Russian censors couldn't stop Tor VPN, Snowflake. Now it's expanding as Snowstorm.
As protest and unrest grew in Russia and Iran over the past year, authoritarian regimes sought to crack down on civilians' internet access. These attempts were not entirely successful, in part thanks to anti-censorship tools like the anonymous web browser Tor.
For years, Tor has been a thorn in the side of censorious rulers looking to stop its citizens from freely accessing the internet, but the Russian and Iranian governments have learned its weaknesses and succeeded in blocking direct access to the Tor network at certain times.
But unlike other services blocked by these governments, Tor has been deployed alongside the traffic-channeling tool Snowflake, enabling its network to function amid efforts at censorship.
SEE ALSO:Edward Snowden's one and only NFT (so far) sold for a bonkers $5 millionSnowflake's creator, who goes only by the one-word name "Serene," told Mashable in a phone interview that she expected the tool to be "helpful for people who need it," but didn't foresee just how crucial her "cool prototype" would be when it was first integrated with Tor years ago.
"Turns out last year, Putin invades Ukraine and blocks the Internet, blocks all the VPNs, and the only thing that's working is Snowflake," she said.
Now, the creator of Snowflake is branching the technology out in order to create a standalone VPN-like service called Snowstormaimed at expanding open access to the internet.
Snowstorm officially launched this week, albeit as a private beta that requires an invitation. The company also announced that it has received $1 million in funding, which it has used to bring on a full-time team of developers.
A peek at what it looks like when a user connects to Snowstorm.Credit: Snowstorm"I don't think our Internet nowadays is doing what it should be doing for humans," said Serene, now also the founder of Snowstorm. "The early Internet was instrumental for me learning everything, growing as a person, becoming the best version of myself, and I want to protect that for people."
Why Snowstorm is not like other VPNs
A VPN, or Virtual Private Network, is essentially a service that hides a user's identity and internet activity while they browse.
"A VPN is just someone else's computer that you connect to first before you connect to the Internet," Serene explains. "You're getting some amount of privacy but the issue is these VPN services are...just servers in different places. Where those computers are is public knowledge. And so any state actor certainly can easily just block all of those targets."
Snowstorm's main use case is quite clear when opening the app.Credit: SnowstormThis is why Russia and Iran were able to censor these VPN services, but not Snowflake.
What makes Snowflake different is what it's composed of: "decentralized, ephemeral, temporary proxies," said Serene.
As Serene explains it, Snowflake works thanks to a number of volunteers in free regions from all over the globe who come together to help those in censored countries. Volunteers can just leave a browser tab open and their internet connection is added to the pool of volunteer connections as a temporary proxy, which helps Snowflake users connect to the internet. To protect volunteers, Snowflake users connect to Snowflake proxies through a Tor entry node, meaning a volunteers' ISP never sees the web activity of a user and a user never accesses a volunteer's computer.
Related Stories
- How a pregnant Ukrainian Instagram influencer was used in a Russian disinformation campaign
- In the Russia-Ukraine information war, encrypted messaging apps provide opportunity and risk
- Starlink may slow down users if they use too much data
- How fraudulent DMCA takedowns censored a prominent cryptocurrency critic on Substack
If a volunteer closes their connection, the code simply hands off the user's internet session to another Snowflake volunteer.
Snowstorm is already being utilized by volunteers and censored users all over the world. Credit: Snowstorm"Because of that, instead of just one centralized place where the VPN is being run, there's like all of these temporary proxies coming in and out of existence, which makes it very hard for a nation state to block," Serene said. "Putin couldn't block it."
Snowstorm takes this service and provides it with a huge upgrade. The system has been completely re-written for Snowstorm and users can connect directly, without using Tor (Snowflake will continue to be available for Tor users). Serene tells Mashable that Snowstorm is much faster than Snowflake. With Snowstorm, for example, users can stream high-quality YouTube videos, which was not possible on Snowflake.
Serene is realistic as to where Snowstorm currently is. After all, Snowstorm is only in private beta now and still has rounds of testing, additional upgrades, and audits to undergo. Over the phone, Serene spoke about promises of "military-grade" encryption and security that a lot of privacy companies promise and fail to deliver on.
But, Serene is aware of what Snowstorm's capabilities are. Aside from the most extreme measure of taking a country offline entirely, the technology powering Snowflake and Snowstorm has not been bested by authoritarian regimes so far.
"I'm not directly guaranteeing any particular level of privacy and I don't want to over exaggerate the privacy virtues of any particular technology," Serene explained. "But, the guarantee here is that we can break censorship."
(责任编辑:资讯)
-
This shark lives for centuries. Scientists discover how it resists aging.
There are Greenland sharks older than the United States.This deep sea species has an expected lifesp ...[详细] -
做深做精新兴县大江土特产!“大江优品汇”区域品牌发布_南方+_南方plus金秋已立,意蕴丰收。9月27日上午,以“全力推进百千万工程,做深做精大江土特产”为主题的“大江优品汇”区域品牌发布暨大江镇“土 ...[详细]
-
雅安日报/北纬网讯日前,芦山县市场监督管理局开展了“护苗2020”专项行动,对辖区内各书店开展非法有害少儿出版物、侵权盗版行为等问题的专项检查,抵御有害思想对社会主义核心价值观的侵蚀,坚决管好守住阵地 ...[详细]
-
广东省农科院动科所赴清远开展驻镇帮扶科技需求调研_南方+_南方plus为落实百千万工程推动广东省县镇村高质量发展。近日,广东省农业科学院动物科学研究所副所长马现永研究员组织专家团到清远市浸潭镇开展驻镇 ...[详细]
-
[LLG] When compassion meets law: Lawyer defends goats, dogs, other helpless animals
Lawyer Park Joo-yeon has an interview with The Korea Herald at law firm Apart in Seoul. (Lee Sang-su ...[详细] -
郑兰芳:女农机手30年耕耘,见证中国农业机械之变_南方+_南方plus编者按:在广东农业技术推广服务队伍中有这样一群人,她们是铿锵玫瑰,是农田里的靓丽风景线;她们也是平凡的女性,有着柔美细腻的情怀;她 ...[详细]
-
菠萝的海诗歌音乐会:这片海一定会发生什么_南方+_南方plus明月几时有,把酒问青天。但愿人长久,千里共婵娟。广东省湛江市徐闻县隐秘的菠萝园里,菠萝还在沉睡,大自然的诗意却在月圆之前一一回归。一份烂漫 ...[详细]
-
菠萝的海诗歌音乐会:这片海一定会发生什么_南方+_南方plus明月几时有,把酒问青天。但愿人长久,千里共婵娟。广东省湛江市徐闻县隐秘的菠萝园里,菠萝还在沉睡,大自然的诗意却在月圆之前一一回归。一份烂漫 ...[详细]
-
9 Festive Holiday Treats and Where to Find Them
Whether it’s lechón(roast suckling pig) for Noche Buena in the Philippines or an aspic made ofbathtu ...[详细] -
本报讯日前,记者从市经济和信息化局获悉,近期,2020年度四川省中小企业公共服务示范平台和小型微型企业创业创新示范基地名单公布,我市四川汉源中小企业发展服务平台入选2020年度四川省中小企业公共服务示 ...[详细]