Anonymity networks: New platforms for conflict and contention
Access to information is critical during population uprisings against repressive regimes. As a venue for information and data exchange, cyberspace offers many powerful social platforms for exchange of information. But the infrastructure of the Internet allows government to block or censor such platf...
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| Format: | Working Paper |
| Language: | en_US |
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© Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2022
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/141698 |
| _version_ | 1826216226813116416 |
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| author | Rady, Mina |
| author_facet | Rady, Mina |
| author_sort | Rady, Mina |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Access to information is critical during population uprisings against repressive regimes. As a venue for information and data exchange, cyberspace offers many powerful social platforms for exchange of information. But the infrastructure of the Internet allows government to block or censor such platforms. In turn, anonymity networks emerged as conventional mechanisms for Internet users to circumvent government censorship. In this paper we show that anonymity networks became “terrains” for government-population conflict as they enable citizens to overpower governments’ conventional control mechanisms over cyber- information exchanges. We delineate escalations of this cyber-conflict by studying two notable cases: Egypt, a simple case, and Iran, a more complex case. We take Tor network as the anonymity network that is subject of investigation. We highlight the range of actions that each actor can take to retaliate via anonymity networks. We conclude that design specifications and protocols of anonymous communication determine the strategies of escalation. Finally, we lay out the foundation for monitoring and analyzing dynamics and control point analysis of anonymous networks. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:43:59Z |
| format | Working Paper |
| id | mit-1721.1/141698 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T16:43:59Z |
| publishDate | 2022 |
| publisher | © Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1416982022-04-07T03:02:23Z Anonymity networks: New platforms for conflict and contention Rady, Mina Access to information is critical during population uprisings against repressive regimes. As a venue for information and data exchange, cyberspace offers many powerful social platforms for exchange of information. But the infrastructure of the Internet allows government to block or censor such platforms. In turn, anonymity networks emerged as conventional mechanisms for Internet users to circumvent government censorship. In this paper we show that anonymity networks became “terrains” for government-population conflict as they enable citizens to overpower governments’ conventional control mechanisms over cyber- information exchanges. We delineate escalations of this cyber-conflict by studying two notable cases: Egypt, a simple case, and Iran, a more complex case. We take Tor network as the anonymity network that is subject of investigation. We highlight the range of actions that each actor can take to retaliate via anonymity networks. We conclude that design specifications and protocols of anonymous communication determine the strategies of escalation. Finally, we lay out the foundation for monitoring and analyzing dynamics and control point analysis of anonymous networks. This material is based on work supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research, Grant No. N00014-09-1-0597. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations therein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Office of Naval Research. 2022-04-06T11:38:05Z 2022-04-06T11:38:05Z 2013 Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/141698 Rady, M. (2013). Anonymity networks: New platforms for conflict and contention (ECIR Working Paper No. 2013-2). MIT Political Science Department. en_US ECIR Working Paper No. 2013-2 Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United States http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/ application/pdf © Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Rady, Mina Anonymity networks: New platforms for conflict and contention |
| title | Anonymity networks: New platforms for conflict and contention |
| title_full | Anonymity networks: New platforms for conflict and contention |
| title_fullStr | Anonymity networks: New platforms for conflict and contention |
| title_full_unstemmed | Anonymity networks: New platforms for conflict and contention |
| title_short | Anonymity networks: New platforms for conflict and contention |
| title_sort | anonymity networks new platforms for conflict and contention |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/141698 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT radymina anonymitynetworksnewplatformsforconflictandcontention |