Published in NOW Magazine
July 12 – 18, 2007
Toronto-developed software opens the Net to restricted surfers
By DAVID SILVERBERG
In Saudi Arabia, net users can’t get access to websites of opposition groups. Jordan and Bahrain both briefly banned Google Earth, citing security concerns. The Chinese government doesn’t let netizens get to the BBC site in any language.
So what’s a curious Web surfer to do in these Net-filtering countries?
They should get to know a kind-hearted soul using Psiphon (http://psiphon.civisec.org/), a software tool created by researchers at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab. By downloading this piece of software, someone in a free-thinking country like Canada can let a person in a restrictive society gain safe access to a portal to the uncensored Web.