One Canadian software developer called Psiphon has developed an open source client as part of their suite of tools called Psiphon 3. (The original report comes from Citizen Lab at the University on Toronto which is based on the work of Morgan Marquis-Biore.) Many Syrians are scrambling for alternatives. So, overnight, the tool most widely used to protect web users became their worst enemy. ComputerWorld reported that copies of Green Simurgh had been found to contain Trojan malware that records usernames, passwords and sites visited, and logs every keystroke. Part of the reason for the surge may have been news that broke last week that one of the most popular proxy clients, Green Simurgh, which is used widely to conceal Internet identity in Syria and Iran, may have been compromised. (Read this companion post about the state of Internet access in Syria in recent weeks from Digital Frontiers Managing Editor Doug Bernard.) They are rarely, if ever, on the top ten list of search terms. “Proxy” and “ Tor” (a client to make web surfing anonymous) spiked 750 percent. Now, it appears the black veil descending over Syria’s Internet is getting darker.Īccording to Google Trends, the search terms “hotspot” (referring to free proxy software Hotspot Shield) have surged 1,200 percent in the past seven days inside Syria. Social networking and user video websites are routinely blocked. IP addresses embedded in e-mail messages and web browsers are easily traceable and can lead authorities to the homes or phones of end users. Experts agree that cyber surveillance in Syria is rampant. Still, even the social tools of our times are not necessarily safe when it comes to the distribution of information. And even though not every video, image or tweet can be independently authenticated, this type of real-time social archiving of a humanitarian catastrophe has been deemed crucial in a situation in which a regime denies foreign media organizations access to what is essentially a war zone. Syrian activist groups like the Local Coordination Committees of Syria (LCC), the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Shams News Network used free tools like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Bambuser to illustrate incidents of terror for the wider world. According to Syria Tracker, an estimated 15,000 civilians have been killed since the crisis began 15 month ago. Reports have surfaced that children have been summarily tortured or shot in places like Houla. Shabiha mercenaries are said to roam the streets, intimidating or killing innocent civilians. Outbreaks of violence between Syrian government and opposition forces are a daily occurrence.
#Alternatives to psiphon free download series
As our ongoing Syria Witness series has illustrated, average citizens in places like Homs, Hama and Deir Azzour live in constant fear. Fear is now an integral part of life in cities and towns across Syria.
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