Web censorship 'bypass' unveiled

[eppur_se_muova]

A tool has been created capable of circumventing government censorship of the web, according to researchers.

The free program has been constructed to let citizens of countries with restricted web access retrieve and display web pages from anywhere.

The University of Toronto's Citizen Lab software, called psiphon, will be released on 1 December.
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But the Citizen Lab, which is based at the Munk Centre for International Studies at the University of Toronto, believes its program will allow surfers to bypass web censorship.

Psiphon works through social networks. A net user in an uncensored country can download the program to their computer, which transforms it into an access point.
***
more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6187486.stm

HA ha! Blocking information from the internets is going to be like nailing jelly to a tree.

[AnnieBW]

1. Kiddie Pr0n Fans Rejoice!

They'll be the first ones in line to download this.

[Fridays Child]

2. Probably so but there are other ways to get those pervs.

That NBC show proved how easy they are to bust because they can't control themselves.

[acmejack]

3. A most interesting outlook.

You are correct, Citizen! Only those with the most nefarious intent would desire such software.

[tavalon]

12. You aren't serious, right?

I think there are a few Chinese, Iranian, Iraqis and so on who have no nefarious intent. They just want unfettered access to the information that will set them free.

[Zodiak]

4. No. I will.

Because it will be a matter of time before they shut this down, and I have things I wish to say and news reports I want to read.

Child pornography is an entirely serparate issue from hundreds of millions of people having their access to information censored by repressive governments with a political agenda. In my opinion, the need for free flow of information trumps a few sickos who want to get ahold of kiddie porn. Besides, there are other ways to combat kiddie porn than blanket censorship.

I guess I just do not buy the idea that since kiddie pornographers are out there that we need to ALL suffer consorship and turn over our right to access information...especially when we pay for it.

[sniffa]

5. ooh, thanks for the tip

[wakeme2008]

7. Wrong the first will be Corp users that are filtered already

:shrug:

[hvn_nbr_2]

9. The invention of photography was the greatest boon to kiddie porn in history

Too bad they didn't keep that genie in its bottle.

I would add that you are right about kiddie porn lovers rejoicing, but it just seems like such a narrow way to look at a much broader thing.

[-..__...]

18. Digital photography made it even more so.

[Hosnon]

10. So be it. We gotta take the bad with the good - law enforcement will match this soon. nt

[RoyGBiv]

11. Right ...

And that's just what those who will immediately seek to assault this technology with patent infringement suits, question its effects on national security, or who just don't want you accessing anything that might not agree with the Party Line want you to think about first.

It's DANGEROUS! Only criminals benefit.

Pfffttt...

...

I sit here, getting more irritated by the moment at this kind of reaction.

I've spent the last week trying to help a person in (one of those countries on the list) download a very small, very simple software package for his Linux box that will allow him to install an RSS client that would in turn circumvent his country's censoring of news sources outside of where he lives. He can't get the damn thing because of his country's content filters. Every mirror in the freakin' world that has the thing has been blocked. Of course I could set up a temporary FTP server on some unblocked domain, but then I'd probably have the NSA breathing down my neck...all because this person would like to read some damn news other than "Dear Leader loves you, and everything is perfect in our country."

Maybe this was just humor. Maybe not. (And I'm sorry I'm jumping on you. I don't intend it as a personal attack.) It being the comment you decided to post shows very clearly none of us are all that far away from just allowing the government to do whatever the hell it wants to do to control us. They just have to wrap the matter in a wrapper of context that makes you think such a thing is inherently evil by associating it with something that is inherently evil, whether that has anything to do with it or not.

And, FWIW, you'd be wrong about this anyway. The way this system works requires someone in a country in which the content is legal to download it and then provide an access point that has not been blocked by the censoring country's filters. They'd be "in the open" as distributors of such content, but since that content is legal where they are, it's not a problem. And you're not going to find a whole heaping lot of people willing to do this with that kind of content because that makes them a distributor.

[mogster]

16. Why?

Why would kiddie porn 'fans' download a sw that circumvent censorship, are their connections to the internet censored?

[rman]

20. yes, we must fear internet for its freedom of information

If we're to believe RW talking points.

[Zodiak]

6. By the way, here is the list of countries....

that restrict access to their citizens. Ostensibly for political reasons.

Belarus
Burma
China
Cuba
Egypt
Iran
North Korea
Saudi Arabia
Syria
Tunisia
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Vietnam


And the US wants to join them because we pesky internet activists have become a real thorn in the side of the proto-fascist movement.

[acmejack]

8. Internet censorship

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship

[Heywood J]

21. Wikipedia isn't an authoritative source.

Many of those countries are on there for legitimate repression, but I know that mine is on there for not allowing children in schools to look up bomb instructions. With a case like that, I'm suspicious of the rest of it.

[JCMach1]

15. UAE also censors things badly... the most annoying is blocking Skype

trying to protect the local phone company's monopoly!

So, YAY!

[buddysmellgood]

13. Hot jelly.

[BrightKnight]

14. In the free world you have to take the good with the bad.

Apparently there are a few big brother comrades here that have forgotten that.

[justice1]

17. I'm curious as to what country will make the parts.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

19. those tubes just keep mulitplying. Like alaskan rabbits, almost.

It was only a matter of time.

Now, unless we keep net neutrality, the corpserations seeking to control the net may come up with a whole new way to censor the tubes.

[Heywood J]

22. It's a proxy server.

When did that become new or novel? They've been around since the beginning of the Internet.