Join me in the finale of Season 0 of Inside Awala as we dive into the future of Internet censorship and explore Awala's role. Despite global Internet freedom declining for the 14th consecutive year, I believe that we can eventually turn the tide against repressive regimes and their staggering censorship budgets. I'll share why I think that AI is both a threat and an opportunity, accelerating the splintering of the Internet whilst also offering tools to counteract censorship and enhance outreach. We'll navigate the challenges posed by national firewalls, the diminishing effectiveness of traditional circumvention techniques, and the unsettling erosion of Internet freedom even within democracies.

References

• Awala: https://awala.app/
• "Internet Freedom Status by Country (2023)": https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1nudAfFpisAHcA7qRjyndVieawDIzMrCgrVmVcL9ICes/edit
• "Freedom on the Net 2024: The Struggle for Trust Online", key findings: https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-net/2024/struggle-trust-online#key-findings
• "Buying Silence: The Price of Internet Censorship in China": https://jamestown.org/program/buying-silence-the-price-of-internet-censorship-in-china/
• "Russia to invest over half a billion US dollars in its battle against VPN usage": https://www.techradar.com/pro/vpn/russia-to-invest-over-half-a-billion-us-dollars-in-its-battle-against-vpn-usage
• "Summary of the FY 2023 State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Bill": https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/SFOPS%20FY%2023.pdf
• "Seven things you need to know about climate change and conflict": https://www.icrc.org/en/document/climate-change-and-conflict
• "Making new connections: from BridgeDB to Rdsys": https://blog.torproject.org/making-connections-from-bridgedb-to-rdsys/
• "China's National Anti-Fraud Center – Security Assessment": https://www.opentech.fund/news/chinas-national-anti-fraud-center-security-assessment/
• "REVEAL Report": https://www.lumen.global/reveal-report
• OTF's Nat Kretchun Testified on "The Great Firewall and the CCP's Export of its Techno-Authoritarian Surveillance State": https://www.opentech.fund/news/otfs-nat-kretchun-testifies-on-the-great-firewall-and-the-ccps-export-of-its-techno-authoritarian-surveillance-state/
• "First-time culprit: France blocks TikTok in New Caledonia": https://www.accessnow.org/france-blocks-tiktok-new-caledonia/
• "Online abortion service, Women On Web, continues to fight censorship in Spain": https://womenslinkworldwide.org/en/online-abortion-service-women-on-web-continues-to-fight-censorship-in-spain/
• "Leaked Government Document Shows Spain Wants to Ban End-to-End Encryption": https://www.wired.com/story/europe-break-encryption-leaked-document-csa-law/
• "India: 'Internet shutdown capital of the world'": https://www.dw.com/en/india-internet-shutdown-capital-of-the-world/a-64997062
• "Pornhub Is Now Blocked In Almost All of the U.S. South": https://www.404media.co/pornhub-is-now-blocked-in-almost-all-of-the-u-s-south/

Discuss this episode on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Awala/comments/1hsuoze/inside_awala_podcast_s00e05_the_future_of/