Hacking enthusiasts were this week given the first public demo of
Peek-A-Booty, a much-anticipated software application that promises
to defeat internet censorship although it is still under
development.
The peer-to-peer (P2P) system offers anonymity by users sending
a request for data to another computer on its network. Each
computer records only the IP address of the previous computer until
it reaches its destination. The requested data is then sent back
down the chain to the original user.
The data is hidden by using the same secure server system as
that employed in standard e-commerce transactions. To block use of
the system, a censor would in effect also need to block e-commerce
transactions. According to the developers, 21 countries currently
censor the internet.
The controversial application was developed by Paul Baranowski
and Joey deVilla of the Hacktivismo group, a splinter group of the
Cult of the Dead Cow (cDCc), a well known developer of internet
security and privacy tools.
