Burmese Found Virtual Underground Railroad to Escape Internet Censorship
Tuesday October 9, 2007
Source: The Global Internet Freedom Consortium
ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Global Internet Freedom Consortium (GIF) announced today that their anti-censorship infrastructure is gaining popularity among Burmese web surfers, enabling them to circumvent Internet censorship amid the recent crackdown by the Myanmar military junta.
UltraReach Internet Corp (UR: http://www.ultrareach.com) and Dynamic Internet Technology, Inc. (DIT: http://www.dit-inc.us), two of the Consortium's member companies, were receiving over 120,000 average daily hits from IP addresses originating from Burma in September, a sharp increase from less than 40,000 back in August. DIT also witnessed Burmese postings on blogs with photos of the protests and their crackdown in Myanmar, through DIT's anti-censorship portal. Such a surge of censorship-escaping activities is in sync with the recent protests and crackdown in Myanmar.
Both UltraReach and DIT have been developing anti-censorship technologies to circumvent Internet censorship in oppressive regimes, especially in China.
In addition to UltraReach and DIT, a few other companies are members of the Consortium. They are developing anti-censorship tools of all shapes and flavors. Some of the tools, such as "Ultrasurf," "Freegate," "Garden," "GPass" and "FirePhoenix," are very popular among web surfers in China who are eager to explore the world behind the Great Firewall.
"We are developing an Underground Railroad in cyberspace, to help web surfers escape the monitoring, tracking, and blocking from their oppressive governments," says Alex Wang, VP of the World's Gate, Inc., another member company of the Consortium.
"Our anti-censorship products have become household brand names in China, because of our intensive promotion and the trust we have gained there," says Wang, who adds, "It's a pleasant surprise to see web surfers from other regimes getting onboard our virtual Underground Railroad, though we never advertised there."
About The Global Internet Freedom Consortium
Formed in 2006, the Consortium is an alliance of a few of the leading organizations in developing and deploying anti-censorship technologies for Internet users in oppressive regimes. The Consortium partners have contributed significantly to the advancement of information freedom in China. For more information, visit http://www.internetfreedom.org.
Contact:
The Global Internet Freedom Consortium
Alex Wang, 888-937-1688
Our Mission
Inform, connect, and empower the people in closed societies with information on a free Internet.
Our Vision
The Great Firewall will be taken down as the Berlin Wall.
We Stand Together
To fight the Goliath of repressive Internet censorship, we, a few leading companies and grassroots organizations on the front line, formed an alliance, the Global Internet Freedom Consortium.
Background
There is no freedom without freedom of information. There is no freedom of information without Internet freedom.
