Scratch Website Cannot Open

[MapMaths]

Windows OS 19042.423 Edge
China Server

I've opened Scratch in many browsers, but lost as always.
Here are examples of Microsoft Edge:

1. Homepage
   
   
2. User Page
   As above.
3. Scratch Wiki(Not wrong)
   

CMD Ping (Chinese Language):

[apple502j]

This is a problem with China's censorship and not scratch-www.

repro: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/post/4325549/

[MapMaths]

Thx! But I can't open it. So plz print your screen to me

[apple502j]

online censorship checker:

[MapMaths]

Oh! ☹ Will it be fixed?

[cyx2015s]

If the ST change “country” into “location”, or combine the options, “China” “Macau” “Hong kong” and “Taiwan” into “China”, we will be able to access scratch again.

Oh! ☹ Will it be fixed?

---

But however, this is impossible. Github remain unblocked because many Chinese programmers stay on this website, but we're ordinary students, blocking it will do little harm to them.

[MapMaths]

OK thx

[Kenny2github]

If the ST change “country” into “location”, or combine the options, “China” “Macau” “Hong kong” and “Taiwan” into “China”, we will be able to access scratch again.

I find the former far more likely than the latter, though if @BryceLTaylor stands by his statement in #4313 that it's "by design" then this is goodbye for Chinese Scratchers.

[R4356th]

Wikipedia says there are ways of getting around this.

[sea-horizon]

VPN?

[MapMaths]

Wikipedia says there are ways of getting around this.

Sorry, Wikipedia has been locked in China

[R4356th]

Wikipedia says there are ways of getting around this.

Sorry, Wikipedia has been locked in China

I am sorry. I forgot that. This is what that section contains-

Using a VPN service
Internet censorship in China is circumvented by determined parties by using proxy servers outside the firewall.[165] Users may circumvent all of the censorship and monitoring of the Great Firewall if they have a working VPN or SSH connection method to a computer outside mainland China. However, disruptions of VPN services have been reported and the free or popular services especially are increasingly being blocked.[166][167] To avoid deep packet inspection and continue providing services in China some VPN providers implemented server obfuscation.[168]

Changing IP addresses
Since free hosting blog services like Blogger and Wordpress.com frequently face blockage,[169][170][171] some China-focused services explicitly offer to change a blog's IP address within 30 minutes if it is blocked by the authorities.[172]

Using a mirror website
In 2002, Chinese citizens used the Google mirror elgooG after China blocked Google.[173]

Modifying the network stack
In July 2006, researchers at Cambridge University claimed to have defeated the firewall by ignoring the TCP reset packets.[174]

Using Tor and DPI-resistant tools
Although many users use VPNs to circumvent the Great Firewall of China, many Internet connections are now subject to deep packet inspection, in which data packets are looked at in detail. Many VPNs have been blocked using this method. Blogger Grey One suggests users trying to disguise VPN usage forward their VPN traffic through port 443 because this port is also heavily used by web browsers for HTTPS connections. However, Grey points out this method is futile against advanced inspection.[175] Obfsproxy[176] and other pluggable transports do allow users to evade deep-packet inspection.[177]

The Tor anonymity network was and is subject to partial blocking by China's Great Firewall.[178][179][180][181] The Tor website is blocked when accessed over HTTP but it is reachable over HTTPS so it is possible for users to download the Tor Browser Bundle.[182] The Tor project also maintains a list of website mirrors in case the main Tor website is blocked.[183]

The Tor network maintains a public list of approximately 3000 entry relays; almost all of them are blocked.[182] In addition to the public relays, Tor maintains bridges which are non-public relays.[184] Their purpose is to help censored users reach the Tor network. The Great Firewall scrapes nearly all the bridge IPs distributed through bridges.torproject.org and email. According to Winter's research paper published in April 2012, this blocking technique can be circumvented by using packet fragmentation or the Tor obfsproxy bundle in combination with private obfsproxy bridges.[176][182] Tor Obfs4 bridges still work in China as long as the IPs are discovered through social networks or self-published bridges.[185]

Tor now primarily functions in China using meeks which works via front-end proxies hosted on Content Delivery Networks (CDN's) to obfuscate the information coming to and from the source and destination, it is a type of pluggable transport. Examples are Microsoft's Azure and Cloudflare.[186]

Unintended methods
It was common in the past to use Google's cache feature to view blocked websites. However, this feature of Google seems to be under some level of blocking, as access is now erratic and does not work for blocked websites. Currently, the block is mostly circumvented by using proxy servers outside the firewall and is not difficult to carry out for those determined to do so.

