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

What's old world is new world again

[unlametheweak]

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.

Re:What's old world is new world again

[icebike]

I doubt the terrorist plot claim hold much water in the US any more.

No, these days you can hear the plaintive wail of "Won't someone please think of the Children" anytime someone speaks out against censorship.

Child porn is the major excuse for excessive censorship today, but Australia proposed to block thousands of legitimate sites in the pursuit of child porn, and Minnesota wants to block gambling sites.

Most censorship in the US is not done by the Federal Government, but rather by over zealous ISPs, Schools, and in the work-place.

The US government is large enough that the left hand does not know what the right hand is doing.

However, don't expect this inconsistency to last if those pushing for more censorship gain the ear of the current administration.

That being said, I will bet you Dollars to Donunts that government censorship will arrive in the EU before it arrives in the US on any comparable scale.

This is because, when you strip away the rhetoric, the EU is based on the notion that people can not govern themselves, and the elite must assume this burden. The US has historically espoused the concept of self government.

How long either can be true to their founding principals is anyone's guess.

I have a dream...

[Drakkenmensch]

... of a world without frontiers or lines, united through their common love of pirated games and porn download torrents.

As the son of an Iranian refugee

[BadAnalogyGuy]

Since the fall of the Shah and the rise of the Ayatollahs, Iran has politically regressed to a very dangerous stage. However, culturally the country is still very close to America. Despite the religiosity demanded by the mullahs, many consolations have been made to keep the populace from rioting.

From simple things like not requiring a full hijab to really bizarre things like ultra-temporary marriages to allow single men the pleasures of prostitutes legally under Sharia. Iran is a country struggling to break back into the modern world.

The faster we can get a strong secular leader in power there, the better the odds of Iran returning to the peaceful international fold.

Re:As the son of an Iranian refugee

[quantax]

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.

The markets are effective at this sort of thing

[azgard]

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.

Why the surprise over Voice of America Support?

[dorzak]

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.

Cyber attack?

[wiredog]

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?

Left hand, meet right hand

[JimMcc]

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.

Re:Left hand, meet right hand

[Xtravar]

It makes perfect sense.

We blow up foreign infrastructure only to rebuild it.

We give tax breaks while simultaneously starting new spending programs.

We fight poppy growers, who fund terrorism, while simultaneously sustaining an artificially expensive black market for drugs. In a sense, we're both funding and fighting terrorism.

So there's absolutely nothing inconsistent about our behavior here.

Re:Information does not "want" to be free.

[johnsonav]

Anthropomorphism hates being used in an analogy.

Radio free world

[0xdeadbeef]

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.