: post #44
omnicognate wrote: post #25

> Second, even if I installed a VPN on my main machine, what about my phone? My laptop? My desktop? Every device would need the VPN running, and I’d have to remember to connect it before browsing. It’s messy. This is what routers are for. My router (a cheap fanless box with several network ports running linux) is the only thing on my network that knows there's a VPN. I can selectively route whatever I want through it…

You can just use FoxyProxy instead of a separate browser instance. This firefox addon will use a proxy based on URL patterns.

You don't even need an extension - FF can do it natively via proxy file

Re: Imgur geo-blocked the UK, so I geo-unblocked my network

#67

Post by mx7zysuj4xew »

immibis wrote: post #61
HotGarbage wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're your own ISP you can be wherever you want to be https://blog.lyc8503.net/en/post/asn-5-worldwide-servers/

Sometimes. You can publish whatever geolocation data file you want, but others aren't required to respect that file. It's known that geolocation providers run pings and traceroutes from different locations as well as looking at BGP data.

I guess maybe we should start some kind of initiative to detect these geolocation providers so we can blacklist them. Maybe it can be some kind of database that is used to null-route all traffic coming from their network /s

Re: Imgur geo-blocked the UK, so I geo-unblocked my network

#68

Post by placatedmayhem »

iam-TJ wrote: post #57
slig wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a cheap fanless box with several network ports running linux Do you remember the name of the product?

Two devices I use - both running Debian, and both being open-source hardware to some degree or other: PC Engines APU2, AMD x86_64, 4-core, 4GiB, 3x Gigabit Ethernet, 3 x mini PCIe, SIM slot, USB 3, Serial, SATA ports. Mine has dual band WiFi in one mPCIe, SSD in another. Turris Mox, Marvel aarch64. This can expand via plug and go via a range of extension modules. I've got one with 25 Gigabit (3 x 8-port modules) Ethe…

Just a heads up that PC Engines is winding down. The chip they use in the APU2 is EOL, and they've decided to shut down altogether.

https://pcengines.ch/eol.htm

Re: Imgur geo-blocked the UK, so I geo-unblocked my network

#69

Post by michaelt »

juntoalaluna wrote: post #64
michaelt wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The UK’s “online safety act” means a number of medium sized sites have decided it’s not worth doing business in the UK.

This is not why imgur have left though, they didn't want to comply with Data Protection laws.

The "online safety act" introduced mandatory age verification starting in July 2025.

The government announced "plans to fine Imgur after probing its approach to age checks and use of children's personal data" in September 2025 [1]

Are you telling me those were unrelated? How are you going to fine a website over age checks without the law that requires age checks?

[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gzxv5gy3qo

Re: Imgur geo-blocked the UK, so I geo-unblocked my network

#70

Post by hexbin010 »

qwertox wrote: post #39

> First, I just upgraded to 2.5 Gbps internet and I don’t want to route all my traffic through a VPN and take the speed hit. I have this bandwidth for a reason You don't have to. You create a container which runs openvpn to connect to your vpn provider, and also hosts an ssh daemon. The ssh daemon receives incoming SOCKS5 connections from a firefox portable browser, which has been configured to use the proxy (your Do…

Nope, security/privacy is always a trade off. It's much much safer just to route all your traffic through a VPN. I get ~200-500 Mbps with Mullvad, that seems good enough. Sucks if you upgraded to 2.5 Gbps before checking, but oh well
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