Iranians Outwit Censors With Falun Gong Software

Hugh Pickens writes "The NY Times reports that since last year more than 400,000 Iranians began surfing the uncensored Web using software created for the Falun Gong, a spiritual movement that has been suppressed by the Chinese government since 1999. More than 20 countries now use increasingly sophisticated blocking and filtering systems for Internet content, according to Reporters Without Borders, including Iran, China, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Syria. The creators of the software seized upon by Iranians are members of the Global Internet Freedom Consortium, based largely in the United States and closely affiliated with Falun Gong. Interestingly enough, the United States government and the Voice of America have financed some of the circumvention technology efforts, and a coalition is organizing to push for more Congressional financing of anti-filtering efforts, bringing together dissidents of Vietnam, Iran, the Uighur minority of China, Tibet, Myanmar, Cuba, Cambodia, Laos, as well as the Falun Gong, to lobby Congress for the financing. 'What is our leverage toward a country like Iran? Very little,' said Michael Horowitz, a fellow at the Hudson Institute. 'Suppose we have the capacity to make it possible for the president of the United States at will to communicate with hundreds of thousands of Iranians at no risk or limited risk? It just changes the world.'"

Comments

Bah

[bikehorn]

'Suppose we have the capacity to make it possible for the president of the United States at will to communicate with hundreds of thousands of Iranians at no risk or limited risk? It just changes the world.'

What a pathetic example of typical Western arrogance. The usual "America is the best place in the world and everyone should want to be like us" bullshit. Fuck off and learn your place in the world already...what exactly is any Western leader going to say to the Irani population that would "change the world" ? Iranis are using anti-censorship tech to get access to information they want, which doesn't happen to be your propaganda message. Maybe you conveniently forgot but they still vividly remember how the US financed and supplied Saddam's war against Iran in which biological and chemical weapons were used. How about lifting your sanctions and shutting your hypocritcal cakehole about state sponsored terrorism when America supports Saudi Arabia and Israel, the two REAL biggest state sponsors of terrorism? Those actions would speak a lot louder than some pointless, hollow two minute webcast. That won't happen however...as they need both Saudi oil and the Jewish vote. For the US government, those two things are, figuratively speaking, as addictive and judgement-clouding as heroin.