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Coffeeshop Chit Chat - Human Rights software to siam ISD...</TD><TD id=msgunetc noWrap align=right>
Subscribe </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE><TABLE class=msgtable cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="96%"><TBODY><TR><TD class=msg vAlign=top><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgbfr1 width="1%"> </TD><TD><TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0><TBODY><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgF width="1%" noWrap align=right>From: </TD><TD class=msgFname width="68%" noWrap>Crosswindx <NOBR></NOBR> </TD><TD class=msgDate width="30%" noWrap align=right>Jun-26 11:45 pm </TD></TR><TR class=msghead><TD class=msgT height=20 width="1%" noWrap align=right>To: </TD><TD class=msgTname width="68%" noWrap>ALL <NOBR></NOBR></TD><TD class=msgNum noWrap align=right> (1 of 3) </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgleft rowSpan=4 width="1%"> </TD><TD class=wintiny noWrap align=right>15947.1 </TD></TR><TR><TD height=8></TD></TR><TR><TD class=msgtxt>We need this or not?
<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>Home > Breaking News > Tech and Science > Story
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</TD></TR><TR><TD>June 27, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : start --></TD></TR><TR><TD>'Human rights software' <!--10 min-->
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Iranians have been using social and media sites such as Facebook, Flickr and Twitter to communicate and organise. -- PHOTO: AP
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->OTTAWA - SOFTWARE developed by a Canadian lab to circumvent online censorship has been downloaded by more than 18,000 Iranians in the last 10 days, says its developer Rafal Rohozinski.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story -->TEHERAN STEPPING UP CENSORSHIP
IRAN'S controls are not as pervasive as China's, he noted, but Teheran is clearly stepping up its online censorship.
Of late, world leaders have expressed growing concern over Iran's brutal crackdown on dissidents. Canada has been among the most vocal, outright rejecting Iran's call to 'stay out' of its internal politics.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>A thirst for online freedom in Iran, as well as in China, Myanmar and other authoritarian hotspots, has led to a sudden proliferation of all technologies designed to overcome curbs on news and social networking Internet sites.
'This speaks to the hunger for access to information when it's being denied,' Mr Rohozinski told AFP.
Iranians angered by the results of the country's presidential election that returned hardline incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power have been using social and media sites such as Facebook, Flickr and Twitter to communicate and organise.
They have also been posting videos of violent post-election protests and clashes to video-sharing sites such as YouTube. But more and more, Teheran has fought back by blocking access to news and social networking Internet sites.
Psiphon overcomes this by punching thousands of tiny holes in computer firewalls and opening new pathways in order to access blocked content. If a user wishes to view a blocked BBC News website, for example, Psiphon enables them to link to a proxy to view the content. If censors shut down this access, a new access window opens up, and so on.
It is 'human rights software,' said Mr Rohozinski, who also recently helped uncover a shadowy cyber-espionage network based mostly in China that had infiltrated government and private computers around the world.
The network, known as GhostNet, infected 1,295 computers in 103 countries and penetrated systems containing sensitive information in top political, economic and media offices, researchers at Toronto's Citizen Lab said in March.
The idea for Psiphon emerged out of a project launched by Toronto, Cambridge, Harvard and Oxford universities to track Internet censorship. 'We found an exponentially rising curve of countries seeking to control content on the Internet,' Mr Rohozinski explained.
'Authoritarian states are increasingly taking note of the Internet as a communication medium and a mode of organising opposition, and therefore they're going out of their way to try to control it,' he said. 'The trend was worrisome and so we started on a way to counter these efforts.' -- AFP
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<TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%"><TBODY><TR><TD>Home > Breaking News > Tech and Science > Story
</TD></TR><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR><TD>June 27, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : start --></TD></TR><TR><TD>'Human rights software' <!--10 min-->
</TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- headline one : end --></TD></TR><TR><TD><!-- show image if available --></TD></TR><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
Iranians have been using social and media sites such as Facebook, Flickr and Twitter to communicate and organise. -- PHOTO: AP
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"-->OTTAWA - SOFTWARE developed by a Canadian lab to circumvent online censorship has been downloaded by more than 18,000 Iranians in the last 10 days, says its developer Rafal Rohozinski.
<TABLE width=200 align=left valign="top"><TBODY><TR><TD class=padr8><!-- Vodcast --><!-- Background Story -->TEHERAN STEPPING UP CENSORSHIP
IRAN'S controls are not as pervasive as China's, he noted, but Teheran is clearly stepping up its online censorship.
Of late, world leaders have expressed growing concern over Iran's brutal crackdown on dissidents. Canada has been among the most vocal, outright rejecting Iran's call to 'stay out' of its internal politics.
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>A thirst for online freedom in Iran, as well as in China, Myanmar and other authoritarian hotspots, has led to a sudden proliferation of all technologies designed to overcome curbs on news and social networking Internet sites.
'This speaks to the hunger for access to information when it's being denied,' Mr Rohozinski told AFP.
Iranians angered by the results of the country's presidential election that returned hardline incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to power have been using social and media sites such as Facebook, Flickr and Twitter to communicate and organise.
They have also been posting videos of violent post-election protests and clashes to video-sharing sites such as YouTube. But more and more, Teheran has fought back by blocking access to news and social networking Internet sites.
Psiphon overcomes this by punching thousands of tiny holes in computer firewalls and opening new pathways in order to access blocked content. If a user wishes to view a blocked BBC News website, for example, Psiphon enables them to link to a proxy to view the content. If censors shut down this access, a new access window opens up, and so on.
It is 'human rights software,' said Mr Rohozinski, who also recently helped uncover a shadowy cyber-espionage network based mostly in China that had infiltrated government and private computers around the world.
The network, known as GhostNet, infected 1,295 computers in 103 countries and penetrated systems containing sensitive information in top political, economic and media offices, researchers at Toronto's Citizen Lab said in March.
The idea for Psiphon emerged out of a project launched by Toronto, Cambridge, Harvard and Oxford universities to track Internet censorship. 'We found an exponentially rising curve of countries seeking to control content on the Internet,' Mr Rohozinski explained.
'Authoritarian states are increasingly taking note of the Internet as a communication medium and a mode of organising opposition, and therefore they're going out of their way to try to control it,' he said. 'The trend was worrisome and so we started on a way to counter these efforts.' -- AFP
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