An End To The Great Firewall Of China?

By Digital Trends Staff August 4, 2008

The Global Internet Freedom Consortium (GIFC) is offering a free toolkit to reporters visiting China for the Olympics that will allow them to evade the country’s censorship and access any site they want.

The kit consists of five tools that can hide the computer IP address, encrypt traffic and enable FTP downloads, according to Vnunet. The free software, which can be downloaded from the GIFC site, can be put on a hard drive or USB drive.

However, the GIFC also claims that some of its tools “are very popular among web surfers in China who are eager to explore the world behind the Great Firewall. About one million users worldwide are using these GIFC tools on a regular basis” and state as part of their vision that they will provide “the technology to take down the Great Firewall that separates them from the rest of the world” because “only when the people have access to different sources of information can they think critically and choose wisely. Only when information is allowed to flow will there truly be human rights, freedom of expression and press, and freedom of religion and thought.”

According to GIFC, the most popular sites for Chinese using their tools are YouTube, Google and Wikipedia.

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