Escape Censorship with Lantern | Adam Fisk | Talks at Google

TL;DR

Lantern is a tool created by Brave New Software to bypass internet censorship in countries that censor the internet, using peer-to-peer networking.

Transcript

JASON: We all know that in the world today there's a lot of people in the world and a lot of change happening. And so there's not as many outlets or tools to be able to make those voices accessible. And so Adam and his team have put together a project which will try to address that and give a voice to the voiceless by way of peer-to-peer networking... Read More

Key Insights

• ♿ Lantern's primary focus is providing access to the internet in censored regions rather than anonymity.
• 😒 The tool uses peer-to-peer networking and domain fronting to bypass censorship and stay unblocked.
• 🌐 The project is funded by the State Department and aims to tackle global issues using software.
• 👤 Lantern is scalable through the use of peer-to-peer traffic, allowing users to act as access points.

Questions & Answers

Q: How does Lantern ensure that the proxy addresses are not blocked by censors?

Lantern uses an algorithm called Kaleidoscope, which distributes addresses through a trust network. This prevents censors from learning about all existing proxies and keeps them unblocked.

Q: Can the Chinese government run fake Lantern servers to make the service unusable?

It is possible, but Lantern detects proxies that don't work and removes them from rotation. However, dedicated adversaries could still slow down the connection, which would be harder to detect.

Q: Does Lantern provide anonymity?

Lantern is not designed for anonymity. It is a one-hop proxy, providing some degree of anonymity, but users who require anonymity are recommended to use tools like Tor.

Q: How does Lantern prevent malevolent use, such as child pornography distribution?

Lantern uses a whitelist of unblocked websites to provide access. Child porn sites are not included in the whitelist. Additionally, uncensored users can customize the whitelist and limit customization options for users in censored regions.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• Lantern is a project funded by the State Department that aims to address the issue of censorship by providing access to the internet in censored regions.

• The tool is designed to be unblocked by using a trust network and distributing proxy addresses through a peer-to-peer model.

• Lantern uses domain fronting to hide the traffic and provide access to blocked websites.