UofT to Roll Out Free Anti-Censorship Tool

The University of Toronto's Citizen Lab will make free software available later this week that will help people deal with Web censorship issues in countries where access is restricted or limited. A downloadable tool, called psiphon, can transform anyone's personal computer into encrypted servers (or access points) that can access blocked sites and associated Web pages. People who want to access these sites connect to a psiphon server or psiphonode by logging in through an encrypted connection and using it as a proxy. The user does not have to install any software on their machine. The technology was created by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto's Munk Centre for International Studies, as part of an Open Society Institute-funded project. The psiphone Web site is here – with free downloads available on Dec. 1. A New York Times story on the psiphon software can be found here.

Update: A comment (see below) raised an interesting point that the UoT is trying to fight Web censorship while a group of Canadian ISPs and Cybertip.ca introduced a plan last week to block Web access (specifically child pornography). If anything, it makes for a fascinating discussion on the right approach, who gets to do it and why.