Authoritarian regimes are increasingly able to monitor and target internet communications, leaving many people in those countries unable to communicate freely with each other. In response, the internet freedom and national security communities manually design hidden networks with ad hoc techniques, empirically validate them, and then deploy them in the hope that users are not discovered.
Over the years, Congress has consistently allocated funds for a range of activities aimed at bolstering global internet freedom. These initiatives have been instrumental in the development of technologies that empower citizens in repressed nations to bypass censorship, the provision of internet and mobile communications security training, the enhancement of media and advocacy skills, and the formulation of public policy.
In support of internet freedom efforts and the protection of U.S. armed forces, DARPA invests in the development of technologies that provide confidence in the information domain, including the delivery of electronic messages in many forms and with various gradations of observability.