UK Home >  OUT-LAW News >  News Archive >  2001 >  August 2001 >  Web site funded by CIA to combat Chinese censorship

Web site funded by CIA to combat Chinese censorship

OUT-LAW News, 31/08/2001

A venture capital arm of the CIA is financing SafeWeb, a web site that allows users to evade censorship, to give the people of China better access to Western information in a country that heavily censors the web.

Safeweb allows visitors to its free site to connect their computer to any other web sites securely and privately, making monitoring of surfing activity impossible. Recently, the government of China tried to block access to the site to prevent access by Chinese nationals to unapproved sites. The government maintains a list of restricted sites, including CNN.com and BBC Online, blocked by filtering software which is run by the country’s ISPs. SafeWeb fought back with a program called Triangle Boy.

This peer-to-peer application prevents anyone - including corporations, governments and schools - from blocking access to SafeWeb. Volunteers can turn their PCs into "packet reflectors," or proxies, for SafeWeb by installing Triangle Boy.

The CIA’s venture capital arm In-Q-Tel has already given $1 million funding to SafeWeb to support and promote Triangle Boy through the purchase of servers and paying for bandwidth improvements.

Two US citizens have been arrested in connection with the alleged smuggling of encryption technology into China, according to the US Customs Service.

The technology, known as KIV-7HS and designed exclusively for use by the US military, is used to encode sensitive classified government communications. It cannot be legally exported without permission from the US State Department.

If convicted, both men face a maximum of ten years in prison or a $1million fine.

 

Disclaimer: We hope you find OUT-LAW’s content useful. It’s prepared by the lawyers at Pinsent Masons. Please remember, though, that it’s intended as general information only. It’s not legal advice. If that’s what you’re seeking, please contact us. See also: our full disclaimer

 

OUT-LAW Recommends

This week's podcast
Bribery law extended

Advert: Pinsent Masons works with forensic accountants to help you to manage the costs of litigation. Our approach is called Reaching Solutions.
UK Home | 
2010 | 
2009 | 
2008 | 
2007 | 
2006 | 
2005 | 
2004 | 
2003 | 
2002 | 
2001
2000 | 
Fun | 

 

Pinsent Masons named Legal Firm of the Year 2009 at Finance Directors' Excellence Awards

OUT-LAW star: link to the home page
Disclaimer: This was printed from OUT-LAW.COM, a service of international law firm Pinsent Masons. We hope you find this content useful. However, please note that nothing in this document constitutes specific legal advice. You should consult a suitably qualified lawyer on any specific legal problem or matter. Any questions, please email info@out-law.com.