Takin' it to China

Via Instapundit, I have learned of an initiative that could end up being very good news for the people of China and, therefore, the rest of the world. There is an active effort now to find a way to open up the censored internet in China to dissenting voices.

Spirit of America plans to offer an anonymous blog service. The non-profit Spirit of America is developing an anonymous blogging service that would help bring free speech to people in countries where governments are clamping down on Internet freedom. The group has already started testing an Arabic blogging tool, but Spirit of America contractor Adam Shostack attended BlogNashville to network with others and learn more about the technology required to keep bloggers anonymous in countries such as Iran and China. He's already set up a wiki to explore requirements for such a system, but most people attending a special Anoniblogging Roundtable at BlogNashville said there's always a way to track people hiding behind almost any type of anonymizing system.

I'm a bit pessimistic, but I'm glad someone's working on this. The best way to topple that dangerous regime is to introduce the Chinese people to the free market of ideas.

-- CAV

Updates

5-13-05: Corrected typos (HT: Adrian Hester).