Following the Uganda Communications Commision and Electoral Commision conniving to deny us Social media access and the right to communicate, there has been something Trending in this steamy season of elections. Today we focus on what a VPN is and how you can harness its glorious power.
To start off, VPN as you have noticed is a short form which stands for Virtual Private Network. Basing on the full format of the acronym, we see the word Virtual and from our lessons of light in physics, we do remember that this means exactly the same, opposite but not real. From that, it makes a VPN simply a Reflection of an APN. APNs are Access Point Networks that we have commonly thought of as Internet settings or configurations for long. A VPN is a secure and encrypted tunnel that allows one to access websites or applications anonymously and appear to be anywhere of his choosing.
That said, it’s really uncommon to find a regular Ugandan that has used VPNs before apart from Ugandan students is China. This can be testified by the number of people who are to date still in Social Media darkness and haven’t figured out how to hook up themselves with any of the free VPN support apps that are flooding the market.
How does it work?
UCC was able to block people access because all APNs of ISPs in Uganda are registered with them. Now this is where the magic comes in. The thing with VPNs is that they relay disguised Data from remote Servers to respond to requests from client devices. Meaning, the UCC’s firewall does not notice the traffic coming in and leaving which is being queried by VPN configured devices. Thus, the reason as to why many Ugandans are able to bypass this firewall. Reports have put it that over a million Ugandans have downloaded a specific VPN app and more downloads are trickling in.
Ugandans in China or other Chinese use VPNs because they have restricted Facebook access as well. I am guessing this trick originated from there. Essentially, VPNs were meant to enable employees to securely access office intranets when they are traveling outside the company premises.
Can the UCC track VPN users?
Certainly… Or not. VPN traffic to some extent is un traceable but other means could be used with a varying contingency of success. Am entirely basing on a notion that their IT staff was hired for such breaches.
Guru8.net appeals to however finds this info useful, to be very mindful and consume it with extreme prejudice and discretion while accounting for the laws in Uganda. Apparently, using VPNs currently is an act of treason so better watch your back. Till next time, keep peaceful.
