Internet Freedom and Censorship: Navigating Challenges and Innovations in Digital Sovereignty

While the internet and world wide web have provided tremendous freedoms, those freedoms we take for granted are not the default everywhere in the world. In fact, most people are unaware of threats to their freedom even in free countries such as the United States.

For example, the REACT (Stopping Grinch Bots Act) proposal was introduced in the United States Congress in 2020 and included a provision that would ban the use of VPNs and other tools that can be used to circumvent website blocking and online censorship. The proposal was intended to combat the use of “Grinch Bots,” which are automated tools used to purchase large quantities of popular products during the holiday season, but the provision that would ban the use of VPNs and other circumvention tools raised concerns among privacy advocates and free speech advocates. In the end, the provision banning VPNs was not included in the final version of the bill, but a similar clause appeared again in the 2023 RESTRICT act now going through the legislative process in the United States. The fact that this clause reappeared should be a tremendous red flag. Perhaps the first time it appeared it could have been considered a mistake, but twice? The conclusion must be that there are at least a few very powerful people who want to restrict people’s internet freedoms.

The first attempt to circumvent censorship became what is known today as darknet. The darknet is a network of websites and services that are not indexed by search engines and can only be accessed using specialized software. While the darknet has been used by activists and dissidents to communicate and share information, it has also become a haven for illegal activities like drug trafficking and child pornography.

So it seems there is some need for content moderation, but where do we draw the line? Who should be in charge? At tomi, we believe that DAO technology can offer a decentralized solution to internet censorship. Putting power back in the hands of the people, while maintaining order in our alternative Internet, the tominet. Through this article, we will explore how decentralized approaches might be our best bet to ensure the balance between freedom and responsibility on the internet.

Government Censorship on the Internet

Of course, most people don’t live in the United States. For much of the world, censorship of the worldwide web is commonplace. Governments censor internet traffic to varying degrees. In China, for example, the government has implemented the Great Firewall to block access to foreign websites and censor content that is deemed politically sensitive. Similarly, Iran censors websites and social media platforms that criticize the government, and Turkey has blocked access to Twitter and other platforms during political protests.

Governments use a variety of mechanisms to block access to specific websites that they deem to be inappropriate or threatening.

• In Russia, the government requires social media platforms to store user data on servers located within the country, which allows them to monitor and censor content.
• In 2009, a list of websites that were being censored by the Australian government was leaked online. The list contained over 2,000 websites that the government deemed to be inappropriate or harmful, yet many of them were quite innocuous.
• In Sudan, the government shut down the internet for several weeks in 2019 during protests against the government.

Many governments require businesses to acquire a license simply to have a website. Licensing fees and bureaucracy can serve as a barrier to entry for people to simply conduct normal business activity.

• Vietnam: Companies must obtain an e-commerce business license before operating a website that conducts e-commerce activities. The government uses this licensing requirement to monitor and regulate online content.
• Saudi Arabia: Companies must obtain an e-commerce license from the Ministry of Commerce and Investment before they can operate an e-commerce website. The government uses this licensing requirement to control online content and monitor online transactions.
• India: Companies must obtain a license from the Ministry of Consumer Affairs before they can operate an e-commerce website. The government uses this licensing requirement to regulate online transactions and protect consumers from fraud.

At tomi, we find licensing to be a heavy-handed and unnecessary step, concealed as “protecting the consumers”. While we understand the government’s requirements for companies to register and pay taxes, putting up an e-commerce site should not be more complex than sending out a catalog for people to order by telephone. In today’s world where people can review online businesses and make their own decisions about where to buy, we believe everyone should have the freedom to run their businesses online as they see fit, without government oversight.

The DNS System: Technical Facilitation of Government Censorship

The Domain Name System (DNS) is a fundamental component of the internet that translates human-readable domain names into IP addresses. Governments can censor internet traffic by blocking or redirecting domain names. In addition, they can use deep packet inspection to monitor and filter content. Technical solutions like VPNs and encryption can help circumvent censorship, but they can also be targeted by governments.

The Domain Name System (DNS) is like a phone book for the internet. When you type a website address into your browser, your computer looks up that address in the DNS to find the IP address of the server where the website is hosted. The IP address is a unique number that identifies the server on the internet, and it’s necessary for your computer to be able to connect to the server and retrieve the website content.

The DNS is managed by a group called the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN is responsible for assigning domain names and IP addresses to websites and organizations on the internet. They also oversee the operation of the root servers that are used to resolve domain names to IP addresses.

Governments can exert control over the DNS and internet traffic by blocking or redirecting domain names. For example, they can block access to websites by preventing their domain names from resolving to IP addresses. This can be done by intercepting DNS requests and responding with incorrect information, or by blocking access to specific DNS servers.

In addition to DNS blocking, governments can also use other technical mechanisms to monitor and control internet traffic. For example, they can use deep packet inspection (DPI) to examine the contents of internet traffic and identify specific types of content, such as encrypted traffic or traffic from certain websites or applications. They can also use firewalls to block specific types of traffic, such as traffic from social media websites or messaging apps.

These techniques can be used by governments to censor and control online content, but they can also be used by organizations and individuals to protect their privacy and bypass censorship. For example, VPNs and proxy servers can be used to encrypt internet traffic and bypass DNS blocking and other forms of online censorship. tomi uses Onion Protocol encryption and the tomi Browser to allow people to bypass these censorship mechanisms. By creating a dedicate browser, tomi makes it easy for anyone to browse the tomiNet uncensored sites using regular URLs.

Content Moderation through a DAO

While tomi wants to create an uncensored worldwide web, we recognize that it is important to censor extreme violence and sexual exploitation of minors, as well as other extreme content. However, we do not want to be the censors. We believe that no individual or organization should have that much power. Therefore, we are creating a DAO that allows all tomizens to have a say in what content should be moderated. Through this democratic process, individuals will take turns assessing content that violates community guidelines. Nobody can censor for political reasons or personal reasons. The censorship mechanism is done only with a 9/10 vote of random users who assess the reports of other users.

Conclusion

To conclude, we understand that the issue of internet freedom and censorship is complex and multifaceted, with a range of technical, legal, and ethical considerations at play. While there are certainly risks and challenges associated with government censorship and private control over the internet, there are also promising technological solutions and innovative approaches that can help to protect online freedom and promote greater access to information.

One such solution is the tomiNet, our decentralized network that uses the Onion Protocol to create a parallel WWW. Users who register their domain names on tomiDNS (tDNS) will own an NFT that represents the URL and their user name in the tomiNet. They can create host websites under that domain name just like in the regular WWW, and these websites can be viewed through the tomi Browser or any other browser that supports the tomiNet.

In addition, the tomiNet has a community-based approach to content moderation, where users can report websites that violate community guidelines and vote on sites that need to be banned through the tomiDAO. The DAO will also create a fair and just appeals process, giving users more control over the content that they see and promoting a more open and democratic internet.

While the challenges of internet freedom and censorship will continue to evolve, tomi offers hope for a more decentralized, user-driven internet that prioritizes the needs and interests of individual users over those of governments or corporations. Commitment to exploring and supporting such innovative solutions will be instrumental in navigating the future of online freedom.

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