Congratulations to Psiphon and the Citizen Lab!
Psiphon, a tool developed at the Citizen Lab to help Internet users evade censorship, has won its latest in a string of awards and accolades, the Netxplorateur Grand Prix 2008. As Internet filtering grows around the world, so does commitment against it. Psiphon was chosen from 100 nominees for the award by a panel of French and international government, media and business experts, who called it “the world’s most original, significant and exemplary Net and Digital Initiative”.
Ron Deibert, director of the Citizen Lab and the Psiphon project and Principal Investigator of ONI expressed the good news:
“Psiphon aims to restore the original promise the Internet once held out as a forum for free expression and access to information. We are honoured to receive such a prestigious award. Internet censorship has become a major global problem, with dozens of governments blocking access to news, human rights, and political opposition websites as well as new media of self expression, such as blogs and streaming video."
Psiphon works by allowing individuals in countries that censor to surf the Internet through the Internet connections of friends and family in freer parts of the world. It succeeds because it leverages these existing networks, recognizing the value of people's desire to help one another from afar. Often this grows through communities with large groups of expatriates.
Another area, highlighted in Psiphon's press release, is journalists. As the voice of the Net and the voice of mainstream media continue to blur, and journalists rely on the Net more and more to do their work in censored countries, Psiphon is an extremely valuable tool. Psiphon Inc. was launched recently to help groups deal with these issues.
"Thousands of journalists are going to descend on China and into a tightly controlled and heavily filtered Internet environment," remarked Michael Hull, chief of Psiphon Inc. "We are working with a number of major media organizations to provide solutions for their journalists, who will need a secure, reliable way to access an unfettered web."
