As modern technology develops and a huge variety of information spreads on the Internet, there is a need to control the impact of this information on society. Due to this need, web content has fallen under the supervision of regulatory authorities.
Not only regional, but also foreign resources that fall under the banned category are blocked. One of the categories of sites prescribed in the legislation and subject to blocking are online casinos. The situation became very complicated for owners of such resources, but also providers have to cope with the onslaught of law enforcement agencies and authorities. In this regard, casinos without blocking (e.g. casinos ohne 5 sekunden regel) were created.
Subject to blocking are sites offering card games, slots, poker and other gambling card games, sports betting and other resources, whose activities can somehow be associated with the gambling industry.
Ways to bypass blocking online casinos – from simple to complex
The online casino owners take certain measures to bypass blocking: create alternative sites, register new domain names (mirrors), use secure protocols and change DNS. But the players themselves have several ways to ensure access to the online casino site.
Virtual Private Network (or VPN)
Using a VPN is the second most reliable way to bypass the blockade, after the above. It works on the following principle: the computer connects to the server and through it goes online, getting his IP-address. A special algorithm encrypts the traffic, helping to bypass the blocking provider. But without additional encryption, the VPN operator will be able to intercept the information and use it. This is the only disadvantage of this method of providing anonymity and bypassing blockades. But there is a way out – the use of private programs to create a private VPN network. You need a lot of technical skills to create it, but a private VPN tunnel will provide a free and most reliable blocking bypass.
Anonymizers
Anonymizers are ordinary pages on the Internet that are similar to search engines. The difference is that it is not a search phrase that is entered into the box, but the address of a blocked site. Anonymizers are proxy servers with a graphical shell, which is easy to use for users with any level of knowledge, and all the necessary settings.
But that’s where the benefits of anonymizers end. They can not provide high speed, show additional advertising (due to what they exist), and do not have support for modern technologies such as JavaScript, ActiveX and others, which negatively affects the correctness of the site. Another significant disadvantage of anonymizers is the lack of encryption.
Browser plugins
Each such plugin is a full-fledged anonymizer, but more functional and convenient. They spoof the IP address on the fly, replacing it with an anonymous one. In addition, they can change the identifier of the browser and connect to the TOR network. To date, one of the most efficient and effective plugins is AnonymoX (for Firefox and Chrome). And the Opera browser has a built-in “Turbo” mode, which in many cases helps to bypass blocking, that is, acts as a built-in VPN.
Top free VPN plugins for Chrome:
- TunnelBear VPN – one of the most popular solutions for Chrome browser, providing reliable and fast Internet connection;
- Hotspot Shield – the second most popular solution with the limitation of the free version (the limitation concerns the number of available servers – you can only use Denmark, the Netherlands, France, Canada and the USA);
- Hola VPN works on a different principle than other similar services, using the computers of the system participants themselves, rather than servers;
- ZenMate VPN is another free plugin that requires registration on the service’s website;
- Touch VPN provides access to only four countries for free subscription, and the connection speed depends on the number of users connected to the service.
Top free VPN plugins for Firefox:
- ZenMate VPN;
- Hoxx VPN Proxy – a plugin with an impressive list of servers (more than 100 in different countries);
- Browsec VPN – the simplest and one of the most common plugins with a minimum of settings;
- friGate is a plugin that uses proxy servers
- Hotspot Shield free VPN has unlimited bandwidth, but of all the plugins for this browser works the least stable.
- Unfortunately, there are no such extensions for the Safari browser, so users have to use other methods.
TOR – The Onion Router
TOR provides an excellent way to stay anonymous. It is based on the onion routing principle. Each user runs an Onion-proxy on his computer, which connects to other computers. This creates a virtual anonymous network.
A bunch of three servers are used to connect. This timing chain is constantly changing, with all of its links chosen at random and “remembering” only the next and previous link, which means that it becomes impossible to fully determine the entire route. Before sending a packet, the program encrypts it with three keys, in the following order: for the third node, the second and the first. When the packet is delivered to the node, it decrypts the top cipher, which allows it to determine where to send the packet, then the next layer is read, similar to clearing an onion, so this method of bypassing blocking and anonymity is called “onion”.
You can download the program from the official website, and it won’t take long to install and configure. You can also use a plugin for Firefox called Torbutton.
With all its advantages, TOR has a few disadvantages. The first is the end server’s access to unencrypted information, which creates the risk of its theft. The second is its low modem-level speed, which few people remember.
Invisible Internet Project (or I2P)This method of blocking bypass is not yet suitable for everyday use, because it works slowly because of the small number of users on the network (and this is a key criterion on which the speed of I2P depends). The Invisible Internet Project was originally designed to work in the most difficult circumstances, with the assumption that all of the intermediate hosts were being taken over by malicious and controlling authorities.
The I2P network has no DNS servers, central servers and is not affected by external DNS-servers, and the number of various protections available in this network could be the material for a separate article. The use of “onion” routing, multi-layer encryption, one-way tunnels and redirecting data packets through multiple tunnels is an incomplete and very basic list of what makes the Invisible Internet Project an incredibly secure network that is several orders of magnitude more secure than the normal Internet. But setting up this network is very complicated, and untrained users are not up to the task.
The good old proxies
A very old and very problematic way is to add the proxy server address manually in the browser settings. You will first need to find a suitable free proxy at one of the specialized sites. You can install proxies with the help of a special program, but the problem of such programs is that they are all conditionally free, and all found proxies either do not work at all or work very slowly, and they also “die” very quickly and you have to look for new ones. It is worth noting that as a means to bypass blocked online casinos (and other blocked resources) this method is the least effective.
