05-07-2006, 09:11 PM
Revenge of the nerds
Three computer geeks at the U of T are renowned developers of anti-censorship software, including a program out this month that could allow people to outwit the world's most repressive regimes
May 7, 2006. 07:16 AM
ANDREW CHUNG
STAFF REPORTER
Looking at them you might not guess it. But deep in a basement room on the University of Toronto campus, three unassuming computer hackers with messy hair and wrinkled T-shirts are working to tear down China's "Great Firewall," the most sophisticated Internet censorship system in the world.
They are self-confessed computer "geeks." They don't go to the gym much, or see much sunlight. They talk about "routers" and "nodes" and "secure socket layers" like they were saying, "Hello," or "How are you?"
But the computer smarts of Ron Deibert, Nart Villeneuve, and Michael Hull, combined with their passion for politics and free expression, have led them to develop a highly anticipated software program that allows Internet users inside China and other countries, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Burma, to get around repressive censorship and not get caught.
Their innovation is called Psiphon, and it's being launched at the end of this month.
"It's enormous," says Deibert, 41, a nerd-meets-aging-punker kind of guy who directs the Citizen Lab at the U of T's Munk Centre for International Studies, where the trio work. "If it works the way we hope it does and is distributed worldwide, it will have a huge impact on freedom of speech."
Others watching Psiphon's progress agree. "We've been trying to circumvent both the firewalls and the censorship surveillance," says Sharon Hom, executive director of New York-based Human Rights in China. "So it's something we are very, very interested in."
Psiphon takes the concept of a third-party computer doing the work yours can't because of censorship, and protects it by relying on trusted friends and close family, to create a program the creators say is nearly fail-safe.
The program is needed more than ever, as the number of countries that censor or filter the Internet continues to grow. China alone has reportedly spent hundreds of millions of dollars on its Great Firewall, as it's known outside the country. Thousands of people stand guard on it.
China blocks countless websites, from ones featuring porn to those devoted to Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned in China. Anything on human rights is off-limits. Same for democracy.
Late last month, the wildly popular website Technorati, which searches the Internet for blogs, or personal Web journals, vanished in China despite the fact that the country has one of the fastest growing blogospheres in the world. A spokesperson for the San Francisco-based Technorati told the Star it wasn't clear how or why the site was blocked.
So the Citizen Lab taking on powerful censors such as China is a lot like David going into battle with Goliath.
"It's a huge uphill battle," Deibert concurs. "The trajectory in terms of global politics is toward greater state control (of the Internet). I see closure everywhere."
What does Villeneuve, 31, who spawned the idea of Psiphon, think about challenging the likes of China? He puts down his Che Guevara mug and thinks for a moment. He shrugs his shoulders and smirks: "It just seems like the right thing to do."
(more..)http://www.thestar.com/...
Three computer geeks at the U of T are renowned developers of anti-censorship software, including a program out this month that could allow people to outwit the world's most repressive regimes
May 7, 2006. 07:16 AM
ANDREW CHUNG
STAFF REPORTER
Looking at them you might not guess it. But deep in a basement room on the University of Toronto campus, three unassuming computer hackers with messy hair and wrinkled T-shirts are working to tear down China's "Great Firewall," the most sophisticated Internet censorship system in the world.
They are self-confessed computer "geeks." They don't go to the gym much, or see much sunlight. They talk about "routers" and "nodes" and "secure socket layers" like they were saying, "Hello," or "How are you?"
But the computer smarts of Ron Deibert, Nart Villeneuve, and Michael Hull, combined with their passion for politics and free expression, have led them to develop a highly anticipated software program that allows Internet users inside China and other countries, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia and Burma, to get around repressive censorship and not get caught.
Their innovation is called Psiphon, and it's being launched at the end of this month.
"It's enormous," says Deibert, 41, a nerd-meets-aging-punker kind of guy who directs the Citizen Lab at the U of T's Munk Centre for International Studies, where the trio work. "If it works the way we hope it does and is distributed worldwide, it will have a huge impact on freedom of speech."
Others watching Psiphon's progress agree. "We've been trying to circumvent both the firewalls and the censorship surveillance," says Sharon Hom, executive director of New York-based Human Rights in China. "So it's something we are very, very interested in."
Psiphon takes the concept of a third-party computer doing the work yours can't because of censorship, and protects it by relying on trusted friends and close family, to create a program the creators say is nearly fail-safe.
The program is needed more than ever, as the number of countries that censor or filter the Internet continues to grow. China alone has reportedly spent hundreds of millions of dollars on its Great Firewall, as it's known outside the country. Thousands of people stand guard on it.
China blocks countless websites, from ones featuring porn to those devoted to Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned in China. Anything on human rights is off-limits. Same for democracy.
Late last month, the wildly popular website Technorati, which searches the Internet for blogs, or personal Web journals, vanished in China despite the fact that the country has one of the fastest growing blogospheres in the world. A spokesperson for the San Francisco-based Technorati told the Star it wasn't clear how or why the site was blocked.
So the Citizen Lab taking on powerful censors such as China is a lot like David going into battle with Goliath.
"It's a huge uphill battle," Deibert concurs. "The trajectory in terms of global politics is toward greater state control (of the Internet). I see closure everywhere."
What does Villeneuve, 31, who spawned the idea of Psiphon, think about challenging the likes of China? He puts down his Che Guevara mug and thinks for a moment. He shrugs his shoulders and smirks: "It just seems like the right thing to do."
(more..)http://www.thestar.com/...
