How To: Log In and Access Blocked Websites (e.g. Facebook, Twitter & YouTube) from Work, School or Your Home Computer

You know it's crazy out there when governments start blocking social websites like Facebook, Twitter and even YouTube.  But that's what happened in Egypt, when tens of thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets on Tuesday (January 25th) in hopes of ending President Hosni Mubarak's 30 years of authoritarian power.

The Egyptian government blocked Twitter Tuesday, which protesters used to coordinate movements.  And reports all say they shut down mobile phone and complete Internet networks.

Recent reports also claim they have blocked Facebook in the country, along with YouTube, due to demonstrators disseminating videos and photographs.

Facebook said Wednesday following reports it had been blocked in Egypt that it had not seen any major changes in traffic from the country rocked by anti-government unrest.

"We are aware of reports of disruption to service but have not seen any major changes in traffic from Egypt," a Facebook spokesman said in an email.  [via Yahoo! News]

But that doesn't mean they hadn't done it.

The Egyptian government appears to be engaging in censorship methods that are either half-hearted or oblivious to the specifics of social media.  [via Fast Company]

If you happen to be experiencing blockage of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube or any other social media site, whether you're residing in Egypt, Pakistan or abroad, then it's still possible to access those websites via VPNs or proxy servers.  If you're getting the "You are not authorized to access this page" error on your web browser, read on...

10 Ways to Access Blocked Sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube

Internet Techies posted a great article on accessing blocked websites in countries like Egypt and Pakistan.  But this also applies if your country, college, office or school is blocking websites and you want access to them.  All you need is a proxy server.

Here's in Internet Techies' Top 10 list of proxy websites:

1. ProxEasy (free service)
2. Proxify (paid service)
3. RocketSurf
4. Zerolike.com
5. 2UnblockSites
6. ProxyBoxOnline
7. Evade Filters
8. ExitB
9. Self Hide
10. UnDirect

To use these proxy sites, you just need to paste the URL of the blocked site in the input box and then you will be redirected to a page where you can see the data from blocked site.  Some of these services are free to use but some of them are paid as well.

Also, check out the below video for accessing blocked websites and bypassing proxy servers:

Also, there's another way...

11 Free VPN Services

Internet Techies also has an alternative solution to hacking into those blocked websites, and it's VPNs, or Virtual Private Networks.

VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a way of secure and reliable communication between some restricted sites and remote users. This is applicable for companies operating in different geographical locations with loads of employees working from home, different offices etc. In that case, employees may use VPN tunnel to access their company's website or portal to access the data. Now this secure and reliable service or way of communication can be used to access some blocked sites as well.

Click through for the list of free VPN services.

[Image credit 1, 2, 3]