# Maria Xynou from OONI on #FundInternetFreedom - Channel: [Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress](https://streameth.org/ethereum-cypherpunk-congress) - Date: 2026-07-09 - Duration: 02:04 - Topics: web3, privacy, now, crypto, cryptography, blockchain, data, security, human right, rights, tech, technology, internet, open source, free, freedom, ethereum, hackers, ethics, cypherpunk, dev, developer, dapp, decentralization, bitcoin, computer, surveillance, cyber, peer2peer, p2p, love, solidity, zk, zero knowledge, education, academy, w3pn - Watch: https://streameth.org/watch/yt-y5i9Lqb2cD8 - YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5i9Lqb2cD8 ## Description Freedom is strongest when it's supported by you. Maria Xynou (Director of Strategic Engagement in the Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) on why Tor Project ecosystem funding matters. The Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) - a nonprofit organization that provides free software tools and open data to empower the public to monitor and respond to internet censorship worldwide: https://ooni.org Donate & protect rights online: https://internetfreedom.torproject.org/projects/ooni/ https://internetfreedom.torproject.org #FundInternetFreedom ## Transcript Everyone's talking about AI, and not nearly enough people are talking about internet censorship. Yet, basic internet access has been threatened around the world. People tend to think that internet censorship only impacts countries like China or Iran, but in reality, it is creeping up everywhere, even in Europe. And how do I know this? Well, I've been working with OONI uh over the last uh 10 years, and OONI is a free software project that has been measuring internet censorship globally since 2012. We build free software that you can use to run tests [music] on your network to check which websites or apps are blocked. And every day, our software is run by people in uh about 180 countries around [music] the world. In a crowdsourced way, we collect test results and publish them as open data in real time. And thanks to our global community, we have had the opportunity to publish more than 3 billion [music] measurements from 30,000 networks covering 245 countries and territories around the world since 2012. Because this data shows what is happening on the network, it can serve as evidence of [music] internet censorship. And that is why it supported a court case in Kenya last year, as well as numerous other research and advocacy [music] efforts around the world. By supporting OONI, you not only allow us to keep providing free software that [music] people around the world rely on to detect internet censorship, but you also support the world's largest and longest-running data sets on internet [music] censorship, which many researchers and journalists and advocates and and lawyers rely on in order to defend human rights. Thank you for supporting OONI, and thank you for supporting the internet freedom ecosystem. >> Mhm.