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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.'"
Hopefully the citizens of Britain and Australia and Germany can get a hold of this software so that they can use the Internet without government censorship impeding them.
"The internet interprets censorship as damage, and routes around it". People can do so too.
Those are my principles, and if you don't like them... well, I have others.
Look at the military industry for example. There is a large market for guns, shells and missiles on one side, and also large market for bulletproof vests, armour and missile defense on the other side.
This is a similar situation. Especially the makers of internet filtering software, such as Cisco, should take note of this emerging market opportunity.
So, we should really keep the markets do their own thing, and the economy will grow and prosper.
Voice of America started as a radio network for broadcasting news that shows a different point of view from that by censors in the old Soviet Bloc.
This just seems a continuation of the same mission.
In the same way that an object does not "want" to fall when it is dropped, or a species does not "want" to evolve.
But it will, regardless, simply because that is its natural state.
Technoli
Interestingly enough, the United States government and the Voice of America have financed some of the circumvention technology efforts,
Would that count as a cyber attack on Iran or China?
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First, I'll state that I support this, worldwide.
That said, I find it a bit whacked that on one hand we have part of our government demanding filtering and selective blocking of websites in public locations and schools. While at the same time a different part of our government is supporting and funding software to bypass filtering and blocking.
Maybe we should drop the Politically Correct filtering efforts and quit wasting everybody's money. After all, isn't that what our government seems to be saying to other countries? Or is it just our country and our allies that are allowed to filter? Come on USA, get your story straight.
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. You're assuming those thousands of Iranians would actually want to download messages from Obama, rather than downloading porn. As a general rule, the more repressed people's public lives are, the more sleazy their secret, private lives become. Iran has a huge surplus of educated but unemployed young men. I suspect that "free porn" is pretty high on their list of motivations for defeating filters, while "hearing what Obama has to say" is pretty low. Especially given that Obama doesn't speak Farsi. Porn is universal, it needs no translation. When was the last time you saw a foreign language porn flick with subtitles? One doesn't really need to understand the language to follow the plot line in a porn flick. And their stage direction is mostly just:
In!
Out.
In!
Out.
In!
Out.
In!
Out.
Actor 1 moans...
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
'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?
For what purpose? So he can apologize?
Not to defend the current theocrats, but you do realize Shah was a dictator and already "politically regressed to a very dangerous stage" which is why the revolution happened. The current government is learning that that fever of the revolution has died and people just want to live their lives. The progress will be slow but I have confidence Iranians will increasingly reject the cultural neanderthals within their current government.
"What can a thoughtful man hope for mankind on Earth, given the experience of the past million years? Nothing." -Bokonon
...in North Korea, where the Internet is simply prohibited altogether.
The faster we can get a strong secular leader in power there, the better the odds of Iran returning to the peaceful international fold.
Hopefully the "we" is you and your fellow Iranians (wonder if /. can be read in Iran). We (as in the rest of the world) have countless examples why we should not be in the business of installing our favorite "leaders" at the heads of unstable governments. Supporting means for people to criticize, mobilize, and install a leader that meets their best interests (as determined by them, not outsiders) may take longer, but ultimately results in a more stable society.
It's funny how certain kinds of people praise the defiance of authority like this but admonish those who defeat filters in school to access controversial information. They force their public schools and libraries to install buggy censorware which has been demonstrated time and time again to block legitimate but incorrectly categorized information.
Heck, the Australian and German governments filter their entire countries, for ostentatious "think of the children" reasons, but all it takes is a flip of a switch for it to go political. Neither country historically has much of a problem with certain kinds of political censorship.
How long ago was it that we had Republicans telling us to watch what we say?
We need a pan-national dedication to transparency and the free flow of information. The people who scream about Iranian and Chinese injustice the loudest are also some of the worst censors at home. The free world won't be until we hold our own people accountable.
I seriously doubt the Iranians censor much in the way of non-pornographic English material.
The progress will be slow but I have confidence Americans will increasingly reject the Republicans within their current government.
There. Fixed that for you. Yes, yes. I know that there are more countries in "America" than the U.S., but everybody still calls us Americans. The point is that one has to be struck by the similarity of two groups of culturally conservative old men who have become dangerously out of touch with the world they live in. Both are becoming marginalized as a result. Just sayin'.
Stupid parent. Your baby takes a couple of wobbly steps before falling on his chubby little ass and that looks like walking to you?
Well, you got it all wrong.
UK, Australia and Germany are doing it for the good of the people, if the government wouldn't protect them, then who will?
China and Iran on the other hand are suppressing freedom and liberty.
Will someone think of the children!