Fix for www.rt.com access errors 'unexpected end of file', 403, 404

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Ivan

Fix for www.rt.com access errors 'unexpected end of file', 403, 404

Unread post by Ivan » 2022-3-3 03:48

Script kiddies have been DDoSing, warring governments censoring and the Big Tech blocking Russian news outlet RT (Russia Today @ rt.com). It would be really a shame if there was only one-sided stories available, especially after what has happened with the COVID-19 "news".

From the following partial mirrors (2 link levels) you can read the latest rt.com news:
  • Asia: REMOVED NOT WORKING ANYMORE
  • USA: REMOVED NOT WORKING ANYMORE
RT News Telegram channel is working as well: https://t.me/rtnews
Image You can make your own mirror easily using wget. Here are the command line parameters for creating mirrors such as the ones above:

Code: Select all

wget -r -l 2 --no-remove-listing -kxKE --no-host-directories --referer REMOVED NOT WORKING ANYMORE --random-wait --wait 1 -e robots=off -t 5 https://www.rt.com/
Before you run the code, you need to create an SSL certificate for the site and move to the webroot directory of your mirror. You can schedule the script for example hourly to keep the mirror up-to-date.

Here is a shell script for GNU/Linux that is also checking whether the mirror is already running before starting to update it. You need to replace CAPITALIZED code with your own settings.

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#!/bin/sh

another_instance()
{
    exit 1
}
if [ "$(pgrep THENAMEOFYOURSCRIPT.sh)" != $$ ]; then
     another_instance
fi

cd YOUR_WEBROOT_DIRECTORY
wget -r -l 2 --no-remove-listing -kxKEq --no-host-directories --referer YOUR_MIRROR_SITE --random-wait --wait 1 -e robots=off -t 5 https://www.rt.com/
If you get blocked by the DDoS protection, you can inform them about your mirror by email info@rttv.ru. Leave a reply to my post after your mirror is up and running so others people can find and use it.



Santeri
Posts: 279
Joined: 2017-7-5 09:58

Re: Fix for www.rt.com access errors 'unexpected end of file', 403, 404

Unread post by Santeri » 2022-3-7 06:48

Thanks for sharing.

They have blocked that Telegram group at least in Finland: "This channel can't be displayed because it violated local laws."
Image Your wget code did not work with new wget version 1.19.4, but I managed to get working using the following arguments

Code: Select all

wget -mkxKE -o log.txt -l 3 --no-use-server-timestamps --referer mymirror.com --random-wait --wait 1 -e robots=off -t 5  https://www.rt.com/ 
My script failed using sh but worked fine with bash
#!/bin/bash
Happy hacking,

Santeri

Janne

Re: Fix for www.rt.com access errors 'unexpected end of file', 403, 404

Unread post by Janne » 2022-3-11 14:47

Censoring the website is apparently done by blocking dns requests. The website starts working again if you add it statically to your hosts file. Here is the entry you need to add:

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185.178.208.121 www.rt.com
You need to be root to access to edit the hosts file at

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/etc/hosts
In Windows 10 you need to open your text editor using Run as administrator and the hosts file is located at

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C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts
J.

Santeri
Posts: 279
Joined: 2017-7-5 09:58

Re: Fix for www.rt.com access errors 'unexpected end of file', 403, 404

Unread post by Santeri » 2022-3-14 19:22

Janne wrote:
2022-3-11 14:47
Censoring the website is apparently done by blocking dns requests. The website starts working again if you add it statically to your hosts file. Here is the entry you need to add:

Code: Select all

185.178.208.121 www.rt.com
Thanks for sharing instructions, but they are no longer working. The IP address has changed. The following hosts entry works at the moment:

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91.215.41.10 www.rt.com rt.com

Santeri
Posts: 279
Joined: 2017-7-5 09:58

Re: Fix for www.rt.com access errors 'unexpected end of file', 403, 404

Unread post by Santeri » 2022-3-15 10:20

The IP address has been changed again. Here are the current HOSTS settings that work:

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185.79.236.174 www.rt.com rt.com 
185.79.236.160 rtd.rt.com
These are changing so often that using a DNS to somewhere outside Europe, that is not censored and controlled, might make more sense than editing the hosts file. There are probably a lot more censored sites than just RT. With a quick look I found these:

https://lv.sputniknews.ru
https://sputniknews.com
https://thepiratebay.org

Guest

Re: Fix for www.rt.com access errors 'unexpected end of file', 403, 404

Unread post by Guest » 2022-3-19 04:16

IP have changed again. New values to hosts file

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178.176.128.128 cdnen.rt.com cdni.rt.com
185.79.236.174 www.rt.com rt.com 
185.79.236.160 rtd.rt.com

Guest

Re: Fix for www.rt.com access errors 'unexpected end of file', 403, 404

Unread post by Guest » 2022-3-19 20:58

Ivan wrote:
2022-3-3 03:48
From the following partial mirrors (2 link levels) you can read the latest rt.com news:
  • Asia: REMOVED NOT WORKING ANYMORE
  • USA: REMOVED NOT WORKING ANYMORE
These mirrors are not working but the latest hosts trick does.

Guest

Re: Fix for www.rt.com access errors 'unexpected end of file', 403, 404

Unread post by Guest » 2022-3-24 15:56

Janne wrote:
2022-3-11 14:47
Censoring the website is apparently done by blocking dns requests.
Indeed. Google public DNS is not blocking any of those sites. Simply use
DNS1 8.8.8.8
DNS2 8.8.4.4

Santeri
Posts: 279
Joined: 2017-7-5 09:58

Re: Fix for www.rt.com access errors 'unexpected end of file', 403, 404

Unread post by Santeri » 2022-3-27 13:19

Guest wrote:
2022-3-24 15:56
DNS1 8.8.8.8
DNS2 8.8.4.4
Excellent solution. Thank you. Pity Poople can not be trusted anymore. Do you happen to know any open DNS services in Russia or China?

Santeri
Posts: 279
Joined: 2017-7-5 09:58

Re: Fix for www.rt.com access errors 'unexpected end of file', 403, 404

Unread post by Santeri » 2022-5-17 08:50

Works with android phones, too, if you put to Private DNS provider hostname setting dns.google or 1dot1dot1dot1.cloudflare-dns.com .

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