5 Attachment(s)
Block Mirror: Dystopian Site-Blocking Triggers Circumvention Innovation
Site blocking and similar censorship measures are vulnerable to circumvention, helping to popularize VPNs and other encrypted solutions all over the world. That includes Spain, where LaLiga is ramping up its pirate site blocking efforts and at the same time (and with the court's blessing) rendering thousands of innocent sites inaccessible due to overblocking. People are now fighting back against dystopia, transforming conventional site blocking workarounds into tools that reinstate freedom of expression.
In the wake of a global pandemic, an ongoing war in Europe, and a new U.S. president taking the world on a surprise mystery tour to somewhere, Season 7 of Black Mirror faces the show’s toughest test following its Netflix debut on Thursday.
Ensuring each episode has a provocative, meaningful impact is getting harder in a world where the highly improbable seems to happen much more frequently. Facing genuine competition from real world events, including some that don’t involve Greenland, desensitization is likely to be a factor already.
Block Mirror?
There’s a risk that a Spanish-themed episode, in which a powerful corporation blocks internet traffic to improve sales of an exclusive entertainment product, might be too much, too soon.
Starting around 2008 before reaching its climax in a dystopian future labeled 2025, it could reveal how ISP blocking measures that the public didn’t want, were presented as the only viable option for tackling pirate sites. The episode could place emphasis on assurances that site blocking would always respect fundamental rights, such as the right to receive and impart information.
After fast forwarding to the present day, the episode could show how site blocking has matured to the point where targeting hundreds of pirate sites, means blocking thousands of innocent sites at the same time. Delivered to camera with a completely straight face, the audience should be informed that blocking innocent websites is perfectly fine, because a judge says that it’s legal.
Given that websites in Spain contain material protected by copyright, not to mention information that EU citizens have a right to impart and receive, it does seem unfair that thousands of sites (some claim its millions) find themselves completely blacked out when football matches are broadcast in Spain.
Circumvent Site-Blocking
So, with no help from the authorities and no TV deal expected anytime soon, Spaniards are beginning to take matters into their own hands.
Pirates have always circumvented blocking measures, mostly to access pirated content that blocking measures are supposed to deny. Today, regular developers are coming up with solutions to thwart site blocking, for reasons that include running a business and feeding their families. All they want, and it’s really not much at all, is to put up a website and have people who’d like to pay a visit face no barriers while doing so.
Well, help is starting to arrive, at least unofficially. The developers of the tools below hope to improve a situation that has only deteriorated in recent weeks.
The tools listed below are available from GitHub. Usual security caveats apply, if in any doubt, do not install.
Cloudflare Status Monitor for LaLiga Blocks
Summary of key features/benefits
• The script monitors check.aitorroma.com to verify if Cloudflare is active.
• When LaLiga implements blocks during football matches, the system automatically detects it.
• Automatically disables Cloudflare when blocks are detected
• Reactivates Cloudflare when the site is back online
• Uses webhooks to keep you informed about status changes
• Minimize downtime during football broadcasts
• Eliminates the need to manually manage Cloudflare blocks
• Provides an automated solution to keep the service available
• Ensures service continuity for legitimate websites
Cloudflare Status Monitor for LaLiga Blocks is available on GitHub
LaLiga Block Evasion Filter
How does the filter work?
This filter leverages the benefits of major CDN servers, allowing you to replace the blocked IP address provided by the DNS server with an IP address from the affected CDN that is not blocked, allowing websites to load correctly.
For example, if the URL “example.com” is associated with the IP address “1.2.3.4,” which is blocked by carriers, this filter switches to an unblocked IP address, such as “1.2.3.5,” so that legitimate pages can load correctly. Depending on the situation, it rotates to the next IP address or chooses a different IP address belonging to the same CDN.
LaLiga Block Evasion Filter is available on GitHub
LaLiga Lock Checker
Summary of key features/benefits
• Go script to check if a set of domains are blocked and, if necessary, test them through a VPN. The results are saved in a CSV file with time, status and latency.
• Read domains from a JSON file ( sites.json).
• It makes HTTP requests and checks if they respond.
• If they don’t respond, activate a VPN connection (WireGuard) and try again.
• Write the results to a CSV file: hora,domini,estat,latencia_ms.
• It allows you to configure it via command line, environment variables or .env.
LaLiga Lock Checker is available on GitHub
LaLiga IP List
GitHub repo: GitHub repo: r4y7s/laliga-ip-lis
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Summary of key features/benefits
• This repository maintains a whitelist of legitimate IPs that have been unintentionally affected by judicial IP blocks in Spain ordered by LaLiga as part of its anti-piracy efforts, based on public data from hayahora.futbol.
• The file laliga_ip_list.txt is updated twice a day automatically.
• What’s inside? The laliga_ip_list.txt file includes legitimate IPs that were wrongly blocked during football match streams in Spain, affecting services like: RAE (Royal Spanish Academy), universities and research centers, news outlets, sponsor and club websites
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Whether the existence of these tools amounts to evidence of overblocking, remains to be seen. But one thing is certain.
Providing an environment that necessitates circumvention, so that people can go about their legal business, runs counter to the prevention of piracy and so much more.
It undermines the entire site-blocking movement, and provides new credibility and moral legitimacy to anything that stands in its way – or indeed, tunnels straight through it.
