Cecylia Bocovich, PhD candidate
David R. Cheriton School of Computer Science
Circumventing state firewalls! Détournement! Doctor Who references! Now with higher bandwidth!
In this talk, we propose a generalized method for tunnelling censorship-resistant traffic through allowed, uncensored protocols. Video streaming services, with their high-bandwidth and increasing popularity, offer an ideal channel for the proxying of censorship-resistant Internet traffic. However, due to variable bit rate encoding schemes, the traffic patterns of streamed videos differ substantially from those of the tunnelled traffic. We discuss how to tunnel traffic through a video stream while maintaining the same traffic patterns as a regular access to the streaming service. Our technique allows users to avoid the suspicion of powerful censors with the ability to perform advanced traffic analysis techniques in their efforts to identify and block access to Internet freedom tools.