Largest ISP in Venezuela blocks Tor

Venezuelan activists say the country’s largest ISP has blocked access to Tor. It would be a blockage of both direct connections to the network and clients connecting via a bridge.

It concerns the Venezuelan internet provider Cantv, by far the largest ISP in the country. This provider is owned by the government. The number of direct accesses to the Tor network has gradually increased since April, reaching a strong peak on June 20, which then quickly collapsed due to the blockade of Cantv. According to Access Now, this spike is related to a recent wave of internet censorship by the administration of President Maduro, which caused the use of Tor to increase significantly.

Until now, Internet censorship in the South American country could often be circumvented by adjusting the DNS settings, but that method no longer works with the most recent blockades. “It seems that the government of Venezuela has discovered how to block Tor in a sophisticated way,” said Venezuelan journalist Melanio Escobar. “It’s not just about the direct access channels, it’s also about the method of a bridge. The government is making the country as closed as China or Iran.”

Despite massive oil reserves, Venezuela has been in a serious economic crisis for some time now, with socialist President Maduro working with his government to get an increasingly tight grip on society. Free news gathering is increasingly restricted and protests and demonstrations are often violently suppressed.