Any technological problem has a technological solution, given enough minds and enough time. Researchers at the University of Toronto are proving this statement to be true — a team of political scientists, software engineers and hacking activists or “hackists” have developed a software tool that might help evade government-imposed Internet filters and blocks in countries, such as China, where the Internet is censored.
Called psiphon (pronounced “SY-fon”), the program is accessible via password and isn’t downloaded onto the user’s computer, thereby leaving no fingerprints on the machine, although users have to make sure they erase their Internet histories after each use. Someone in an uncensored country does have to download the software onto a least one PC, which will then act as a proxy, allowing all the other psiphon users in the censored countries to gain access to an unfettered Internet with the enabled computer. The hope is that thousand of PC owners in uncensored nations will be willing to set up the proxy service.
Psiphon is a step forward because it’s easy to use and doesn’t require discoverable software to be downloaded. One drawback: the password to Psiphon has to be passed around among small circles of friends and families. It can’t be publicly or indiscriminately disseminated, otherwise authorities can gain access, although to my way of thinking, censors will undoubtedly gain access.
Cynthia Brumfield at 5:55 PM|Comments(1)
Hi
How can I download this software?
Posted by: hamid at December 10, 2006 12:39 AM
Blogs We Read
