Major opposition party -MDC A (its MDC A right??)- has protests planned for August 16 (tomorrow), which means we could end up with limited access to the internet or if push comes to shove no internet at all.
Let’s talk VPNs
If access is blocked off for social media and messaging apps –as it was earlier this year– then you’ll need a trusty VPN with you to stay connected. Interestingly, not all VPNs will do the job as we saw last year. Some VPNs got blocked and stopped working altogether. In the event that this is the case again you’ll need to use a really good VPN in the event that social media is blocked again. The most effective VPN for me was Shadowsocks and it continued working until the internet was entirely shut down. Another option to consider is the private browser Tor which now has an Android option that’s much easier to set up compared to the desktop app. Of course, if your VPN worked throughout that whole episode then it might be a good idea to stick with it. A little research on whether that particular VPN is safe or not might go a long way as we later discovered that free VPNs are not always the safest option. Telegram, remember that app that was the king of messaging in Zim for around 3 days, you might want to install that sucker again. It’s much harder to block than WhatsApp and is one of the reasons why the internet was completely shut down as people had a cheap communication tool again. If the government goes ahead and just shuts down the internet altogether, your VPN, Tor Browser and Telegram will be of no use at all. We hope none of the above happens but with planned protests tomorrow, things could go sideways and if they do you better be prepared.Worst case scenario
Also read, The Idiot’s Guide To VPN Blocking
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