Censorship-skirting software from U of T could enhance human rights

Article 19 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights states, in part, that "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom…to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers." While these freedoms are enshrined in Western society, it’s all too easy to find laws that contradict them in other parts of the world. An example: last week, Iran blocked the video-sharing website YouTube, notifying those who try to log on with the message: "On the basis of the Islamic Republic of Iran laws, access to this website is not authorized." This is just the latest in a series of Web destinations already blocked in Iran, China, Saudi Arabia, Myanmar and some 40 other countries around the world that censor the Internet in some way. So when the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab launched the censorship circumvention computer program Psiphon on December 1, it was aware of the potential legal implications. "Certainly someone in Iran is breaking the laws of their country," says Michael Hull, lead engineer on the Psiphon project. To move past that moral hurdle Hull says the Psiphon team fell back on the UN’s Article 19. And, for potential users, a bold-letter warning in the FAQ’s at Psiphon’s website states that: "Bypassing censorship may violate law. Serious thought should be given to the risks involved and potential consequences." However, Psiphon is not being offered entirely as a use-at-your own risk tool; the first iteration of the program takes great care to protect users in censored countries. "The primary mission was to provide a circumvention tool that would allow people to access and browse the Internet through friends and families," says Hull. With that in mind, Psiphon was designed to be downloaded and hosted on computers in non-censored countries and accessed by users, or psiphonites, in censored countries through a unique Web address. For example once logged in, a psiphonite in Teheran would have access to whatever their brother’s computer in Toronto has access to, for the most part. Psiphon encryption protects users from electronic eavesdropping, so while someone who’s snooping could see that a psiphonite’s computer has connected to another computer, they wouldn’t be able to see what the user is looking at. And Psiphon servers run on port number 443, which is the port for all financial transactions, so it effectively buries surfing activity under that guise. But it also limits what sites psiphonites can visit; YouTube, for instance, can’t be accessed through Psiphon yet because streaming video can’t be disguised as a banking transaction."Out of the box we said, ‘We want to make sure people can get to Wikipedia,’" says Hull. With version 1.1, users can log in and post at the free online encyclopedia and pretty much every blog, and updated versions of Psiphon should increase access to more areas on the Web. Hull adds, "The bottom-line issue for us was that filtering is becoming more and more prevalent and so the bar is lowering on what people can access. Our main objective was to raise the bar back up." But raising that bar could have serious social implications. "The thought is that the answer to totalitarianism and restrictive regimes is exposure to Western values…exposure to Western ideas and the availability of cultural content," says David Fewer, staff counsel at the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic. "We do see value in these kinds of programs and these kinds of technologies kind of enhancing human rights and enhancing fundamental liberties." Apparently the public is seeing a lot of value in Psiphon as well; the program was downloaded more than 42,000 times in the four days following its launch. The Citizen Lab is also able to get feedback on how the program is being used from the first run of downloads. Aside from just hosting Psiphon for friends and family, Hull says users are spinning off Psiphon community forums to allow people to connect with each other. "It kind of extends that personal family circle of trust out to the notion of people being able to trust other people on the Internet," says Hull. "What we’re finding is people are saying, ‘You can use the server…but that’s my bandwidth, you’re effectively sitting at my computer while you’re using Psiphon so you behave in this way or I’ll remove your account.’" To increase security, people who provide a Psiphon node can see the sites that the psiphonites are visiting. CIPPIC’s Fewer also points out that programs like Psiphon have domestic applications such as allowing people to circumvent corporate Internet restrictions. Since it can be used to circumvent any filtering software, a user could download Psiphon on their home computer allowing them to access some restricted sites while at work. Of course, this perhaps ranks near the bottom of Psiphon’s social impact scale. Fewer adds, "If you go to the political context, and places that don’t enjoy freedom of expression, the value is that much greater." That social value is starting to become more apparent to Hull as well. "While we were writing the code I was more exited about getting it done," he says. But once it was up and running, the Citizen Lab got an over-the-shoulder video from a beta tester who was able to access previously restricted links after performing a Google search for "women’s issues" while connected through Psiphon. Adds Hull, "At that moment it really dawned on me that this is something that’s very powerful and very effective." So powerful and effective, it could virtually change the world. Pervasive Internet Censors – according to The Open Net InitiativeChinaBlocks access to numerous websites at the Internet backbone level for content related to human rights, opposition political movements, Taiwanese and Tibetan independence, and the Falun Gong movement. Some international news sources, such as the BBC, are also blocked.SyriaTargets the websites of Syrian-specific and Arabic news sites that are critical of the government, Kurdish organizations, and foreign-based Syrian opposition parties. Access to sites bearing the top-level domain for Israel, ".il", is also blocked.IranFiltering focuses on Iran-related and particularly Persian/Farsi-language content that is often critical of the government. Targets politically sensitive sites, such as gay and lesbian content, women’s rights sites, and blogs.Myanmar (Burma)Blocks access to websites of political opposition groups, human rights-oriented sites, and organizations working for democratic change in Myanmar. The state also maintains the capability to conduct surveillance of email as individual users are only allowed access to local email providers – free email sites such as Hotmail and Yahoo! Mail are blocked.

Censorship-skirting software from U of T could enhance human rights

Broadcast | December 13, 2006

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