New Study on Internet Filtering Released

In response to recent studies of Internet filtering and censorship in Iran, the US International Broadcasting Bureau has developed software it calls the "Anonymizer," which allows individuals inside Iran to bypass the country's net filters.  However, a new study from the Open Net Initiative -- a joint collaboration by researchers at the Berkman Center, the University of Toronto, and the University of Cambridge -- has found a number of inconsistencies in the Anonymizer system, which provides neither the anonymity nor the security that it purports to offer.  As the report notes, "It is curious to find the United States government promoting a tool to circumvent Iranian limits on freedom while imposing crude and, even by its own standards, widely overdrawn limits of its own."  Read Declan McCullagh's story in CNet about the inconsistencies and problems with the Anonymizer.