Democracy Will Be Downloaded from the Internet

The U.S. State Department embarks on a global network of fighters against authoritarian regimes.

The U.S. administration plans to increase funding for projects aimed at establishing systems of “shadow” Internet networks and independent mobile phone systems. Their deployment would allow “human rights defenders and dissidents” to exchange information while avoiding prohibitions from the authorities. The U.S. State Department does not make secret the fact that new technologies are primarily designed for “civic activists” in Iran, Syria and Libya. Russia also receives mention on the list of countries where the freedom of information is restricted. According to Washington, Russia uses “selective censorship.”

The New York Times reported that the Obama administration has endorsed the development of “shadow” Internet networks and other independent networks of mobile phone systems that can be used “to undermine repressive regimes.” Hillary Clinton, the U.S. Secretary of State, reiterated to the newspaper that her office has no intention of abandoning the program aimed to “promote Internet freedom.” “We see more and more people around the globe using the Internet, mobile phones and other technologies to make their voices heard as they protest against injustice and seek to realize their aspirations,” the Secretary of State explained. “There is a historic opportunity to effect positive change, change America supports.”

The large-scale project is supervised by the Pentagon and State Department officials. Not only are military engineers and diplomats involved in the development of the project, but “programmers and dissidents from at least a dozen countries” are also involved. Apart from the deployment of cellular networks that enable the exchange of information while bypassing the cellular providers operating in the country, the project involves the creation of “uncensored” points of Internet access along with security systems that preserve the anonymity of users.

“We’re going to build a separate infrastructure where the technology is nearly impossible to shut down, to control, to surveil,” says Sascha Meinrath, director of the Open Technology Initiative, responsible for the development of the “Internet in a suitcase” project. The U.S. State Department is providing a grant of $2 million in order to create this new technology. According to programmers, the “suitcase” allows you to create your own Internet network in a situation when all other means of communication are blocked by the state. Special software support allows computers and mobile phones that are plugged in to exchange information freely and enter the Internet without creating a single point of access.

The “suitcase” can be equipped with additional antennas to expand coverage. The package may include additional CD-ROMs and memory cards that would allow the installation of all the necessary software to any number of phones and computers. The device is so compact that can be transferred through state borders without causing any particular suspicion.

A no less important component of the project is the possible development of a method allowing for the modification of the Bluetooth function with which every modern mobile phone is equipped. Mehdi Yahyanejad, an immigrant from Iran, who is now in charge of this development, says that about half of the protesters during the recent unrest in Tehran shared photos and videos using their mobile phones. The program, the design of which was funded by the State Department, allows you to modify Bluetooth in such a way that “a video of a protester being beaten” could automatically be sent from one device to another within a “trusted network.”

The creation of independent mobile networks, already tested in Afghanistan, may become the most ambitious project yet. Until now, the Taliban has managed to neutralize the country’s cellular systems, intimidating employees of telephone companies or attacking cell phone towers. As a countermeasure, the Pentagon proposed the deployment of a “shadow network” in Afghanistan that would have transmission “cells” placed on the territory of American bases.

Such a scheme can be used in other countries. For example, in order to gather information about North Korea, American diplomats are using the cellular networks of Chinese operators. Towers located on hillsides of the Jilin Province and in areas bordering with North Korea provide reliable reception. According to The New York Times, the U.S. embassy staff and their “operating assistants” are hiding their cell phones in across the border zones. The fact that these phones are used was confirmed by Libby Liu, head of Radio Free Asia, funded by the State Department. According to her, that’s the way their radio journalists collect information about life in North Korea.