Security and censorship circumvention in Russia and China?
Fortunately, there is no internet censorship in my state, but a lot of visitors to this site are in a state where there is no free internet. They often can’t use western services to access free information. There are mobile and computer solutions to use the internet safely in a state with censorship.
How to communicate safely?
If you want to be safe with your mobile, start by communicating with your friends through trusted apps. From a security perspective, the best mobile app is Threema, because it’s one of the few that provides true end-to-end encryption, so you don’t have to give it your phone number, email, name or other accounts. You generate an anonymous Threema ID, and share that with your friends. Text messages, voice messages, calls, video calls and files are encrypted. The app is not free and you have to buy a license for a one-time amount. The app is banned in censorship states, but you can purchase it for Android on the web.
Is your state blocking the Threemy website? Then you need to purchase a license through VPN or TOR anonymization tools.
- Buy Threema license for Android without Google Play
- Download Threema APK from Threema Shop
- Threema in Google Play
- Threema in Apple AppStore
- Threema in Huawei AppGallery
Another great app is Telegram, which is known in many countries. It is more of a secure social network and offers a lot. However, it is not completely anonymous as it requires you to verify your phone number by SMS. But it refuses to cooperate with authoritarian states and advocates freedom of speech.
- Telegram in Google Play
- Telegram APK from Telegram.org
- Telegram APK from APKMirror
- Telegram from Apple AppStore
- Telegram for desktop
- Telegram for MacOS
Need secure email? Then forget about all the Russian, Chinese and other email boxes. They store and probably analyse all communications. If you want a free mailbox, you can use Protonmail.com. It may be blocked in your country, but some anonymization with TOR or a VPN service will be enough to keep it running.
- Protonmail WEB
- Protonmail ONION site (TOR)
- Protonmail in Google Play
- Protonmail in Apple AppStore
- Download APK from Telegram
- Download APK from Protonmail.com
- Download APK from APKPure
How to anonymize an IP address and bypass censorship?
Many states still have internet censorship in 2023, which is a big problem. There are multiple tools for safely searching for information and circumventing censorship. You can use the TOR network. For desktop, you can use it in the TOR Browser or in a new private TOR window in Brave. On Android phones, it’s better in that you can use TOR as a VPN and anonymize your connection usage across all apps. For example, the Invizible Pro app is useful for this. Another such app is Orbot, and it’s also available for iPhones, iPads and Macs.
- Download TOR Browser with the help of Telegram bot
- TOR Browser from TorProject.org
- TOR Browser from Google Play
- Orbot from Google Play
- Orbot APK from Telegram
- Orbot from Apple AppStore
- Invizible Pro Lite from Telegram
- InviZible Pro lite from official website
- Invizible Pro Lite RU website
TOR is a secure network that works thanks to volunteers. It is therefore also used for fraud and is blocked by many services. So I recommend using TOR to buy Threema licenses and some VPN service for anonymization. I recommend ExpressVPN, which isn’t the cheapest, but it has many servers available, changes IP addresses very frequently, and you can use it on all your devices.