The mobile Opera Mini browser uses a proxy-based approach employing encryption and compression in order to speed up downloads. This has the side effect of allowing it to circumvent several approaches to Internet censorship. In 2009 this led the government of China to ban all but a special Chinese version of the browser.[187]

Using an analogy to bypass keyword filters
As the Great Firewall of China gets more sophisticated, the users are getting increasingly creative in the ways they elude the censorship such as by using analogies to discuss topics. Furthermore, users are becoming increasingly open in their mockery of them by actively using homophones to avoid censorship. Deleted sites have "been harmonized", indicating CPC general secretary Hu Jintao's Internet censorship under the big picture of creating a "Socialist Harmonious Society". For example, censors are referred to as "river crabs", because in Chinese those two words together form a homophone for "harmony".[188]

Using steganography
According to The Guardian editor Charles Arthur, Internet users in China have found more technical ways to get around the Great Firewall of China, including using Steganography, a practice of "embedding useful data in what looks like something irrelevant. The text of a document can be broken into its constituent bytes, which are added to the pixels of an apparently innocent picture. The effect is barely visible on the picture, but the recipient can extract it with the right software".[189]

Voices
Rupert Murdoch famously proclaimed that advances in communications technology posed an "unambiguous threat to totalitarian regimes everywhere"[190] and Ai Weiwei argued that the Chinese "leaders must understand it's not possible for them to control the Internet unless they shut it off".[191]

However, Nathan Freitas, a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard and technical adviser to the Tibet Action Institute, says "There’s a growing sense within China that widely used VPN services that were once considered untouchable are now being touched." In June 2015 Jaime Blasco, a security researcher at AlienVault in Silicon Valley, reported that hackers, possibly with the assistance of the Chinese government, had found ways to circumvent the most popular privacy tools on the Internet: virtual private networks, or VPNs, and Tor. This is done with the aid of a particularly serious vulnerability, known as JSONP, that 15 web services in China apparently never patched. As long as the users are logged into one of China's top web services such as Baidu, Taobao, QQ, Sina, Sohu, and Ctrip the hackers can identify them and access their personal information, even if they are using Tor or a VPN. The vulnerability is not new; it was published in a Chinese security and web forum around 2013.[192]

[tb148]

CAN reproduce! Also if anyone else in China whats to know why then here it is.

[cyx2015s]

CAN reproduce! Also if anyone else in China whats to know why then here it is.

背后肯定有教育机构，为了推广自己产品

There MUST be education companies trying to bring their product to eyesight.

[apple502j]

Okay, here is the thing:

• Country to location: Here is the easiest thing, Change country to location #4316 and [hotfix] Change country to location #4317 - This is just an error made during the Join Flow migration.
• Banning anti-China projects: THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT HAPPENING. As long as it's constructive, we should have the ability to say Free Hong Kong (or the opposite, of course). Terms of Use clearly states that the Scratch Team supports freedom of expression. I was once banned because a lot of people (probably from China?) reported my project of a Hong Kong protest song - and they uncensored it, so I'm sure they do think freedom of expression is important.
• While there are 3 million Scratchers from China, there is nothing the Scratch Team loses by having a Great Firewall. Maybe they lose some donation from Chinese companies but oh well. But I am sure free speech and human rights are much more important than money.

[tb148]

• Banning anti-China projects: THIS IS DEFINITELY NOT HAPPENING. As long as it's constructive, we should have the ability to say Free Hong Kong (or the opposite, of course). Terms of Use clearly states that the Scratch Team supports freedom of expression. I was once banned because a lot of people (probably from China?) reported my project of a Hong Kong protest song - and they uncensored it, so I'm sure they do think freedom of expression is important.

