Tales From The Closed Web

John P. Gamboajpgamboa.com

@jgamboa

WordCamp US 2016

Working With WordPress Censorship in China

@jgamboa• Technical Success Manager

• 2.75 years at WP Engine

• Singapore 2009• South Korea 2010• China 2011-2013• Austin 2014 - Present

Shanghai, China 2011 -2013

Danny and Jesse

Blocked in China

Great Firewall of China• Most pervasive

form of Internet censorship

• Many foreigners pay for VPNs for full web access

• Many top Alexa sites blocked

• DNS poisoning/filtering• World’s largest Internet

population

But why?• Promotes Chinese

“Internet sovereignty”

• Control points allow for “Great Cannon” foreign DDoSing

• Removes foreign competition

• Prevents anti-CCP sites and gatherings

• Allows monitoring, management and control

• China’s first-ever beer week• Host outside mainland China• Reach foreigners and locals alike• Can’t require a VPN

Shanghai Beer Week

Blocked Plugins & Functionality

• API/External WordPress calls

• Politically-sensitive discussions (BBPress/Disqus)

• Blocked IPs and domains on shared hosts

• Jetpack, WordPress.com, Gravatar

• Google (Plus, Fonts, Photos)

• SSL

Developing Around Censorship

• Know your blocked plugins

• Avoid foreign social media services/APIs

• Avoid SSL usage

• You are responsible for your users

• Hong Kong/Singapore hosting

• 96% all web traffic in China is within the mainland

• River Crabs (河蟹 ), 50 Centers ( 五毛 ) & Big Mamas (大妈 )

• Avoid the Three “T’s”

Knowing the System

If you get blocked

• Confirm - BlockedinChina.net - Greatfire.org- Viewdns.info

• Ask your host for help - Noisy neighbors - Domain blocks - Change servers/hosts

The Future of WordPress in China

• Continue to Support Non-English WordPress• Keep Publishing• Chinese WordPress community: wpdaxue.com

结束John P. Gamboa

@jgamboajpgamboa.com