One of the most serious limitations on the ability of activists to use the Internet to organize for political change is that freedom of the Internet is inversely proportional to political oppression. That is, the greater the need for Internet organizing methods, the less the ability of activists to make use of those tools.

In short, It is most difficult to use the Internet for activism in countries in which that activism is most necessary. This is no coincidence, of course. Censorship or control of the Internet is part of the overall repression policy of autocratic governments who feel the political threat of their own citizens.

Some organizations, like The University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, are trying to even the playing field by helping political activists to evade censorship. Today they released a guide circumvention, which gives multiple methods for circumventing Internet blocking.

This guide is meant to introduce non-technical users to Internet censorship circumvention technologies, and help them choose which of them best suits their circumstances and needs.

The Guide provides a large range of tips, tricks and strategies on how to by-pass content filters worldwide and covers the considerations you should take into account when choosing a circumvention tool. It also offers a list of the best circumvention tools, from a privacy and security perspective, for the specific needs of users who are not technically proficient.

According to Ronald Deibert, director of Citizen Lab and investigator at the OpenNet Initiative, the guide, which is now available in English only, is at present being translated into multiple languages.

Note: the second half of this post is taken from the Global Voices Advocacy update from October 11 by Sami Ben Gharbia