Unicode Obfuscation

2017

The unicode obfuscation project is a website/browser extension that obfuscates English text by replacing all the English characters with foreign unicode symbols visually similar to the corresponding English ones, but representing an unrelated unicode character.

English speakers can easily post and read this "encrypted" content, but the advertising algorithms that mine our information are unable to comprehend the meaning of the words.

This uses the vast expressiveness of the unicode character set to subvert the commodification of our data. Each English character is mapped to a large unique set of unicode characters so no two obfuscated English letters are identical.

The program protects our speech by using our bodies to deobfuscate the text. Our eyes effortlessly distinguish the characters for their visual form and disregard their intended value.

The unicode obfuscation project is a website/browser extension that obfuscates English text by replacing all the English characters with foreign unicode symbols visually similar to the corresponding English ones, but representing an unrelated unicode character.

English speakers can easily post and read this "encrypted" content, but the advertising algorithms that mine our information are unable to comprehend the meaning of the words.

This uses the vast expressiveness of the unicode character set to subvert the commodification of our data. Each English character is mapped to a large unique set of unicode characters so no two obfuscated English letters are identical.

The program protects our speech by using our bodies to deobfuscate the text. Our eyes effortlessly distinguish the characters for their visual form and disregard their intended value.