TL;DR
- Google’s Jigsaw division fights censorship with the Outline SDK.
- How Iranian citizens used VPNs during a digital blackout.
- The development and impact of Outline SDK.
- Balatarin and other platforms embracing the new technology.
- The significance of a simple yet transformative solution against censorship.
In response to the actions undertaken by the government of Iran during the tumultuous protests of 2022, Google is unveiling novel anti-censorship technology. This endeavor is aimed at expanding the digital access of denizens living under the governance of authoritarian regimes worldwide.
Jigsaw, a division within the Google conglomerate that functions akin to an intellectual powerhouse championing online freedom, has been actively producing a suite of anti-censorship instruments.
Among its arsenal lies Outline, an innovation affording unimpeded, open, and encrypted cyber access through a Virtual Private Network (VPN).
Notably, Outline is fortified with a protocol designed to obfuscate, rendering users clandestine in their virtual sojourns, evading the prying eyes of authorities bent on curtailing internet accessibility.
Nonetheless, during the pro-democracy uprisings that engulfed Iran the previous year, the regime exhibited a formidable prowess by intermittently strangling all digital conduits. VPNs such as Outline found themselves in the crosshairs of this technologically sophisticated repression.
Now, Jigsaw is bestowing the code underpinning Outline in the form of a Software Development Kit (SDK), thus enabling other online entities to seamlessly integrate anti-censorship capabilities into their products.
This endeavor, as exclusively revealed to MIT Technology Review, promises a more streamlined user experience. Imagine an application infused with this code—let’s say, a news aggregator—wherein users are spared the exigency of establishing a separate VPN connection. Simultaneously, Google aspires for this initiative to position users one step ahead of the censorial vanguards.
Drawing Insights from Iran
The tale unfolds on September 19, 2022, when the Iranian government initiated the systematic shutdown of mobile internet services in Tehran, coinciding with protests triggered by the tragic demise of Mahsa Amini a few days prior.
Iran’s government, renowned for its technically astute surveillance apparatus and proclivity for stifling online interactions, commenced a diurnal routine of digital asphyxiation, enforcing internet cessation from 4 p.m. until the stroke of midnight.
In the face of this digital blackout, Iranian citizens embarked on a quest for alternative conduits to access platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and the entire virtual expanse. Many gravitated toward VPNs, including the likes of Outline, which ingeniously rerouted data traffic beyond the affected domains through a virtual passageway.
Astonishingly, the number of daily users of Outline’s Android VPN in Iran soared exponentially, registering an astronomical surge of 1,500 percent during the autumn of 2022, as confirmed by Vinicius Fortuna, Jigsaw’s leading engineer championing internet freedom.
However, the Iranian authorities concurrently wielded the power to obstruct access to Outline and applications reliant on this VPN infrastructure. Jigsaw’s team was compelled to mount rapid countermeasures, swiftly disseminating open-source code engineered to elude the obstruction and restore online connectivity.
This posed a formidable challenge for Jigsaw, as well as for the applications and websites tethered to Outline, which had to embark on an arduous journey of recording their products to accommodate these dynamic shifts.
Martin Zhu, Director of Engineering for nthLink, an app specializing in aiding users to circumvent digital censorship, lamented that this retrofitting process might extend over several weeks, leaving users in a state of bewilderment.
Indeed, the genesis of Outline’s new SDK can be traced directly to the adversities encountered in Iran, according to Fortuna.
Fortuna expounds further, affirming that through the SDK, Jigsaw is distilling the quintessential components of Outline’s technological prowess into a library of sorts.
This paves the way for plug-and-play functionality, empowering others to integrate facets of this library into their products, thereby fostering resistance to censorship, tailored to their unique specifications.
Significantly, during periods of digital crackdowns, the SDK facilitates collaborative efforts among developers hailing from diverse organizations, harmonizing their coding endeavors and expediting responses to the ever-evolving stratagems of censorship.
A Simple yet Transformative Solution
Several entities have already articulated plans to deploy this pioneering technology. Balatarin, a Persian-language platform analogous to Reddit, envisages employing the SDK to seamlessly infuse VPN functionality into its mobile application.
Balatarin is no stranger to the stifling embrace of the Iranian government; its website has endured relentless blocking within the nation since its nascent stages.
Similarly, nthLink intends to harness the SDK to enhance the upgradability of its application during episodes of internet disconnection.
Balatarin posits that this novel technology promises to democratize access to its services, catering not only to tech-savvy individuals but also to those less inclined toward digital intricacies.
Operating a VPN necessitates a modicum of technological acumen and exacts a higher toll on energy consumption and battery life compared to conventional internet usage.
Thus, the SDK presents an elegant solution, as per the perspective of Mehdi Yahyanejad, Balatarin’s founder: “In active use, the application will facilitate a more seamless experience, serving the interests of our users.”
The allure of simplicity also assumes paramount importance when one considers that the Iranian government has erected its limited version of the internet, proffering access at reduced rates to businesses and households.
Moreover, it has coerced telecommunications companies into surrendering direct access to their networks and divulging user data.
