Posted on 12/04/2006 11:35:02 AM PST by faq
Researchers at University of Toronto plan to introduce a software tool on Friday that aims to help people in countries that censor the World Wide Web.
Psiphon (pronounced sigh-fawn), a web-based utility, lets individuals in a country that censors the internet sign on to a server that gives them secure access to web pages anywhere, bypassing government restrictions.
Its creators plan to launch the software at the Protect The Net conference at the university's Munk Centre for International Studies, where psiphon emerged as a project of Citizenlab. Researchers at the facility examine the relationship between digital media and politics around the world.
"We're aiming at giving people access to sites like Wikipedia," a free, user-maintained online encyclopedia, and other information and news sources, Michael Hull, psiphon's lead engineer, told CBC News Online.
Citing countries such as China and Iran among some 40 countries that censor the internet, Hull said that the way in which access to information is cut off is troubling.
(Excerpt) Read more at cbc.ca ...
This ought to go over well in China. Im sure the government will smile and wink at any citizen who attempts to download the tool..
(((.)))
I'm willing to bet it's actually pronounced, "siphon" (SY-fun).
Already there...
"Freep-phon (pronounced Freep-fawn), a web-based utility, lets individuals in Blue-state that censors news sign on to a server that gives them secure access to real information, bypassing Main Stream Media restrictions."
Users don't have to download software. "Psiphon works by letting people in uncensored countries download the free software to run a secure, encrypted server or node in the private network. The server administrator would pass the connection information to friends and family in censored countries - psiphonites - who could then log in through a web browser and navigate sites without restrictions."
Someone posted about this yesterday. It's funded by Soros's OSI.
Still looks like a good idea to me, regardless of who is funding it.
Oh my gosh, they invented a proxy server!
"We're aiming at giving people access to sites like Wikipedia,"
still be censored I see
"Oh my gosh, they invented a proxy server! "
You know it must be an inside IT joke or something but thats exactly what I was thinking... :)
Why couldn't a country just block access to this service? I'd say it would be very easy to do.
It probably spies on the user... notifies someone over here, who then reports it directly to the Chicom government.
Please send me a FReepmail to get on or off this Canada ping list.
This will probably happen every day, several times per day.
We may need it in the US, at the rate some liberals (and Republicans) are going.
Been talking about this with my IT guy here at work. Seems like a bad idea all around to both of us.
1) What happens when the Chicom government takes on the role of middleman/proxy and starts tracking the cheaters... and
2) What kind of moron would open up their interent connection to an anonymous "proxy-siphon-friend?"
Islamists, organized crimesters, bot herders, child porn traffickers, phishers, spammers and all manner of lowlife will be able to pull bandwidth using "friendly" connections and IPs. Pretty much like handing out your social security number to people in need if you ask me.
I'd imagine that finding a legitimate Chinese user on the system will be about as easy to do as finding a horny sorority girl on a chat board...
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