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Ask HN: Easy Workaround for Wikipedia Censorship in Turkey

10 points by oriettaxx ↗ HN
Wikipedia (in any language) is banned in Turkey, which is very annoying.

A working solution (many thanks to whoever did it!) is the so called "wikizero", where you add a "0" to each wikipedia link (just before the word "wikipedia"):

So the original: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Turkey becomes * https://en.0wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_in_Turkey

Now, is it possible to make this hack working automatically on my browser? I mean, without having to add the "0" manually on each link?

17 comments

[ 3.2 ms ] story [ 69.4 ms ] thread
turnkeyreverse
Hm interesting. There are a few options: 1) a browser extension that automagically replaces all wikipedia urls with 0wikipedia 2) a local http proxy for all requests where wikipedia is redirected to 0wikipedia 3) a local http server and a local record for wikipedia localhost and a permanent redirect to 0wikipedia
ravenstine
You can change your hosts file so that 0wikipedia.org points to the same IP as Wikipedia.org.
oriettaxx
? are you sure?
jolmg
I think they meant it backwards. Have the hosts file so that wikipedia.org points to the same IP as 0wikipedia.org.
ravenstine
Yeah, whoops.
detaro
0wikipedia's servers are set up to accept requests for wikipedia.org?
oriettaxx
no, and not even 1wikipedia

so, this solution does not work at all

I tried with both:

209.126.98.138 en.wikipedia.org

62.138.14.112 en.wikipedia.org

[deleted]
(comment deleted)
lovelearning
Install this "Redirector" add-on for your respective browser.

Then create a new redirect:

EDIT: Sorry, I got the include and redirect reversed. You need to redirect censored domain to uncensored domain.

Include Pattern:

  *.wikipedia.org/*
Redirect to: $1.0wikipedia.org/$2

Pattern type: wildcard

Example URL is just for testing. Use any 0wikipedia URL.

I use this too, but for distraction avoidance. Any addictive website is redirected to my todo page :)

[1]: https://einaregilsson.com/redirector/

oriettaxx
Zuuuper!!! It works!

Unfortunately, the 'wikizero' solution works only with en.wikipedia.org, so I hadded

Redirect: en.wikipedia.org/

to: $1en.0wikipedia.org/$2

Pattern type: wildcard

Example: en.wikipedia.org/* → en.0wikipedia.org/*

There should be a solution for other wikipedia languages, but I cannot find it

oriettaxx
BTW: Apparently it works also with "1" and "2" and not just "0"
oriettaxx
Since you are here: this app https://ooni.torproject.org/post/ooni-mobile-app/ is pretty good! and is a good test to know how the country you live in is dealing with censorship (it detects 'middleboxes' in your network, too).

Note that the app data is used as evidence of any censorship events that you come across, so data is collected and published (this is the main aim of this app)