Psiphon
Encyclopedia
Psiphon is a web proxy designed to help Internet
users securely bypass the content-filtering systems used to censor the internet
by governments in places like China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Pakistan, Belarus' and others. Psiphon was originally developed by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto
, building upon previous generations of web proxy software systems, such as the "SafeWeb" and "Anonymizer
" systems.
In 2008 Psiphon was spun off as a Canadian corporation that continues to develop advanced censorship circumvention systems and technologies. Psiphon and the Citizen Lab
, Munk School of Global Affairs
, University of Toronto
occasionally collaborate on research and other projects, through the Psi-Lab partnership.
Psiphon currently consists of two separate but related open source software projects:
) emerged as the output of a research and development project undertaken by the Citizen Lab
as part of work undertaken by the Open Net Initiative. The intent of the experiment was to develop a lightweight, easy to use tool designed to defeating emerging forms of state censorship. The project was initially funded by the Open Society Institute
.
Psiphon 1.X is best described as an easy-to-use and lightweight Internet proxy, and was designed to be installed and operated by individual computer users who would then host private connections for friends and family in countries where the Internet is censored. It was recommended for use among private, trusted relationships that span censored and uncensored locations (such as those that exist among friends and family members, for example). Psiphon software "... turns a regular home computer into a personal, encrypted server capable of retrieving and displaying web pages anywhere." The original Psiphon code (version 1.X) was implemented in Python
, but subsequently re-designed and re-written in C++
, and designed as a cross-platform
(Windows and Linux versions are currently available), user friendly
proxy server
tool which uses a https
protocol to transfer data.
According to Nart Villeneuve "The idea is to get them to install this on their computer, and then deliver the location of that circumventor, to people in filtered countries by the means they know to be the most secure. What we're trying to build is a network of trust among people who know each other, rather than a large tech network that people can just tap into.". Psiphon 1.X was not designed or recommended to be used as a open public proxy by its developers.
Psiphon 1.X was released on 1 December 2006 by the Citizen Lab. In early 2008, the source code was released under the GNU General Public License
. 1.X is no longer actively supported by Psiphon inc, or the Citizen Lab, but the source code can be accessed on line. A new version of the home-based server is currently under development by Psiphon inc, and will be released open source in 2011.
In mid 2008, Psiphon was spun out of the Citizen Lab and established as a Canadian corporation. Currently, Psiphon inc develops content delivery solutions and software (2.X). Its past and present clients and supporters include the European Union
, Broadcast Board of Governors (US), US Department of State and the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Psiphon inc is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and maintains research and development laboratories at the Citizen Lab.
The CEO of Psiphon inc is Rafal Rohozinski
, who is also a principal investigator with the OpenNet Initiative
and Infowar Monitor
.
In order to increase the ease which a psiphon open source server could be implemented, version 1.6 of Psiphon had a IP address ping back service, with each new server pinging the Citizen Lab server in Toronto Canada.
There are inherent security risks in web-proxy based approaches such as Psiphon, specifically those presented by logging by the services themselves.
The real world risks of log keeping was illustrated by the turn over of the e-mails of Li Zhi
to the Chinese Government by Yahoo. Li was subsequently arrested, convicted and sent to jail for 8 years.
Some have raised concerns that the IP addresses and the psiphon software download logs of psiphon users could fall into the wrong hands if the Citizen Lab computers were to get hacked or otherwise compromised.
A limitation in Psiphon 1.X is that users are unable to browse websites that use a https connections (like logging in into hotmail). Although not a security threat, this reduces the ability of users to access sites via psiphon.
policies. Under these policies Internet Service Providers are obliged to retain a record of all their clients' web browsing habits. The data retention period varies from six months to three years. In the UK this retained data is available to a very wide range of public bodies, including the police and security services. Anyone who operates a Psiphon server (or any web proxy) in one of these countries needs to be aware that a record is kept of all web browsing through their computers. On 15 March 2006 the European Union adopted Directive 2006/24/EC which requires all member states to introduce statutory data retention. The United States of America does not have a statutory data retention regime, though such a provision is under discussion.
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
users securely bypass the content-filtering systems used to censor the internet
Internet censorship
Internet censorship is the control or suppression of the publishing of, or access to information on the Internet. It may be carried out by governments or by private organizations either at the behest of government or on their own initiative...
by governments in places like China, North Korea, Iran, Syria, Myanmar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Pakistan, Belarus' and others. Psiphon was originally developed by the Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
, building upon previous generations of web proxy software systems, such as the "SafeWeb" and "Anonymizer
Anonymizer
An anonymizer or an anonymous proxy is a tool that attempts to make activity on the Internet untraceable.It is a proxy server computer that acts as an intermediary and privacy shield between a client computer and the rest of the Internet...
" systems.
In 2008 Psiphon was spun off as a Canadian corporation that continues to develop advanced censorship circumvention systems and technologies. Psiphon and the Citizen Lab
Citizen Lab
The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, Canada. Founded Professor Ronald Deibert, the Citizen Lab focuses on advanced research and development at the intersection of digital media, global security, and human...
