Practical advice regarding Beijing Olympics and Tor ?

[mplsfox02 at sneakemail.com]

torist-at-nym.hush.com:

> Does anyone have any practical advice for visitors to the Beijing
> Olympics next month, regarding the use of Tor ?
>
> There are reports of all kinds of security clampdowns, specifically
> on the Chinese internet infrastructure  e.g.
>
> China: Locking down IDC server rooms for the Olympics
> http://advocacy.globalvoicesonline.org/2008/07/15/china-locking-
> down-idc-server-rooms-for-the-olympics/

They are locking down _physical_ access to the servers, they don't  
switch them off. But this might be a preparation for a "harmonization"  
during the games. Also Chinese people are surprised by this, as you  
can read at the end of the article.

> 2) Is it possible to download the Tor/Vidalia bundle safely within
> China ? Are the usual main distribution websites blocked ? Do you
> have to try to smuggle it in across the border ?
>
> 3) Is it unsafe to let your Tor client connect to any Tor
> directory,  entry or exit nodes within China itself, once you are
> physically in the country ?
>
> 5) What is the best practical way, right now, to avoid making
> connections to Tor directory , entry  or exit nodes physically
> within China ?


A Chinese friend of mine told me, Tor is quite common in China in  
order to circumvent the Great Firewall. (Interestingly he didn't care  
about anonymity at all, just access.) So it worked at least until  
recently. There has been a report that Tor has been blocked, but it  
seems not to be true:
http://www.chinaherald.net/2008/06/internet-censor-starts-blocking-proxies.html

If you want to be on the safe side, bring Tor on your USB stick and  
find out a non-listed bridge IP.

OpenVPN works as well.