The tool that allowed 1.4 million Cubans to access the internet amid the regime’s blackout

The tool Psiphon Inc to Bypass Internet Censorship, available for free, this week helped nearly 1.4 million Cubans gain access to websites, the company reported on Friday, after the Cuban government has limited access to social networks and messaging platforms.

The Psiphon network, from the eponymous company based in the Canadian city of Toronto, It receives financial support from the US government and has also helped people in other countries, such as Iran and China, overcome government restrictions on Internet access.

Thousands of Cubans joined on Sunday protests over commodity shortages, restrictions on civil liberties and the government’s handling of spike in COVID-19 infections, in the biggest riots in decades in the country led by the Communist Party.

Psiphon said that 1.389 million users accessed the open web from Cuba on Thursday through its platform, as well as 1,238 million until 4:00 p.m. GMT on Friday.

The company argued that the roughly 1.4 million people represent around 20% of users Cubans of the Internet.

Its open source bypass tool can be downloaded from application stores like Google Play or Apple to “maximize the chances of circumventing censorship”, according to the company. Canadian university researchers developed the software in 2007 to allow users to bypass government Internet firewalls.

The Cuban government has access to platforms such as Facebook and WhatsApp restricted amid protests, according to global internet monitoring company NetBlocks.

“We must be with those who oppose authoritarian regimes”, said US Senator Marsha Blackburn, a congressional supporter of the US funding network.

President Joe Biden said Thursday that the White House is examining whether the US government can help Cubans regain internet access. “They cut off access to the Internet. We wonder if we have the technological capacity to restore this access “he said at a press conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who is visiting Washington.

An idea raised by the experts would be send balloons with mobile WiFi, a measure taken during natural disasters.

According to the agency’s journalists AFP In Havana, mobile internet service over 3G and 4G began to recover unstably on Wednesday morning. But there was still no access to WhatsApp, Facebook and Twitter, the only ways most Cubans can read independent media.

White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki dodged questions about the effort or whether the Biden administration on Friday He contacted American technology companies.

(David Shepardson – Reuters)

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