I don't like PragerU, but really? My ISP has apparently IP-blocked their website.

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[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

Yes, I can configure it manually for each computer (which I do with my main computer and raspberry pi), and I can also configure it for the whole network. This has no effect, however, regardless of what DNS server I use. I primarily use DNS.watch, but I've tried OpenDNS, Quad9, Google's DNS, and Cloudflare's DNS and none of them can get through.

[–]asterias 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

You also said that ISP blocked torproject.org and ipsf.io, all this sounds like something that would happen in countries specifically targeted by the West for violation of citizen rights. It really sounds more and more spooky.

Probably they employ DPI or an extensive list of IP blocking. Maybe you could set up your own private VPN on a rented VPS?

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (7 children)

I'm pretty sure I live in the United States, but maybe my whole life is a lie, lol. What's weird is that they DNS-block some websites (like my website for some reason) and IP-block others (like prageru.com for some reason). But the weirdest part is that they somehow block third-party DNS websites from operating correctly. Aren't the requests encrypted? It can't be the case that every single one I tried wasn't encrypted?

Perhaps they could have just gotten a list of spam websites and didn't check? But then again, why would they go out of their way to prevent third-party DNS servers from indexing them? That's what's most suspicious. What's DPI? I can't for the life of me find what that abbreviation stands for.

I could perhaps rent a VPS if I decide to take the monetary route, but I don't have the money right now. Also: how can I trust who I'm renting the VPS from?

[–]asterias 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

DPI stands for Deep Packet Inspection. It means your ISP spends considerable resources to block certain sites.

DNS requests are encrypted only when you use DNSCrypt. See if this page is of any help:

https://www.privacytools.io/providers/dns/

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

I used Quad9's DNS (which is listed there) and it can't get through and I tried using Firefox which has DNS-over-HTTP but it couldn't get through either.

[–]asterias 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Regarding Quad9, did you also use a DNSCrypt client (further down the page)?

In Firefox, have you checked https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/firefox-dns-over-https for possible further hints?

But DNS is still only part of the problem. If your ISP uses DPI, it won't help you much. VPN is the way to go.

I'll make another suggestion at your other replies.

[–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I installed one of the clients and I can access every blocked website just fine! Thanks a lot! So it seems that it's not an IP-block, but rather that my ISP is instead analyzing unencrypted DNS requests, which is actually a lot worse. I'm still pissed off that they're blocking websites, but I can actually access them now, which makes my life 100x easier.

[–][deleted]  (1 child)

[deleted]

    [–][deleted] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

    I'll call them out eventually if the issue isn't resolved, but at this time it's not worth saying. I want to at least see what they have to say, even though I'm fairly certain of what they're doing at this point.