Ask HN: The government of my country blocked VPN access. What should I use?

Article summary

The government of Indonesia has blocked access to Twitter and Discord, and also blocked Cloudflare's WARP, which was previously used to circumvent the block. The author is seeking alternative methods to access these services. The blockage is part of a larger effort to restrict access to information in the country. The author is looking for advice on how to bypass the block.

Main themes

• Internet censorship
• VPN alternatives
• Circumvention methods
• Government control
• Online freedom
• Censorship evasion

What commenters say

• Using a VPN like Mullvad may not be effective due to its lack of modern censorship circumvention options.
• Setting up a personal VPN on a VPS can be a reliable and flexible solution to bypass censorship.
• Tor can be a viable option for accessing blocked services, but it may be slow and its exit nodes are often distrusted by websites.
• Mastodon, a decentralized social network, can be a difficult platform for regimes to completely block due to its federated nature.
• Some commenters argue that traditional media, such as local newspapers, may not be a reliable alternative to online services due to government control and censorship.
• Advanced VPN tunneling protocols can be detected and blocked by deep packet inspecting firewalls, making them less effective for circumvention.
• Using a SOCKS proxy over SSH can be a simple and effective solution, but may require technical expertise to set up.
• The cat-and-mouse game between censorship and circumvention methods means that no solution is foolproof, and new methods are constantly being developed and blocked.