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Don’t let The Man get you: tech tools to tackle oppression & stay anonymous
Wed, 15th Oct 2014
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Several nations around the world impose nationwide bans of particular websites and control what people can access on the internet, as well as monitoring their internet habits.

Countries such as China have extensive controls where they not only block website content but also monitor individual’s internet activity.

China’s controls are considered more advanced than any other nation in the world, however people are turning to apps to avoid internet censorship.

Firechat, developed by Open Garden, uses wireless mesh networking to enable smartphones to communicate via Bluetooth, WiFi or Apple’s Multipeer Connectivity peer-to-peer without the need of an internet connection.

It promotes the idea of a new way to chat, “off the grid”, eliminating the possibility of being monitored by the government and being censored.

Residents in Turkey are also facing the possible ban on social media by the government. Recently there has been an increase in searches for Turkey VPN, VPN static IP, Turkey VPN free. A VPN (virtual private network) extends a private network across a public network, providing online freedom and internet security.

Tor is another option being used to prevent people from learning someone’s location or browsing habits.

It was originally developed by the U.S Government with the U.S. Navy in mind, for the primary purpose of protecting government communications.

Tor bounces communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world, preventing people watching another’s internet connection. It also prevents websites learning a user’s physical location.

Besides avoiding tracking, people also use Tor to access sites and instant messaging services that are blocked from their local ISPs.