However are you sure that it does NOT violates 反国家分裂法？(Sorry, translation currently not available). I think the ST might consider that if it violates LAWS!

[tb148]

One last thing: If Scratch is censored in China, is it still welcoming Everyone? I am sure using VPN is a kind of ability so (quoted from the CG):

If you think a project or comment is mean, insulting, too violent, or otherwise inappropriate, click “Report” to let us know about it.
Scratch welcomes people of all ages, races, ethnicities, religions, abilities, sexual orientations, and gender identities.

[tb148]

TCPING result, in case somebody says that the Scratch servers might ban ping:

[apple502j]

@tb148 Is that an American law?

also "ability" here probably means whether they have disability or not, and not VPN.

[MapMaths]

CAN reproduce! Also if anyone else in China whats to know why then here it is.

Oop

[apple502j]

See also Terms of Use:

12. Jurisdiction
    Scratch is offered by the Scratch Team from its facilities in the United States. The Scratch Team makes no representations that Scratch is appropriate or available for use in other locations. Those who access or use Scratch are responsible for compliance with local law.

[apple502j]

Paddle2See, one of the moderator said in September 2019:

We feel that individuals are far better at identifying what country they belong to than Scratch is. If a person in Hong Kong feels that their country is Hong Kong, they can choose it. If they feel that the correct country they belong to is China, they are welcome to select it as well. We do not want to remove options for people to identify what country they feel best describes their country.

source: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/post/3710933/

[RealGDMC]

however, China mainlan’s users of scratch.mit.edu cannot view the page now. and maybe forever

[tb148]

Paddle2See, one of the moderator said in September 2019:

We feel that individuals are far better at identifying what country they belong to than Scratch is. If a person in Hong Kong feels that their country is Hong Kong, they can choose it. If they feel that the correct country they belong to is China, they are welcome to select it as well. We do not want to remove options for people to identify what country they feel best describes their country.

source: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/post/3710933/

However HONG KONG IS NOT A COUNTRY!!! Changing the word to "location" also works and it is true that Hong Kong is a location.

[wrj2009]

VPN?

yes

[MapMaths]

Paddle2See, one of the moderator said in September 2019:

We feel that individuals are far better at identifying what country they belong to than Scratch is. If a person in Hong Kong feels that their country is Hong Kong, they can choose it. If they feel that the correct country they belong to is China, they are welcome to select it as well. We do not want to remove options for people to identify what country they feel best describes their country.

source: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/post/3710933/

However HONG KONG IS NOT A COUNTRY!!! Changing the word to "location" also works and it is true that Hong Kong is a location.

True!

[Nambaseking01]

Paddle2See, one of the moderator said in September 2019:

We feel that individuals are far better at identifying what country they belong to than Scratch is. If a person in Hong Kong feels that their country is Hong Kong, they can choose it. If they feel that the correct country they belong to is China, they are welcome to select it as well. We do not want to remove options for people to identify what country they feel best describes their country.

source: https://scratch.mit.edu/discuss/post/3710933/

However HONG KONG IS NOT A COUNTRY!!! Changing the word to "location" also works and it is true that Hong Kong is a location.

I agree with this, this would be a fantastic fix to the problem.

#4316 can fix this issue, better merge it as soon as possible, or else this news will spread like wildfire in the community.

[PrincessPandaSource]

Another fix would be to block projects/studios and censor keywords found in postings that are sensitive to Chinese policy if the site detects the user to be accessing in China.

(Chinese person here.)

[MapMaths]

However, Scratch has been blocked for two days by now, while my friends and I was doing our projects.

[ljy-002]

https://rvpn.club/

[ljy-002]

CAN reproduce! Also if anyone else in China whats to know why then here it is.

背后肯定有教育机构，为了推广自己产品

There MUST be education companies trying to bring their product to eyesight.

