How To Bypass The Censorship Of Sarawak Report

Late last night, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) issued an order to all Internet service providers in Malaysia to start blocking access to Sarawak Report. Tech-savvy Malaysians are already prepared against such blocks, but those who are less tech-savvy will want to know how to bypass the censorship of Sarawak Report.

If you are wondering about the legal basis for MCMC’s censorship of Sarawak Report, take a look at our analysis here.

 

How Are They Blocking Access?

Whenever we type an Internet address (for example, www.techarp.com), the request is sent to a DNS (Domain Name System) server which “translates” that easy-to-read address into the website’s IP address (for example, 222.333.444.555). Without this DNS translation, there is no way for your request to reach the website’s server.

Currently, Malaysian service providers block access to a website by simply deleting its DNS entry in their DNS servers, or set it to point to an different server (either owned by them or the MCMC) which would display a warning or information page like the one shown above.

 

How Can Someone Bypass DNS Blocking?

Your ISP can only delete / redirect a website’s DNS entry in its own DNS servers. To bypass such a “block”, you will need to switch to an independent DNS service like Google Public DNS or OpenDNS. For your convenience, here are the IP addresses of their DNS servers :

Google Public DNS Server #1 : 8.8.8.8
Google Public DNS Server #2 : 8.8.4.4

OpenDNS Server #1 : 208.67.222.222
OpenDNS Server #1 : 208.67.220.220

 

How Do People Change DNS Servers?

If you are not tech-savvy, changing DNS servers can be daunting. Fortunately, there are plenty of guides online that teach you how to do that.

Our tech website, Tech ARP, in particular, has a step-by-step pictorial guide on how to change your DNS servers. Best of all, we included the instructions for Microsoft Windows 8, Microsoft Windows 7 as well as Mac OS X.

Hop over to The Internet Censorship Bypass Guide and give it a try! 😀