Opera In Egypt: can't access any site.

[elmohamade]

elmohamade last edited by leocg

I can't surf any sites when using Opera & I can't even download it & I can't access any domain related to opera.com
only what I had to do is to use vpn to can use it normally, unless that I can't use it

So, please give me a solution to solve this problem without using vpn.

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer @elmohamade last edited by

@elmohamade The only solution seems to be whoever is blocking Opera domains in your country to unblock them.

[elmohamade]

elmohamade @leocg last edited by

@leocg What mean? you mean my country unblock Opera domains? I need solution I can do it with myself not to wait my country to solve this problem.

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer @elmohamade last edited by

@elmohamade

I mean that it looks like that Opera were blocked by some third party in your country.

For now the solution for that seems to be, as you already have found, to use a VPN.

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 @elmohamade last edited by blackbird71

@elmohamade The data sent by your browser when trying to visit a typical website includes both the URL address of the website and the user agent string detailing the browser you're using. A 3rd party can censor visited websites by blocking access of certain website URLs or IPs (hence, Opera's websites may thus be blocked); they can also block any and all outbound traffic carrying Opera browser's user agent string (in which case you can't establish the handshaking necessary to visit any site at all). Because Opera has its own VPN/proxy features, censoring nations sometimes will block user access to Opera's websites to prevent downloading it.

A computer-level, 'true' VPN will encrypt both the sought website URL and any browser user agent string in the data packets, thus bypassing the censors (assuming they haven't elected/discovered to block that VPN's own address itself).

[bufce]

bufce last edited by

Hello, I've contacted my ISP and they insisted that the blocking is from Opera's side. and said that Opera sat some policies blocking Egyptian hosts from using opera services.

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 @bufce last edited by blackbird71

@bufce said in Opera In Egypt: can't access any site.:

Hello, I've contacted my ISP and they insisted that the blocking is from Opera's side. and said that Opera sat some policies blocking Egyptian hosts from using opera services.

Since I'm not an Opera employee, I don't have insight into the exact details of their VPN mechanisms. However, I strongly believe your ISP is "mistaken" in faulting Opera. When one considers the chain of technical links that relay the data involved in your visiting a website, there are multiple other "players" besides Opera that are far more likely (and more 'motivated') to block your data packets. To understand that, you must have a grasp of the technical aspects of visiting a website and using a VPN/proxy.

When making a connection to any website, the computer must first have that website's IP address, not just its URL address. Either the computer must already know the desired IP address directly or it must request it from some DNS look-up server which provides a cross-index of all Internet website URL's versus their IP addresses. If the computer doesn't already know the IP address for a VPN, it must obtain it as well from whatever DNS look-up site has been specified for that computer (typically one defined by the ISP provider). If the computer can't look up the IP from the specified DNS server or if the IP isn't otherwise supplied (eg: directly from within the local VPN client), it can't even begin to connect to that VPN. Consequently, blocking of look-up requests for a VPN's URLs at regional DNS look-up servers is a commonplace "first" tactic forced by the authorities in places where censorship occurs.

Assuming you can successfully obtain the IP address of the VPN server, your computer's VPN connection packets are directed to your ISP for routing out onto the Internet toward that VPN server. If national blocking is occurring, another line of blocking may occur at the ISP's servers, and - depending on the national rules and political atmosphere - the ISP may or may not give you a truthful answer when questioned about whether and whom they block. Assuming they actually aren't blocking, your VPN packets will be relayed from them to an Internet 'backbone' network provider who may or may not be located within that national boundary. If that backbone provider is under control/influence of the government (either geographically or by contractual agreement), yet another possible blocking wall can exist at the backbone provider. Assuming again that the backbone passes the VPN packets toward the network, those packets may still be routed through a governmental-operated relay server "portal" that performs national blocking - depending on how the government has set up their national blocking mechanisms and rules.

If you are able to connect successfully to the VPN, your computer will send either the URL for the target site to the VPN and the VPN will perform its own DNS lookup for that URL or, depending on your VPN's design, your computer may first have to connect to its own specified DNS server to look up the IP for the target URL. In that latter case, again local/regional DNS blocking of Opera's VPN server URLs would then suffice to block connections to the VPN. I don't know with certainty who performs the target-site DNS lookups when using Opera's VPN server, but I doubt that Opera's VPN forces you to do it locally. Assuming that Opera's VPN performs the DNS lookup of the IP for your target URL, then the request URL data sent to the VPN server is encrypted using https protocols and 'ought' to be secure against snooping and blocking at that point... in which case, you should be able to successfully make the connection to that target site. Of course, there still exists the question of whether the target site itself will accept data packets coming from a VPN (some won't, for various SPAM-related reasons) or whether the site attempts to geolocate and filter against the original geo-source clues within the incoming packets (to meet certain DRM requirements imposed by media they may carry).

As you can see, there are a number of potential points at which blocking or failure-to-connect can actually occur. If blocking were to be occurring at Opera's VPN servers, the question that would have to be answered is: "why?". Opera has no motivation to block certain geographical areas from contacting their VPN. Hence, the most likely explanation is that there is indeed blocking occurring along the data path (whether at the ISP or elsewhere) and that it is either intentional (very likely) or the inadvertent result of blocker misadjustments (less likely), particularly within Egypt and a handful of other nations as has been independently demonstrated for a number of years. VPNs represent a potential for bypassing censorship, and it is only logical that censoring nations would actively seek to block the use of VPNs within their borders. The ultimate solution is political and requires the citizens of such nations to make their governments drop the censorship. Where that is not possible, the citizens will remain in that level of bondage.

[bufce]

bufce @blackbird71 last edited by

@blackbird71 Thanks for the great informative reply.
Actually I recall now that my ISP started a blocking-campaign against websites leaking copyrighted media in Ramadan 2019 (May 5th 2019).
we have lots of internet issues since then.
they've even blocked VOIP including whats app calls, games voice chat, etc...
They justified it by saying they are fighting terrorism O.o so no body would dare to object.
I guess we -Egyptians- have to live with it.