In my chat with Serene, an Internet freedom activist and former Google Ideas engineer, I ask, “Can I talk to you right now? Legally?”
They were both in the US, so yeah, I think they were good, he replies.
As one of the few tools to access blocked and censored information on the web, Serene’s Snowflake is widely used by citizens of oppressive regimes. It is mainly done using Tor, an open source browser that allows for safe, private and anonymous Internet browsing.
Snowflake is one of the few pluggable transports, also known as a Tor bridge, currently available for the browser. By making it appear as if a user is making a regular video or voice call, the project allows users to bypass Internet censorship.
Now it’s unveiling Snowstorm, an updated version of Snowflake, which Serene says will be faster, more generalized, and with more features. Snowstorm is fast enough to stream YouTube videos, which previous versions couldn’t do.
The software has been rewritten and reinvented using Rust and a system-wide client, which proves that the software isn’t based on Tor. As a result, users will have more choice and agency.
Additionally, Snowstorm has set up its own company that will maintain the code and support a full-time team of lead developers.
Work on Snowflake began in 2016, beginning as a collaboration with Arlo Breault and David Fifield, funded by the Open Tech Funds Information Controls Fellowship program.
In fact, Serene, who is also a consultant to the World Ethical Data Foundation, has devoted her entire life to the cause of Internet freedom.
Serene learned to code at the age of nine. As a Bsendorfer-approved concert pianist, she also worked with Kanye West on his 2019 operatic production “Mary.” But we can save that story for another day.
At a young age, she joined Google, where she became the first engineer of Google Ideas, an internal group dedicated to using technology to help those threatened by conflict, instability and repression.
It was there that he began working to circumvent the growing number of internet controls implemented by governments. That first project was uProxy, an early experiment based on WebRTC, the basis for much of the real-time communication on the Internet. He created and presented uProxy at a Google event with a two week deadline, which ended up being a success.
After Serene left Google, she continued her fight for internet freedom by becoming a senior member of the Open Tech Fund, with a sponsorship from UC Berkeley.
Fast forward to 2016 where Snowflake was started as a research project. It continued to play a key role in evading censorship during the Ukrainian-Russian conflict, with Snowflake reporting a corresponding increase in users.
As a result of increased demand and usage, Snowstorm is an attempt to improve the user experience of the platform. It relies on volunteers living in countries with open internet access, such as the United States, as “snowflakes.
A snowflake can be used as a “bridge” by Internet users in countries with limited access. A broker is running on a third party server, disguised as a domain fronting, making it appear as if it is from an unrestricted service. The broker knows where the snowflakes are and will connect the two, using WebRTC as a peer-to-peer connection.
The new version of Snowstorm addresses many of the limitations and challenges faced by Snowflake, including limited bandwidth, system resources, and other factors.
The forces of censorship seek to divide the world, he said. The snowstorm is the bridge that can unite humanity again.
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