Freedom.gov: US State Department plans VPN portal for Europe
According to a media report, a portal is being prepared in the US government that will allow EU citizens to bypass blocks. This threatens a new conflict.
On the announcement page of freedom.gov, the US administration makes no secret of the portal's intended purpose.
(Image: heise medien)
The next potential conflict is looming between the USA and Europe: According to a report by the US news agency Reuters, the Trump administration is planning a portal called freedom.gov to provide Europeans with a way to access content that is blocked in their home countries. This includes posts classified as hate speech or terrorist propaganda.
Currently, calling up freedom.gov displays an announcement page. Under the heading "Freedom is Coming", where the term freedom is pixelated and sharpens with the mouse pointer, it is written in German: "Information is power. Claim your human right to free speech. Get ready." Depending on the country from which the page is accessed, localized language versions of the announcement are displayed.
Technically a VPN, but from an official source
Technically, what the US government is planning is nothing new: According to Reuters, a VPN function is intended to make the user's data traffic appear as US-American. Furthermore, there should be no activity tracking. Various VPN providers have long offered similar services. What would be new is that a government - moreover, one that is allied with EU states in many ways - openly undermines local laws and incites citizens to break the law.
Videos by heise
Apparently, the plan is not uncontroversial even in the USA: lawyers from the US Department of State have raised objections, Reuters writes. The department itself denies this. According to the report, the launch was planned during the Munich Security Conference but was postponed. There is no official reason. Undersecretary Sarah Rogers is leading the project.
Annoyance over EU platform regulation
The Trump administration has made no secret in the past that it considers EU legislation such as the Digital Services Act (DSA) and, consequently, national laws like Germany's NetzDG to be overreaching. In the USA, the fundamental right to free speech is interpreted more broadly than in Europe. The Trump administration criticizes EU platform regulation as censorship of conservative voices. One reason for this was that the social network X was fined 120 million euros in December. X owner Elon Musk even called for the abolition of the EU.
The current project of the US government is in contradiction to the cancellation of funding for non-profit digital projects such as Let’s Encrypt and Tor. The certification authority and the anonymization network were supported by the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM) until US President Donald Trump stopped this by decree.
(mki)
