I'm flying to China soon for a long time, so I'd like to know how to configure my Ubuntu 11.04 so I can access forbidden websites (like Facebook)
I've heard about VPN and Proxy, but I don't know how to work with those. What would be a good solution for me?
Best Answer
Configuring a VPN is pretty simple. Open up the Network Connections dialogue and hit the VPN tab, as below:
That leaves two issues:
You need a VPN to connect to. These are widely available but cost money. Note that some if not all of these might be blocked by China (for obvious reasons). You might need to rent your own server (eg from a company like Linode) and install your own VPN server. You could just use a Socks proxy over SSH if that's what you end up doing - Much easier and should work for most things.
Is this legal in China? I personally don't care how many of China's laws we break on Ask Ubuntu because we're not in China. I think their firewall is a horrible incursion on people's natural right to free uncensored information and that China use it to suppress their citizens. In short, I think this question is fine on here.
But do be conscious that if you're breaking laws in China, and they find out (which they might), they might take legal action. And given China's record for open and fair judicial process, this could result in a 10 minute hearing followed by 10 years of wondering what you'd be doing if you didn't need to check Facebook.
I'm not dropping the super-downer to put you off - just be careful.