This smart anti-censorship tool allows Russians to read blocked news

The organization has a license to aggregate the content of more than 12 banned publications in Russia and Belarus. The home page lists the websites he currently coordinates, but starting next week it will appear as a traditional news site, suggesting articles from the publications he produces and providing shareable SOS-Links to their websites.

Every time you access the website of Moscow Times For example, using Samizdat Online, it appears on a different domain. When I open the home page it shows the domain: sfzgohtwrm.net/. The rest of the URL is a long string of characters and letters after the cursor, which make up information about the page you’re visiting, such as CSS to properly display the website. When I click on the text at the top of the home page, it takes me to the domain raul.help/ (again, followed by coded data). Another click takes me to the domain: uvsoxmqdcu.net/.

There are two main parts to running Samizdat Online, says Simkin. The first is a master server that generates and stores random domains. This server maintains a list of the web pages that the team is developing and the rules for displaying them. The second part is a series of decentralized servers that register and host domains. “Then those domains are included in the randomness of link generation,” says Simkin.

The result is that people can avoid censorship by hosting all pages on the open web using the links on Samizdat Online. Unlike other anti-censorship tools like VPN or Tor, this one doesn’t require any technical knowledge or software downloads. It’s as easy as clicking the link and sharing it with friends. However, unlike VPNs or Tor, if someone’s web traffic is monitored, there is a risk that it can be linked back to them. (Simkin Samizdat Online does not store the IP addresses of people who visit its links. Instead, it compiles IP addresses to help people know where they are coming from.)

His name Samizdat It originated in the former Soviet Union and was used by people to self-publish banned media and distribute it through underground networks. “During the Soviet Union, Samizdat was very dangerous,” says Anna Trubachova, editor of Samizdat Online. “If you are caught with a copy of the paper, you can be arrested, fined or jailed.”

Both Russia and Belarus have blocked several websites: the press freedom group Reporters Without Borders Belarus ranks 153rd and Russia ranks 155th In the international index of 180 countries. Until Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, Reporters Without Borders said Belarus was “the most dangerous country for journalists in Europe.” He says that they are at the moment 15 journalists in prison in Russiavery recently Ivan Safronov, sentenced to 22 years To reveal so-called ‘government secrets’ that were already online.

After Russian troops entered Ukraine, the Kremlin is tightening its online ban and cracking down on dissent. Natalya Krapiva, technology legal advisor at NGO Access Now, highlights the announcement by VPN, anonymity service Tor and the Russian government. Protesters as ‘Foreign Agents’. “At the moment, all free media, at least the mainstream ones, are banned,” says Krapiva.