Lantern is a free online tool that helps Internet users circumvent firewall-style censorship in countries like China and Iran. Among such tools, Lantern is unique in that it uses a variety of techniques to stay unblocked in censored regions around the world, falling back to other approaches if some of those techniques are blocked. Those techniques include centralized and sophisticated peer-to-peer architectures. While it is often easy for governments to block such software, Lantern’s unique peer-to-peer structure makes this especially difficult.
To better understand the tool, GV Advox team members Mahsa Alimardani and Ellery Biddle chatted with Adam Fisk, the founder and software developer behind Lantern, and Maryam Abolfazli, the Chief Operating Officer behind Lantern. Together, we discussed safety concerns, target user communities, and the software behind Lantern.