Patrick Boehler on Nostr: For less than a dollar a year, we can provide free and secure internet access via VPN ...

For less than a dollar a year, we can provide free and secure internet access via VPN to someone living under digital oppression.

Last week, the U.S. National Security Council and the State Department convened a meeting with civil society and representatives from tech giants like Amazon, Cloudflare, Google, and Microsoft to build momentum for greater coordination and investment in countering internet censorship and fragmentation globally.

Laura Cunningham, President of the Open Technology Fund, shared the cost estimate at the gathering. It's approx. 7 cents per user per month. Through OTF, the U.S. currently supports more than 45 million monthly users in Iran, China, Russia, Myanmar and elsewhere, enabling their access to the open internet.

VPNs allow people to communicate securely, inform and express themselves freely, and contribute to global progress.

At the meeting, I shared how VPNs are an essential tool for journalists, both for reporting and for distribution and my worries about about a possible full blocking of YouTube in Russia: https://www.pboehler.net/vpn-russia-white-house/

Funding is just the beginning. There needs to be training people to use VPNs effectively, helping them identify trustworthy services, and building momentum to share and distribute access.

A Reuters report on the initiative and the surge in usage of publicly-funded VPNs: https://www.reuters.com/technology/us-calls-big-tech-help-evade-online-censors-russia-iran-2024-09-05/