---
title: Overview
sidebar_position: 0
---

A web mirror can help users by providing alternate URLs to access censored resources, allowing them to bypass censorship
and access information that may be otherwise blocked.
Web mirrors work by forwarding requests to the original website, and providing a different URL to access that content.

Dynamic web mirrors use frequently changing URLs to evade censorship, making it more difficult for censors to maintain
blocks for the content.
This assumption of a limited lifetime is built-in to the system, allowing for automated block detection to trigger the
deployment of new URLs, and for the new URLs to be made available via the portal, the API, and via dead drops.

Named web mirrors use alternative domain names with limited distribution to evade censorship.
By blending with the "long tail" of web traffic, it may take longer for these mirrors to be discovered.

Web mirrors can be accessed via a normal web browser, making them easily accessible to users without requiring any
special software or technical knowledge.

<figure style={{"text-align": "center"}}>
    <img src="/img/mirrors/overview.png" style={{"max-width": "100%", "max-height": "500px"}} />
    <figcaption style={{"font-weight": "bold"}}>
        The jasima.app portal overview for web mirrors
    </figcaption>
</figure>