prosthetic knowledge

Collage: Defeating Censorship with User-Generated Content

Stenanographic tool to beat censorship, helping insert hidden messages into tweets and Flickr images

From Ars Technica:

Georgia Tech researchers have developed a tool called Collage that will allow Internet dissidents to insert hidden messages into Twitter posts and Flickr images in order to circumvent the censorship measures imposed by oppressive governments.

…

“This project offers a possible next step in the censorship arms race: rather than relying on a single system or set of proxies to circumvent censorship firewalls, we explore whether the vast deployment of sites that host user-generated content can breach these firewalls,” the project’s website explains. “We have developed Collage, which allows users to exchange messages through hidden channels in sites that host user-generated content.”

(Link To Arts Technica article)

It was also noted that hidden messages on social networks occured during the recent insident involving a Russian spy (and Facebook)!!

Software will be released in a few weeks, which I’m sure will have some meaningful, useful (and even creative) uses.

Link to Collage web page