Proton VPN maps VPN usage to resist censorship
In the wake of sudden oppressive censorship, citizens flood to VPN services so they can unblock restricted platforms, apps, sites, news, and content. Because of this, popular cybersecurity company Proton has launched a new site to monitor those usage spikes to act as an alarm bell when sudden censorship takes place.
It’s been quite a while since the internet stopped being the open and free space we all knew and loved. Authorities worldwide are increasingly imposing full or partial internet shutdowns in times of crisis or geopolitical conflict. In 2022 alone, the web went dark 187 times across 35 countries—an all-time high for internet shutdowns that 2023 will likely beat.
A virtual private network (VPN) is an essential security tool that spoofs your IP address location while encrypting your data—protecting your privacy online while securely accessing digital content around the world.
For instance, VPN downloads have been skyrocketing in Russia since the war began, in Iran amid ongoing widespread anti-government protests, in Turkey during the elections and the earthquake crisis, and, since June, Senegalese citizens have been using these services en masse to keep up their cyber-revolution.
From being an attentive spectator, Proton VPN has now decided to use its exclusive data on when people use its service around the world to better support them in their fights against internet shutdown and censorship.
Today, the Swiss-based provider launches the Proton VPN Observatory: a new initiative to document these events as they unroll, whilst providing more accurate insights into global online censorship.
Proton VPN Observatory
“Proton VPN has continuously invested in censorship-resistant technologies and is a widely used tool whenever democracy is in danger. We are therefore uniquely positioned to quickly shine a light on censorship as it happens,” Antonio Cesarano, Head of Product at Proton VPN, told TechRadar.
The Proton VPN Observatory comes as a publicly available webpage that will detail in real-time significant spikes in VPN usage when these…
