Slashdot Mirror
Psiphon Now Available For Download
eldavojohn writes "Project Psiphon has been released for public download under the GPL. CNN has coverage of the Canadian research project that 'works by first allowing a person in a country like Canada that does not censor Internet content to set up a user name and a password for a person in a country that does — China, for example.' While this idea is certainly nothing new to Slashdot, the fact that software like Psiphon is becoming publicly available is interesting. For a quick simplified 'How it works,' Psiphon has a Flash demonstration." Not a moment too soon, apparently. China is moving to assign IDs to bloggers, to register their real identities and track their statements online.
You bring up some important points. The 'contact' is putting his trust in the guy he's helping do the circumvention. Its the same idea as an open wireless network. Even if you don't mind sharing your bandwidth with strangers, do you trust them to not download kiddie porn or run a phishing scam over your internet connection? That'll probably come back to bite you in the ass if they do.
Your first point depends on how hard it is to detect that some one is using this circumvention software. They're doing something illegal obviously, but that goes without saying.
The U.S.S.R. would still exist today if it hadn't been for all those folks "hiding" behind fax machines, getting the word out.
Vision and Courage are great but they don't exist without information.