GoKawiilFool the censors and stay online. That's the goal of VPN company Amnezia, which on Tuesday released a new protocol designed to help its customers stay a step ahead of governments around the world that are trying to restrict or block internet access.
AmneziaWG 2.0 is an update on AmneziaWG version 1.5. and a "fundamental shift" in how the new protocol works, the company said. It's a new twist on preventing some government censors from knowing when someone is using a VPN to access otherwise restricted apps and sites.
A VPN protocol is the set of rules your device follows when it talks to an internet server. AmneziaWG is built on the existing WireGuard protocol, a popular protocol used by many other VPNs, but with a couple of added layers of obfuscation.
Mazay Banzaev, founder of Amnezia, told CNET that the "internet is being broken apart" in various countries and that a VPN is one of the few tools some people have to access the web.
"Countries with censorship invest heavily in technologies to prevent users from visiting the open web," Banzaev said. "Today, they no longer just block specific websites in Iran -- instead, they try to restrict much of the internet by default, leaving access only to those who are explicitly allowed."
Amnezia, an open-source VPN company based in Cyprus, was founded in 2020 and has 2.5 million monthly active users for its free service.
Internet censorship is rampant in many parts of the world. According to VPN provider Surfshark's Internet Shutdown Tracker, 17 Asian countries and nine African countries are currently restricting social media and messaging apps. Russia and Belarus are the two European nations with the highest amount of internet censorship. No countries in North America, South America and Oceania have similar restrictions.
Using a VPN isn't an option for most Iranians, who are under a near-total blackout imposed by the government since the war with the US and Israel began earlier in March. Russia, mired in a four-year war with Ukraine, is also cracking down on Internet connectivity.
Amnezia's products include a premium version priced at $28 for six months or $48 for a year, along with a free version, a self-hosted VPN and a business version. The company has large customer bases in Russia, Iran and Myanmar, with a growing interest in Africa.
In March, WhatsApp recommended Amnezia and Mullvad as VPNs to use for people who need to access the Meta-owned messaging app, especially where it's restricted.
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