How The U.S. Is Undermining Hostile Regimes Via Through The Internet

A case filled with enough equipment to set up an autonomous, metropolitan WiFi network. The New America Foundation, a nonpartisan research group, is developing a portable, WiFi-based network that could be carried into contested regions and allow dissident groups to set up networks independent of a government-controlled network. Philip Scott Andrews/The New York Times

U.S. Funding Secret Internet Access for Dissidents Abroad -- Atlantic Wire

A recurring event in the Arab Spring was the shutting down of the internet by incumbent regimes, acts which were met with such outrage by the global community that they in part led the U.N. to declare internet access a basic human right. The Obama administration is now leading an effort to create a “shadow” internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use in the event that their government shuts down web access, as Hosni Mubarak's regime did in Egypt, and President Bashar al-Assad recently did in Syria. The New York Times describes the State Department's efforts, which vary from developing James Bond-worthy high-tech gadgets to uncovering cell phones hidden by borders. Here are some of the ways the U.S. is looking to safeguard internet access across the world.

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More News On America's 'Secret Internet'

The ‘Internet in a Suitcase’ -- New York Times
'Internet in a suitcase': U.S. government's secret project to provide 'liberation technology' for dissidents in rogue states -- Daily Mail
Internet in a suitcase: New America’s role in ‘shadow’ Internet and mobile phone systems for dissidents -- Washington Post
US building 'stealth' internet -- The Australian
US funds censorship-busting shadow networks -- ZDNet
NYT: U.S funds censor-evading Internet work -- CNET News
US funds secret 'internet in a suitcase' for dissidents -- Sydney Morning Herald
U.S. funding stealth Internets to circumvent repressive regimes -- CBS
US bankrolls 'shadow Internet for dissidents' abroad -- AFP
Secret U.S. effort aims to help dissidents - report -- Reuters
U.S. funding Internet censorship workarounds for repressive countries -- Digital Trends
USA plans shadow internet -- Tech Eye
US Helps Dissidents Ditch Internet Censors -- National Journal
U.S. developing alternates to Internet -- UPI