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First Release of ZensorChecker

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Tue, 05/05/2009 - 14:35 — apophis

I started a new Project on origo, I call it ZensorChecker.

Download HERE | Source Here

The basic idea was to have a simple tool for everyone to check if their own connection gets censored.

The Program checks the locally present DNS Server against the list of Censored Domains

The Program includes a complete list of censored DNS entries (ZensorChecker.exe -l to see it).

If you have no idea how to use console Programs, just download the exe, and click on it. It will try to find out as much as possible on its own, and after the tests are finished. (the command line is vanished) you can look in the directory where the exe resides.

After the tests are finished a report-<date>.txt file be saved with all the information gathered. It would be nice if you would post your results to the reports forum.

Help:

Usage:
ZensorChecker.exe
Options:
  -c  --country          Specify your country
      --censorhint       If you know the redirect IP, hint it
  -d  --dnshint          Check a certain DNS Server for Censorship
  -h  --help             This help
  -l  --list             List all urls in the baselist
  -p, --provider         Specify your provider
  -r, --reporter         Specify your name
  -v, --verbose          Debug information
      --version          Version information


Examples:

ZensorChecker.exe -c Switzerland -p Cablecom --censorhint 212.142.48.154

The working Cablecom example skipping the Censor IP Detection, with anonymous reporter

Caveat:



  • The Program is currently fed with over 5000 urls, the list is so extensive that it takes upto hours to do a check. And during this time your DNS requests might be slow, cause we send DNS requests all the time.

  • We cannot find new entries with this Tool. It just checks if any of the known URLs are filtered.

  • Did I say that it is slow?


FAQ:



  • Q: What are these "x", "o" and "-"?

  • A: "o" delivers same IP on OpenDNS and your DNS, "x" delivers different IPs (most likely censored) and "- "means its either a round robin server, or an error occured (like DNS timeout)

  • Q: Why is it so slow?

  • A: the program is hammering the DNS Server with Requests, its only as fast as your DNS Server. I tried it with multiple threads, but the server didnt like it. (many timeouts)

  • Q: Is it possible that I do something illegal with this program?

  • A: No, at the moment this is not possible, since the Program only connects to your DNS Server. You don't connect to the censored site, and you don't connect to the redirect server, which might log.


 


Features I could think of:



  • Crawling through the pages to find additional Sites, which are censored. (simple spider, without saving anything besides the DNS entries)

  • Basic checking of the censored entries (is this site still available, is it in domain parking)


Any new Ideas or Code is obviously very welcome.