, Munk School of Global Affairs
Munk School of Global Affairs
The Munk School for Global Affairs at the University of Toronto is an interdisciplinary academic centre on global issues that integrates research with teaching and public education...
, University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
occasionally collaborate on research and other projects, through the Psi-Lab partnership.
Psiphon currently consists of two separate but related open source software projects:
- 2.0 - A managed proxy cloud implementation curated by Psiphon inc.
- 1.X - The original home based server software released by the Citizen Lab under the GNU General Public LicenseGNU General Public LicenseThe GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
but no longer supported by Psiphon inc or the Citizen Lab.
History and functionality
Psiphon was written by Nart Villeneuve and Michelle Levesque (presently a software engineer at GoogleGoogle
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
) emerged as the output of a research and development project undertaken by the Citizen Lab
Citizen Lab
The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, Canada. Founded Professor Ronald Deibert, the Citizen Lab focuses on advanced research and development at the intersection of digital media, global security, and human...
as part of work undertaken by the Open Net Initiative. The intent of the experiment was to develop a lightweight, easy to use tool designed to defeating emerging forms of state censorship. The project was initially funded by the Open Society Institute
Open Society Institute
The Open Society Institute , renamed in 2011 to Open Society Foundations, is a private operating and grantmaking foundation started by George Soros, aimed to shape public policy to promote democratic governance, human rights, and economic, legal, and social reform...
.
Psiphon 1.X is best described as an easy-to-use and lightweight Internet proxy, and was designed to be installed and operated by individual computer users who would then host private connections for friends and family in countries where the Internet is censored. It was recommended for use among private, trusted relationships that span censored and uncensored locations (such as those that exist among friends and family members, for example). Psiphon software "... turns a regular home computer into a personal, encrypted server capable of retrieving and displaying web pages anywhere." The original Psiphon code (version 1.X) was implemented in Python
Python (programming language)
Python is a general-purpose, high-level programming language whose design philosophy emphasizes code readability. Python claims to "[combine] remarkable power with very clear syntax", and its standard library is large and comprehensive...
, but subsequently re-designed and re-written in C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
, and designed as a cross-platform
Cross-platform
In computing, cross-platform, or multi-platform, is an attribute conferred to computer software or computing methods and concepts that are implemented and inter-operate on multiple computer platforms...
(Windows and Linux versions are currently available), user friendly
Usability
Usability is the ease of use and learnability of a human-made object. The object of use can be a software application, website, book, tool, machine, process, or anything a human interacts with. A usability study may be conducted as a primary job function by a usability analyst or as a secondary job...
proxy server
Proxy server
In computer networks, a proxy server is a server that acts as an intermediary for requests from clients seeking resources from other servers. A client connects to the proxy server, requesting some service, such as a file, connection, web page, or other resource available from a different server...
tool which uses a https
Https
Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure is a combination of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol with SSL/TLS protocol to provide encrypted communication and secure identification of a network web server...
protocol to transfer data.
According to Nart Villeneuve "The idea is to get them to install this on their computer, and then deliver the location of that circumventor, to people in filtered countries by the means they know to be the most secure. What we're trying to build is a network of trust among people who know each other, rather than a large tech network that people can just tap into.". Psiphon 1.X was not designed or recommended to be used as a open public proxy by its developers.
Psiphon 1.X was released on 1 December 2006 by the Citizen Lab. In early 2008, the source code was released under the GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
. 1.X is no longer actively supported by Psiphon inc, or the Citizen Lab, but the source code can be accessed on line. A new version of the home-based server is currently under development by Psiphon inc, and will be released open source in 2011.
In mid 2008, Psiphon was spun out of the Citizen Lab and established as a Canadian corporation. Currently, Psiphon inc develops content delivery solutions and software (2.X). Its past and present clients and supporters include the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
, Broadcast Board of Governors (US), US Department of State and the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Psiphon inc is headquartered in Toronto, Canada, and maintains research and development laboratories at the Citizen Lab.
The CEO of Psiphon inc is Rafal Rohozinski
Rafal Rohozinski
Rafal Rohozinski is a Canadian expert and practitioner active in the fields of information security, cyber warfare, and the globalization of Armed Violence...
, who is also a principal investigator with the OpenNet Initiative
OpenNet Initiative
The OpenNet Initiative is a joint project whose goal is to monitor and report on internet filtering and surveillance practices by nations. The project employs a number of technical means, as well as an international network of investigators, to determine the extent and nature of government-run...
and Infowar Monitor
Infowar Monitor
The Information Warfare Monitor is an advanced research activity tracking the emergence of cyberspace as a strategic domain. It is a public-private venture between two Canadian institutions: The SecDev Group, an operational think tank based in Ottawa , and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of...
.
