The relentless quest for a centralized Russian Internet continues.
In its ongoing and misguided effort to create a centrally controlled Internet, the Russian government once again tightened its noose on Russian citizens’ freedom to use modern technology to exercise fundamental human rights. Russian regulator Roskomnadzor announced earlier this month that it is conducting an investigation into Lantern, a software pioneer of Internet freedom, alongside five other VPNs. The last time such an investigation was undertaken, the reviewed services were added to the government’s registry of forbidden websites and became targeted by government censors — all under the pretext that these services were providing access to “harmful” information.
Such measures restrict the ability of Russian citizens to exercise their human rights online, among them freedom of expression and freedom of access to information. Moreover, centralization is a path to fragility, not merely in technology architectures but in economies and societies as well. Just as a dependency on a single VPN or video portal like YouTube makes communicating more difficult in an adversarial environment, so too will the Russian government’s efforts to force its citizens to specific content and services ultimately undermine its own control over information.
We’re not surprised to see Lantern on the Russian government’s list, especially after the recent news of Russia’s aggressive attacks on the Tor network. Lantern has a proven global track record of providing private, fast, reliable, and secure internet access to over 120 million users. By utilizing a variety of techniques to bypass censorship and firewalls, including the ability to automatically switch between techniques if some are blocked, Lantern has established itself as a pioneer in censorship resistance to protect access to the Internet.
Should the Russian government add Lantern to its censorship list, we — the development team building, maintaining, and further innovating on Lantern — stand ready to respond, putting those same adaptive techniques into practice to ensure that Russian citizens can continue to use our technologies to protect their fundamental rights online. We have no intention of cooperating with Russian law enforcement nor complying with any content filtering requests.
Moreover, Lantern integrates a censorship-resistant decentralized content distribution tool currently available for Russian users on desktop and coming to mobile devices this month. When the Russian government blocks access to political videos or other content through YouTube and other sites, Lantern’s tools safely and securely allow users to make the blocked content available for the world to see.
Russia’s continued attempts to create a centrally controlled Internet isolated from the rest of the world is of grave concern for the future of global communication, commerce, and democracy. Despite this darkness, Lantern will continue to shine its light, providing tools and support for the free flow of communication and ideas across the planet.
To download/access Lantern:
https://getlantern.org/en_US/index.html — website link
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.getlantern.lantern Google play
https://apps.apple.com/app/id1457872372 App store
