Creating a safer world involves many moving parts, and the Internet is one of them. Jigsaw, a part of Google, functions somewhat like an Internet freedom think tank by bringing together different groups of people (like journalists, activists, and civil society), running experiments to discover ways to fight disinformation, censorship, toxicity, and violent extremism, and creating related products for high-impact interventions.
While Jigsaw already offers a suite of anti-censorship tools in order to increase Internet access for users living under authoritarian regimes, these regimes are becoming more technologically savvy and not only blocking all Internet access, but also blocking any VPNs that could provide free, open, and encrypted access (like Jigsaw’s Outline tool).
To combat such challenges, Jigsaw is now releasing Outline’s code as a software developer kit that will enable new and existing applications to build censorship resistance directly into their products. Having this code embedded then means the app doesn’t require connecting to the Internet separately via a VPN to access its content (which also means potentially easier access for users who don’t have the level of tech fluency to run a VPN in the first place).
While resilient and robust censorship-resistant technology will require a lot more effort moving forward, this Outline release means Jigsaw and the Internet are heading in the right direction.
