How the app they use in Cuba works to avoid censorship and what can save you money

07/26/2021 1:13 PM

• Clarín.com

• Technology

Updated 07/26/2021 1:13 PM

The

protests in Cuba

in recent days brought with them significant internet censorship by the government of the Central American country.

A measure that many users dodged (it is estimated that approximately 20%) thanks to

Psiphon, an app that allows you to circumvent government limitations in a few simple steps

.

Technologies

VPN, SSH and HTTP proxy

, as Psiphon, characterized by moving virtually computer users and Android or IOS devices to other countries to

access a content type or information

to which a priori can not be reached conventionally .

In the case of Cubans, thanks to this program they

can "deceive" the government by

saying that they are connecting from anywhere in the world and being able to access the information that they are banned from.

Being able to avoid censorship is not the only application of this program.

Thanks to VPN technology, it also improves the security of those users who connect to a public Wi-Fi network.

But not only that, but it also allows us to have access to offers from different countries and that we can benefit from them.

The Psiphon VPN reached 150 million downloads.

Flights or subscriptions to streaming platforms are some of the services that users get the most out of.

By being able to "travel" virtually to other countries and being

able to hide our IP

, we can see, for example, that buying a flight Barcelona - Budapest is cheaper being connected from Brazil than from Spain.

A technique that can also be applied with hotel reservations

.

The app is used by 20% of Cubans.

Photo: EFE

Something similar happens with the

hiring of Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime Video

or the different streaming content platforms.

There are countries like Russia or Turkey where the subscription is cheaper than in other markets and can be accessed thanks to Psiphon.

In addition, it will also be possible to watch television in other countries and access specific offers that other countries have when buying video games or clothes.

What is a VPN network

A

virtual private network

(VPN) (in English, Virtual Private Network, VPN) is a computer network technology that allows a secure extension of the local area network (LAN) over a public or uncontrolled network such as the Internet.

Its virtues include that the network

sends and receives data on

shared or public

networks

as if it were a private network, with all the functionality, security and management policies of a private network.

This is done by establishing a

virtual point-to-point

connection using dedicated connections, encryption, or a combination of both.

Common examples are the possibility of connecting two or more branches of a company using the Internet as a link, allowing members of the technical support team to connect from home to the computer center, or allowing a user to access their home computer from a remote site, such as a hotel. 

In short, the VPN connection over the Internet is technically a

wide area network (WAN)

junction

between sites, but it appears to the user as if it were a private link: hence the designation

virtual private network.

SL

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