-Caveat Lector- U.S. bids to outwit 'Great Firewall of China' Web censors By STEPHEN COLLINSON, Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON (August 31, 2001 6:35 a.m. EDT) - Chinese cyber-cops may be confronted by a new weapon in their information war with foreign radio and Web sites - a U.S.-based computer network designed to confound a tough state censorship net dubbed the "Great Firewall of China." The potential deal links California's Safeweb Inc with the U.S. International Broadcasting Bureau, which runs radio stations such as Voice of America (VOA). "Our goal here is to make it so people in China who want to log on to our website can do so," VOA spokesman Joe O'Connell said. China's communist authorities have jammed Mandarin language and other broadcasts by VOA since 1989, and in a bid to stem the avalanche of information unleashed by the Internet, started targeting the station's Web site in 1997. VOA has done all it can to put censors off the trail, including setting up an e- mail news list with 180,000 subscribers, O'Connell said. But as Chinese blocking techniques become more sophisticated, engineers are seeking a more high-tech solution. Talks are ongoing to reach a deal worth around $800,000 for Safeweb and IBB to co-finance a network of computers to sidestep Chinese censorship, officials from both sides said. Safeweb, an expert in encryption technology which pioneered an application called "Triangle Boy," already offers downloadable software which allows users to surf the web anonymously, a boon to many Chinese web consumers. But China began blocking user access to Safeweb in February. "Triangle Boy is our program that lets users regain access to Safeweb," said Sandra Song, spokeswoman of Safeweb, which has in the past received funding from the venture capital branch of the Central Intelligence Agency. The Triangle Boy application allows users blocked from accessing Safeweb, or any other Web site, to bypass government firewalls and access "forbidden" sites via any computer running the "Triangle Boy" program. CIA researchers at the agency's Virginia headquarters and field operatives using agency laptops use Safeweb technology to cover their own tracks when surfing the Web. Surfers seeking access to blocked websites can lodge requests with a computer running "Triangle Boy," which then sends encrypted information back to them from innocuous and frequently changing "dynamic" Internet Protocol addresses. "It would be extremely difficult for the Chinese government or anyone for that matter to harvest all these IP addresses on hundreds of machines that change their IP address every three hours," Song told AFP. Voice of America, a state-funded station, broadcasts in 53 languages over shortwave and streams audio over its Internet site. Congressionally funded Radio Free Asia (RFA), another IBB concern that broadcasts to China and minorities in Tibet and Xinjiang also faces Chinese blocking and jamming -- and was reported by the New York Times to be a beneficiary of the Safeweb deal. Human-rights groups, foreign publications and China's banned Falungong spiritual group are among those censored by Beijing. Internet use has soared in China in the past two years, with the number of people online surging 152 percent to 22.5 million people by the end of last year, from just 8.9 million at the end of the 1999, prompting the government to install its tough, firewall censors. In June, the number of Internet users rose to 26.5 million people, but the figure indicated the breakneck growth seen over the past two years had slowed, media reported. Steve Wingate, Webmaster ANOMALOUS IMAGES AND UFO FILES http://www.anomalous-images.com <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector. ======================================================================== Archives Available at: http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html <A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of [EMAIL PROTECTED]</A> http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/ <A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A> ======================================================================== To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email: SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED] Om
