I have spoken to some of the guys providing this funding, they are well aware of Freenet, and I am hopeful that they consider us a good target for funding.
One thing that would *really* help in this regard would be to have a working demonstration of radio over Freenet, remember that these are the people behind radio stations like Voice of America so audio communication is something they really understand. Toad did some work on this a while ago, but it was put on hold while we worked on NIO and NGR - now that these are in-place, it would be cool if people really started to look at radio over freenet once again. Ian. On Sat, Aug 30, 2003 at 07:48:46PM +0000, Phil Marlowe wrote: > > Cool. Greg's gratuitous cynicism aside, this can't help but foster freedom > of speech in those parts of the world that most lack it. > > But remember that Freenet in China got going without much help from > Washington. So do we really need big government bureaucacry to get in on > our act? > > >From: "gnutella fan" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >Reply-To: Discussion of development issues <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >Subject: [freenet-dev] US sponsors Anonymiser - if you live in Iran > >Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2003 11:08:18 -0700 > > > >http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/55/32567.html > > > >I dont know if everyone saw this story but its pretty relavant to freenet > >and possibly freenet funding. A bill that passed the U.S. House of > >Representatives last month would create an Office of Global Internet > >Freedom that would have up to a $50 million annual budget to help citizens > >of foreign repressive governments skirt Internet censorship. > > > >There is an off chance of getting a grant for Freenet. Imagine how much > >development could occur with a $100k grant. > > > > > > > >_____________________________ > >Full Story: > > > >A pact between the U.S. government and the electronic privacy company > >Anonymizer, Inc. is making the Internet a safer place for controversial > >websites and subversive opinions -- if you're Iranian. > > > >This month Anonymizer began providing Iranians with free access to a Web > >proxy service designed to circumvent their government's online censorship > >efforts. In May, government ministers issued a blacklist of 15,000 > >forbidden "immoral" websites that ISPs in the country must block -- > >reportedly a mix of adult sites and political news and information > >outlets. An estimated two million Iranians have Internet access. > > > >Among the banned sites are the website for the U.S.-funded Voice of > >America broadcast service, and the site for Radio Farda, another U.S. > >station that beams Iranian youth a mix of pop music and westernized news. > >Both stations are run by the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB), the > >U.S. government's overseas news and propaganda arm. > > > >The U.S. responded to the filtering this month by paying Anonymizer > >(neither the IBB nor Anonymizer will disclose how much) to create and > >maintain a special version of the Anonymizer proxy which only accepts > >connections from Iran's IP address space, and features instructions in > >Farsi. > > > >The deliberately generic-sounding URLs for the service are publicized over > >Radio Farda broadcasts and through bulk e-mails that Anonymizer sends to > >addresses in the country. The addresses are provided by human rights > >groups and other sources, says Anonymizer president Lance Cottrell. > > > >"We're providing a system whereby the people in the countries that are > >suffering Internet censorship can bypass the government filtering and > >access all the pages that are blocked," says Cottrell. > > > >The services' navigation boxes default to Radio Farda or Voice of America, > >but surfers are invited to put in any address they like, and browse free > >of the Iranian government's filtering. > > > >"Dissident sites, religious sites, the L.L. Bean catalog -- we point them > >to the Voice of America site, but they can go anywhere," says Ken Berman, > >program manager for Internet anticensorship at the IBB, "They're free > >explore the Internet in an unfettered fashion." > > > >Mostly unfettered. Like the Iranian filters, the U.S. service blocks porn > >sites -- "There's a limit to what taxpayers should pay for," says Berman. > >But the United States' hope is that a freer flow of online information > >will improve America's image in the Arab world. The service is similar to > >one Anonymizer provided to Chinese citizens under a previous government > >contract that ran-out ended earlier this year. > > > >Cottrell and Berman agree that it's only a matter of time before the > >Iranonymity service winds on the official blacklist. But Berman hints that > >the U.S. is ready for a prolonged electronic shell game with Tehran. "In > >China we're continually monitoring the state of the proxy, and when we see > >the traffic drop off, we change the proxy's address, usually within 24 > >hours," says Berman. "In Iran, we're prepared to change the proxy address > >every day if necessary." > > > >A bill that passed the U.S. House of Representatives last month would > >create an Office of Global Internet Freedom that would have up to a $50 > >million annual budget to help citizens of foreign repressive governments > >skirt Internet censorship. > > > >_________________________________________________________________ > >Get MSN 8 and help protect your children with advanced parental controls. > >http://join.msn.com/?page=features/parental > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Devl mailing list > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >http://dodo.freenetproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/devl > > _________________________________________________________________ > Get MSN 8 and enjoy automatic e-mail virus protection. > http://join.msn.com/?page=features/virus > > _______________________________________________ > Devl mailing list > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > http://dodo.freenetproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/devl -- Ian Clarke [EMAIL PROTECTED] Coordinator, The Freenet Project http://freenetproject.org/ Weblog http://slashdot.org/~sanity/journal _______________________________________________ Devl mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://dodo.freenetproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/devl
