how to:How To Use Collage to Outsmart Internet Censors

Posted by Jimmy Carr in Build Awareness , Social Media for Social Good, Collaborate Effectively, Stay Safe and Anonymous Online
originally posted on August 25, 2011

Ten countries censor the Internet heavily enough for Reporters Without Borders to classify them as “Internet Enemies.” Another sixteen—including Australia, Turkey, France—monitor the net enough to be labeled “Under Surveillance.” What began as a means of facilitating rapid communication has become, in some nations, a way to control public’s access to information. Getting around the censors is always difficult; sometimes, it’s dangerous.

Recognizing the need for a new, safer means of communication, students at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a system known as Collage. In the developer’s words, their system, “allows users to exchange messages through hidden channels in sites that host user-generated content.” Basically: a message that would have normally been censored is hidden inside an innocuous Tweet or Flickr upload, which is not censored.

As with many secrecy tools developed for the Internet, there is no way to stop criminals or terrorists from using Collage for nefarious purposes. There is also the possibility, the researchers admit, that “the governments of various countries where the software might be used could discover the hidden messages.” And, as blogger Sami Ben Gharbia adds: “[I]f the social media websites that this tool will be relying on are not blocked yet, somewhere, this will give some “legitimate” excuses for censors to block them.”

This new system comes from the GIT’s GTNoise division. Their site states that their work “ranges from fighting the Internet's cybercriminals (spam, phishing, etc.) to improving Internet availability to making networks easier to diagnose and operate.” Impressively, GTNoise is comprised of only twelve Ph.D. and postdoc students. This month, the students will release Collage, and cyberactivists will be mere steps away from easier, safer communication.

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