FC: "Peekabooty" software aims to circumvent Net-censorship

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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Date: Tue, 26 Feb 2002 14:43:19 -0500 (EST)
From: Tommyc <tommyc () lipsio com>
To: declan () well com
Subject: Peekabooty (fwd)

Sounds like this is up the Politech alley. Perhaps this will replace SETI
as everyone's computer's spare-time hobby.


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http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991948

Peekabooty aims to banish internet censorship

14:31 19 February 02

A long-awaited computer program that can circumvent government
censorship of the internet has debuted at a computer conference in
the US.

The program - Peekabooty - promises to give people in countries such
as China and Saudi Arabia safe access to the whole of the internet.
In these countries, internet access is controlled by
government-operated ISPs, which blacklist certain web sites. This may
include news sites that are deemed unsympathetic to government policy.

Peekabooty relies on users inside and outside a government-imposed
"firewall" downloading software. Restricted content can then be
delivered using volunteer "nodes" outside the restricted zone
communicating with users within.

The content is disguised as encrypted browser traffic, which is
normally used to transmit credit card information or sensitive
information such as passwords.

Hidden identity

Peekabooty uses a complicated communications system to allow users to
share information while revealing little about their identity. When a
node receives a request for a web page it randomly decides whether to
pass this on or access the page itself. It also only knows the
address of its nearest partner. This makes it difficult to determine
who requested what information and is designed to protect users from
anyone trying to infiltrate the system from inside.

[...] 




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