Lantern (software)

Lantern is a free and open source internet censorship circumvention tool that operates in some of the most extreme censorship environments, such as China, Iran, and Russia. It was used by millions of Iranians during the Mahsa Amini protests in Iran in 2022 and again during the surge in censorship in Russia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Lantern uses a wide variety of protocols and techniques that obfuscate network traffic and/or co-mingle traffic with protocols censors are reluctant to block, often hiding in protocols such as TLS. It also uses domain fronting. It is not an anonymity tool like Tor. Lantern was developed and is maintained by Brave New Software Project, a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Brave New Software was founded in 2010 and "is dedicated to keeping the internet open and decentralized through user-focused open tools that solve practical problems in how the internet works for people." Early versions of Lantern allowed users in countries having free internet access to share their internet connection with those who are in countries where the network is partly blocked. Network connections will be dispersed between multiple computers running Lantern so it will not put undue stress on a single connection or computer. Newer versions of Lantern again use this technique via browser-based proxies and Lantern's Unbounded software. Lantern's CEO and lead developer is Adam Fisk, the former lead engineer of LimeWire.