In some countries, there is a climate of insecurity when it comes to freedom of expression. Recently, DW, the BBG (Broadcasting Board of Governors), the BBC and France Médias Monde, have launched a website that helps people learn about methods to circumvent censorship.

More people around the world than ever before can easily communicate and access information. But it is easy to forget that there are many places where people who publish dissenting thought are punished and the free flow information is blocked. DW has made fighting censorship a core principle and works consistently to provide people everywhere with the information they need to understand problems and issues affecting their societies.

Available in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi, Chinese, and Russian, Bypasscensorship.org features tools that get around government censors and enable free access to the Internet. Tor is a tool that provides anonymity and free access by relaying a signal around a global network so that websites cannot read an actual physical location. Orfox uses Tor technology for Android mobile devices. Psiphon is a tool that DW uses, for example, to get DW content around the Great Firewall of China to users in Mainland China. And these are only a few of the many tools available.

And DW is focusing its efforts during a critical time for Internet freedom. In its Freedom on the Net report, Freedom House analyzed 65 countries, and more than half are experiencing a decline in Internet freedom.

Internet filters keep people from sharing and receiving important news and information. But there is also active persecution of people who publish dissenting thought. In places like Bangladesh, Pakistan or Vietnam, bloggers and online activists are being struck down as targets of violence and oppression.

Outright censorship is a different form of oppression where “mainstream” international news outlets are filtered along with any other online content the authorities deem to be unacceptable. Censors try and keep independent and unbiased news coverage from reaching the public. In Iran and China, there is a constantly evolving campaign of online censorship.  China has the worst rating by Freedom House, Iran the third worst.

But as censors continue to try and control information, DW and its international media partners are fighting back by promoting freedom of speech and taking action to make sure unbiased and factual information is available all over the world.