In light of recent events in the Middle East, I find this initiative beyond cool. Access is a global movement for digital freedom, one which aims to bring access to internet and other forms of technology for all – especially in countries where governments restrict internet usage and block webpages as a method to control its citizens.

Founded after the 2009 Iranian post-election crackdown, Access aims to achieve greater participation, accountability and transparency. The movement provides support to human rights activists and pro-democracy activists in closed and semi-closed countries and is made up of ordinary people from all over the world, who share the belief that political participation and the realization of human rights is dependent on access to the internet and other forms of technology.

The non-profit organization is constantly looking for tech-savvy people who are willing to donate some of their unused bandwith and IP adress with the Tor Anti-sensorship tool, which works as such:

Tor is a network of tunnels through which information and internet sites can be requested and passed back anonymously, allowing users to access sites like Twitter, Facebook and Gmail even when they are blocked and without being tracked by their government. Your support will allow (the Egyptian) people to connect to sites like Facebook, as the encrypted traffic will pass through your donated bandwidth, avoiding firewalls set up by the government.

Read more about donating bandwith here. And remember, even if you aren’t the most tech-savvy,  can help! Here you can sign up to join Access’ Global Movement for Digital Freedom, which will keep you posted with action alerts and updates with easy ways to help. Read more about ongoing campaigns here.

Click here to read articles and news stories about Access and here to learn more about the movement, it’s partners and supporters.

Access also features a video archive, where human rights and democracy activists all over the world can post clips which are then hosted by access as a permanent human rights archive. Click here to go to the archive – but a warning is in order, some of the material can be quite disturbing to watch.