嗯，我觉得中国政府太“直爽”了，什么也没想，被洗脑了，就把Scratch关了

[52black]

CAN reproduce! Also if anyone else in China whats to know why then here it is.

背后肯定有教育机构，为了推广自己产品
There MUST be education companies trying to bring their product to eyesight.

嗯，我觉得中国政府太“直爽”了，什么也没想，被洗脑了，就把Scratch关了

一直都是这样的好吗，墙网站从不考虑的

[52black]

CAN reproduce! Also if anyone else in China whats to know why then here it is.

背后肯定有教育机构，为了推广自己产品
There MUST be education companies trying to bring their product to eyesight.

嗯，我觉得中国政府太“直爽”了，什么也没想，被洗脑了，就把Scratch关了

不是洗脑的问题，反正违法内容一多不墙才怪呢，很少会考虑其他的

[ljy-002]

@52black 对，我们对这中国不是很满意，包括其他的事

[Adamtimmy]

我同意我不希望在国内的朋友不能在到scratch上 (　ＴДＴ)
对我来说scratch没有意思了，我都不能和一个大陆人说话~

[MapMaths]

Oh, why HK still a country?
This is the main reason for blocking.

[MapMaths]

#4175

[ljy-002]

@mapmath 是因为香港（台湾）有一个独立的服务器

[waterblock79]

@mapmath 是因为香港（台湾）有一个独立的服务器

Hey, I think scratch website will not come back forever, you know, 'they' don't care about that beacause we just student.So lets stop this issue, do some thing more meaningful XD

[ljy-002]

@waterblock79
Yes
We can only do other things now
We are also dealing with this problem

[sea-horizon]

也难怪了
https://tse3-mm.cn.bing.net/th/id/OIP.mHxLC5yHV-AnEje63NDA9wHaFS?pid=ImgDet&rs=1

[ljy-002]

About此问题：
#4175 #4317 #4024 #4019

[ljy-002]

当然，从这一行开始，就是设置国家和地区的了：
https://github.com/LLK/scratch-www/blob/develop/test/unit/lib/country-data.test.js#L75

[ljy-002]

但我不推荐再拉取一个请求，这样会更麻烦

[Adamtimmy]

是的 我们应该在github上建一个以前在scratch上的朋友圈 你们看怎么样呀

[MapMaths]

可以啊

[ljy-002]

是的，我们只能这样，没有其他办法

[wrj2009]

https://github.com/LLK/scratch-www/blob/develop/src/lib/country-data.js

[ljy-002]

@Adamtimmy 你还好吗？

[Adamtimmy]

@Adamtimmy 你还好吗？

我还好！ 只不过最近有点累！@lyj-002 ， @MapMaths 你们还好吗？

[MapMaths]

@Adamtimmy

[Adamtimmy]

@MapMaths 好的 但是它说“this is not the chat you were looking for" :(

[MapMaths]

@Adamtimmy 可能邀请函过期了，现在应该可以了

[Adamtimmy]

@MapMaths 好的！现在好了！谢谢！

[wrj2009]

可以不讨论了吗😂现在这里讨论的也不是“Scratch Website Cannot Open”了

[ljy-002]

@Adamtimmy 太好了，还能在这里跟你们讨论

[Adamtimmy]

😂😂👍👍👍说得对不讨论了，至少不在这里讨论了 ，你也可以加入上面的chat哟 @wrj2009

[cheny0y0]

CAN reproduce! Also if anyone else in China whats to know why then here it is.

背后肯定有教育机构，为了推广自己产品
There MUST be education companies trying to bring their product to eyesight.

嗯，我觉得中国政府太“直爽”了，什么也没想，被洗脑了，就把Scratch关了

不是洗脑的问题，反正违法内容一多不墙才怪呢，很少会考虑其他的

我们中国的GFW真是太厉害了！（自豪脸）

[cheny0y0]

😭Can I open the Scratch Offical Website without VPN again in the future? :(

You need to use an IP that cannot be catch by Chinese Distributions.(e.g. wired connection to LLK, but do you have a long wire?)