Today, it is easier than ever to stay connected with people all around the world. The Internet has brought humanity closer together in ways we could not have imagined 20 years ago. Websites, Email, Blogs, Twitter and the ability to transfer information anywhere, anytime, is now normal communication.
Is “big brother” watching? Probably. The most used and preferred form of global communication is still email. It offers text capacity, multiple recipients and the ability to add attachments. And it’s easy to track from sender to recipient.
The reality is this: When you send emails to missionary friends in foreign countries with repressive governments, especially those not real fond of Christianity, “big brother” is probably watching. Watching the frequency of your communications, reading the content of your messages and potentially tracking the activities of your friend.
When you think of what we do so naturally and consider as normal communication, it should give us pause when a simple email could compromise the safety and security of our missionary friends living in repressive countries.
The Countries of Concern: include Belarus, Burma (Myanmar), China, Cuba, Eritrea, India, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Liberia, North Korea, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Zimbabwe, Turkmenistan and Vietnam. U.S.-made computer products and filtering software are actually helping these repressive countries control what their citizens can do on the Internet. The issue is getting wider attention, as more and more people around the globe are accessing the World Wide Web for email and other forms of commuication.
Why do these countries seek to block access to the internet and control the flow of information? Truth. The power of simple truth is threatening to repressive regimes. They don’t want common citizens to know too much about the outside world. Information is power in the hands of restless people. For countries that want to control what its population thinks, governments must impose strict controls on mass media and the internet to maintain their repressive regimes.
In the old days, when mass media was dominated by print and broadcast outlets, such countries could easily restrict access or distribution. Now, the Internet and new communication technologies like Twitter are giving repressive governments new headaches. You don’t just unplug the worldwide web, the global Internet framework, from a power source like you would a personal computer.
How can Christians everywhere safeguard their communications with missionaries and those we assist and support in these aforementioned countries of concern? Is it possible to use current technology to make it harder if not impossible for government watch groups to monitor email communications? The answer is yes!
What makes this even more plausible... the software is FREE and can be downloaded to your computer and if need be, you can even zip up the file and send it to your friend in a foreign country if they can’t easily download it. Let me explain how this works.
The concept is called Onion Routing.
Onion routing is a technique that allows for anonymous communication over a computer network. Messages are repeatedly encrypted and then sent through several network nodes called onion routers. Each onion router removes a layer of encryption to uncover routing instructions, and sends the message to the next router where this is repeated. This prevents intermediary nodes from knowing the origin, destination, and contents of the message. It’s that simple. The onion router or Tor, is an open network software that helps defend against any form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom, privacy and relationships, by thwarting various forms of traffic analysis.
Onion routing can prevent the most commonly used methods of technical Internet censorship such as: IP address blocking; DNS filtering and rediection; URL and packet filtering; connection and web feed blocking and Reverse surveillance.
You can install Tor... The Onion Router, on your personal computer free of charge. To learn how Tor can protect the privacy of your communications with other Christians and Missionaries living in repressive countries... visit the website: www.torproject.org
