Aid Urged for Groups Fighting Internet Censors

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The US government certainly supports internet freedom and privacy in China, Iran, etc. OTOH, it definitely doesn't support that for those who break its laws and/or threaten its interests. Indeed, although it's hard to assess, I suspect that global DNS censorship is quite prevalent.

 

Do you really believe this program is being promoted simply out of hypocrisy?

 

Let's just say that I'm suspicious. We're talking about the US government here, not the EFF! I'm sure that many involved actually do think of themselves as advancing the cause/ideal of freedom, etc., etc. I mean no disrespect. However, I'd take them more seriously if they repealed DMCA and KYC, for example.

 

Why don't they support the same in USA and EU?

 

Well, if you asked them, I'm sure that they'd say that they do. And if you pressed, they'd say that you're talking about something entirely different, about people circumventing lawful restrictions on Internet use. And of course, that's what Iran and China also say. Right?

 

You are corrrect. It's a question of outsiders trying to impose their values upon another nation They have their own customs & laws.

 

Like North Korea?

 

Just for the record, I don't consider the internet to be subject to the customs and laws of any nation. Also, the fact that I oppose both US and North Korean interference with the internet does not mean that I consider them similar or equivalent in any other way.

 

I was hoping this thread would focus more on the approaches and tools the program seeks to develop to circumvent censorship.

 

OK. Here's my wish list:

(1) global anonymous broadband access via low-altitude geostationary satellites (see <www.swansat.com> for concept);

(2) multi-hop broadband VPN anonymity networks;

(3) anonymous and private e-mail and messaging systems;

(4) anonymous, secure and reliable online storage (either P2P like Freenet or Infinit, or using cloud storage with something like Cleversafe);

(5) anonymous, secure and reliable online computing resources;

(6) anonymous web hosting (such as hidden services in Tor, or flogs);

(7) anonymous, secure and reliable banking systems.

Did I miss anything?

 

Yeah, just one:

( 8 ) Utopia.

Unfortunately your list isn't looking too good.

Edit: I forgot to mention that the Internet itself isn't subject to any nations laws, it's the webhosting services and ISPs that are subject to laws, and, the people who use those services. If you heavily regulate/control those, you effectively DO control the Internet. Oh, from the article: “I think we just don’t get it, it’s politics,” said David Tian, a NASA engineer and Falun Gong practitioner who works on the Global Internet Freedom Consortium in his free time"....Oh, that's REAL lovely, he's one of ours.

As long as nations stick to the policy of "We believe in internet freedom (or any freedom) for all...as long as it doesn't affect us", then all this sweet talk is just that, talk. True internet freedom would scare the hell out of business and government, so you aren't going to get it.

 

Right. Sorry. Missed that one

Yeah, tell me about it. There are a few bright points, however

Yes. The challenge is to implement what we want in ways that can't be controlled without messing up what mass audiences want, and what mass media want to feed them.

That's good. I should have just written that, and kept the rest to myself.

 

There are always bright points no matter how negative things get Unfortunately global economics and security is giving the governments of the world and, indeed, the media the opportunity to grasp control in ways most of us never would have thought could happen. The bright side of that is we don't HAVE to be fed what mass media wants to feed us. We can think for ourselves, if we choose to. It's when we stop thinking that trouble comes.

Anyway, getting back to the topic, even though truly being anonymous can never happen, as the Chinese and other oppressed people already know, restrictions and walls can be broken down. Anonymous services like Tor, Xero, they all can help fight against the ever growing trend of mass data collection. In fact, it's almost necessary to use such services to avoid the trend. Just don't expect to be able to truly hide with them.

 

Haystack

 

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