Theoretical problems - Psiphon open source version 1.6
Note: Psiphon 1.X is no longer supported by Psiphon inc or the Citizen LabIn order to increase the ease which a psiphon open source server could be implemented, version 1.6 of Psiphon had a IP address ping back service, with each new server pinging the Citizen Lab server in Toronto Canada.
- The Citizen Lab server then responded to the ping by transmitting the numerical IP address of the new Psiphon server back in plain text, directly to the new psiphon server.
- This provided easy reference for the novice psiphon server administrator, who then distributes the IP address to those who need to use psiphon.
- The "ping back" behavior was a default, but need not be chosen, the option to not ping is present in the psiphon server software.
There are inherent security risks in web-proxy based approaches such as Psiphon, specifically those presented by logging by the services themselves.
The real world risks of log keeping was illustrated by the turn over of the e-mails of Li Zhi
Li Zhi (dissident)
Li Zhi was sentenced to eight years imprisonment in December 2003 in the People's Republic of China for trying to join the Democracy Party of China, which is a banned organization in communist China, and for criticizing corruption...
to the Chinese Government by Yahoo. Li was subsequently arrested, convicted and sent to jail for 8 years.
Some have raised concerns that the IP addresses and the psiphon software download logs of psiphon users could fall into the wrong hands if the Citizen Lab computers were to get hacked or otherwise compromised.
A limitation in Psiphon 1.X is that users are unable to browse websites that use a https connections (like logging in into hotmail). Although not a security threat, this reduces the ability of users to access sites via psiphon.
Psiphon, web proxies and data retention
The United Kingdom, The Netherlands, Denmark and some other European countries have data retentionTelecommunications data retention
In the field of telecommunications, data retention generally refers to the storage of call detail records of telephony and internet traffic and transaction data by governments and commercial organisations...
policies. Under these policies Internet Service Providers are obliged to retain a record of all their clients' web browsing habits. The data retention period varies from six months to three years. In the UK this retained data is available to a very wide range of public bodies, including the police and security services. Anyone who operates a Psiphon server (or any web proxy) in one of these countries needs to be aware that a record is kept of all web browsing through their computers. On 15 March 2006 the European Union adopted Directive 2006/24/EC which requires all member states to introduce statutory data retention. The United States of America does not have a statutory data retention regime, though such a provision is under discussion.
See also
- Freedom of informationFreedom of informationFreedom of information refers to the protection of the right to freedom of expression with regards to the Internet and information technology . Freedom of information may also concern censorship in an information technology context, i.e...
- GNUnetGNUnetGNUnet is a free software framework for decentralized, peer-to-peer networking. The framework offers link encryption, peer discovery and resource allocation....
- HacktivismHacktivismHacktivism is the use of computers and computer networks as a means of protest to promote political ends. The term was first coined in 1994 by a member of the Cult of the Dead Cow hacker collective named Omega...
- Internet censorshipInternet censorshipInternet censorship is the control or suppression of the publishing of, or access to information on the Internet. It may be carried out by governments or by private organizations either at the behest of government or on their own initiative...
- OpenNet InitiativeOpenNet InitiativeThe OpenNet Initiative is a joint project whose goal is to monitor and report on internet filtering and surveillance practices by nations. The project employs a number of technical means, as well as an international network of investigators, to determine the extent and nature of government-run...
- Infowar MonitorInfowar MonitorThe Information Warfare Monitor is an advanced research activity tracking the emergence of cyberspace as a strategic domain. It is a public-private venture between two Canadian institutions: The SecDev Group, an operational think tank based in Ottawa , and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of...
- Ronald DeibertRonald DeibertRonald J. Deibert is professor of Political Science, and Director of the Canada Centre for Global Security Studies and the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary research and development "hothouse" working at the...
- Rafal RohozinskiRafal RohozinskiRafal Rohozinski is a Canadian expert and practitioner active in the fields of information security, cyber warfare, and the globalization of Armed Violence...
- The Six/Four System
- Tor (anonymity network)Tor (anonymity network)Tor is a system intended to enable online anonymity. Tor client software routes Internet traffic through a worldwide volunteer network of servers in order to conceal a user's location or usage from someone conducting network surveillance or traffic analysis...
External links
- Psiphon Official Homepage
- Psiphon Official User Guide
- CBC The Hour - December 4, 2006
- BBC: Web censorship 'bypass' unveiled
- Canada.com: Canadian software touted as answer to Internet censorship abroad
- CNN: Experts find path around Internet firewalls
- Computerworld: Liberation software designed on basis of trust
- Globe and Mail: Scaling the walls of Web censorship
- Reuters: Canada experts find path round Internet firewalls
- CNN International: psiphon interview with Dr. Ron Deibert
- Interview with Ronald Deibert from the Psiphon project on YouTube
- Al Jazeera's Listening Post story about psiphon on YouTube
- Index on Censorship - Psiphon wins Economist New Media award at Freedom of Expression awards 2009
- Psiphon 3 – A Free VPN and Free SSH Connection Tool