How is Wikipedia censored in Turkey? Are providers threatened to be punished if they resolve DNS queries for wikipedia.org? Or are they threatened to be punished if they transport TCP/IP packets with IPs that belong to Wikipedia?
Wouldn't both be trivial to go around? For DNS, one could simply use a DNS server outside Turkey. For TCP/IP packets, one could set up a $5 proxy on any provider from around the world.
Yes, it would be trivial to go around. But that's not the point.
It used to be case that people with technical knowledge got around DNS blocks by simply changing the DNS servers.
Today you cannot access to Wikipedia even with, say, OpenDNS because now some popular DNS providers are being "hjacked" in Turkey [1]. Yes, hjacking.
The key concern is the fact that an Internet service provider employs an illegal hacking technique under the pressure of a totalitarian government to censor the largest and most collaborative information repository of the whole human history just to cover one article mentioning the truth about that totalitarianism.
Do not think it is too far of a dystopia for the "more advanced" countries like U.S., especially with Trump.
That's probably why the Turkinsh gov't blocked Wikipedia - to keep people uneducated and thus retain his grip on power. It doesn't really make sense otherwise.
They claim the reason for it is that Wikipedia refused to take down articles of which Turkish government is "sensitive" about. These include evidence suggesting govermental support to ISIL.
What I don't understand is why do they block ALL versions of wikipedia?
They could have at least provided us with a "safe version" of wikipedia under a governmental domain like wikipedia.diyanet.gov.tr
As a citizen residing in Turkey, I'm concerned, afraid, but mostly frustrated.
This probably happens a lot. The people who have the technical knowledge, and probably are educated and know what's going on, they use VPN or a different DNS-server. This has happened before, and Turkey has blocked 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 in the past, just for this.
But I bet this is not about the people that can circumvent this. It's for the people outside of the cities, the ones who don't have this knowledge. It's meant to make sure they don't know what's going on. That's more important than convincing the people that can't be convinced.
It is the same in China. The government does not try to clamp down too hard on vpn in Shanghai, Beijing etc. They are worried about the people in the midland. Same is with Erdogan - he will never control Istanbul and Ismir. He is worried about his base - the pious, hard working, conservative people in the countryside getting the wrong ideas.
The moment a place has big international airport it is lost to cosmopolitanism. There is different Teheran lurking under the hijab. And a wild guess Jeddah and Saudi Aramco
headquarters.
So dictators grudgingly secede cultural control in the cuties that are gates to the outsude world, trade and riches, as long as they can control the heartlands.
Wouldn't both be trivial to go around? For DNS, one could simply use a DNS server outside Turkey. For TCP/IP packets, one could set up a $5 proxy on any provider from around the world.