Twitter beyond government control thanks to SMS and VPNs

Turkish Twitter users have once again illustrated the futility of governmental bans on the service, by using tools like SMS and VPNs to dodge official controls. In a tweet from Twitter’s Policy account, the social network offered users a way to send updates via SMS. In fact, since the ban was introduced, 2.5 million tweets have been posted from Turkey.

Turkish users: you can send Tweets using SMS. Avea and Vodafone text START to 2444. Turkcell text START to 2555.

— Policy (@policy) March 20, 2014

Twitter has a history of assisting users in countries where authorities have banned access to its service. It has previously made similar information available to citizens in Egypt and Tunisia.

Another popular way around bans of this type is using VPNs. VPNs (short for Virtual Private Networks) work by rerouting a smartphone or PC user’s internet traffic through another set of servers. Using a VPN makes it very difficult for government filters to see exactly which web pages or services a user is accessing. It’s very difficult, but not impossible.

#TwitterisblockedinTurkey Get your way around the block via HotspotShield free#VPN Android http://t.co/1lyNCbe0Cf iOS http://t.co/0ppDp49e1k — Hotspot Shield (@HotspotShield) March 21, 2014

By far the most popular VPN service on Softonic is Hotspot Shield, currently available on Windows, iPhone and iPad, and Android devices. Anchorfree, the company behind Hotspot Shield has reported that VPN use increases in areas of ‘civil strife’. It’s important to remember, however, that no technical solution is 100% reliable when it comes to privacy and security.

Related articles:

• How to use Hotspot Shield for Windows

• 4 Alternatives to Hotspot Shield

• What is encryption?

• Protect yourself online: 10 apps to secure online privacy