Google has a new tool to outsmart authoritarian internet censorship

Google is launching new anti-censorship technology, Outline VPN, to increase access for internet users living under authoritarian regimes. During 2022's pro-democracy protests across Iran, the regime used sophisticated tactics, not only intermittently blocking all internet access but targeting virtual private networks (VPN) like Outline. Jigsaw, a unit of Google that operates sort of like an internet freedom think tank, offers a suite of anti-censorship tools including Outline to provide free, open, and encrypted access to the internet through a VPN. Outline uses a protocol that makes it hard to detect, so users can surf the web largely out of sight from authorities who might want to block internet access. Jigsaw is releasing Outline’s code in the form of a software developer kit (SDK) so that other applications can build censorship resistance directly into their products.