In some parts of the world where repressive governments monitor impregnable Internet firewalls , Internet web are not the same people to other countries.
Now , Google wants people of these countries are an instrument to circumvent censorship invisible barriers and defeat. UProxy called , is designed to be easy to use peer-to - peer gateway to be open to the Internet. With uProxy installed , someone in Iran Internet using a friend to contact him or her.
Although Google announced Monday uProxy in Google Ideas Summit in New York , NY , the tool is not yet ready to be made public, and the Internet giant is not comfortable announce a release date . First, you want to throw a " trusted testers " to improve it and make it safer.
" The reason that is closed source at the time , the reason we do not open supply just do not want people to start using it for , really , is safe, " said Luke Dixon , the chief engineer of Google Ideas worked on the project .
When completed, uProxy will be released in the form of a browser extension for both Chrome and Firefox that allows two people who know each other , and have been in contact via chat , Facebook or email, for example, for sharing. your connection
The user in Iran , for example , would be able to activate uProxy a friend in the United States through chat questions . The American Friend is clicked and the user extension Iranian receive a notification. After you click on the notification and accept the invitation , he or she could be connected to the Internet via secure channels through American friend connection .
" It's actually a VPN [ virtual private network ] custom " Dixon said in an interview Mashable .
And it requires a lot of experience to carry out , unlike other commercial VPNs her. Yasmin Green , director of Google Ideas, described during the launch as something only needed " two clicks on my side to avoid . Repressive regime "
The other difference is that uProxy not depend on a central server or from a commercial supplier , so that will not be easily blocked by a government or other agreement .
Dixon notes that it is important to remember what uProxy is not and does not. There is no traffic and Tor anonymous , you can not share files and unencrypted, secure communication , these tools and Cryptocat Silent Circle .
uProxy , which was planted by Google Ideas, but mainly developed by researchers at the University of Washington, is the first instrument of its kind. There are a lot of projects and types of software that promise to bypass firewalls and censorship and weather - Flashlight source project developers have contributed to uProxy by Brave New Software.
To release uProxy the public , Google will allow Internet freedom organizations , OpenITP that funds and censorship circumvention tools developed to check the code, Dixon said . Then you will see the code, open source release for the public to see .
By Eva Galperin , Global Policy Analyst advocacy group Electronic Frontier Foundation digital rights , the extremely cautious approach Google is a good sign.
" If we are concerned about the safety and privacy of our instruments ," he said , "it is important that our instruments are properly controlled and that our tools are open source . "
uProxy certainly has potential , but it remains to be seen when it will start and how will it work . Internet activists really point to the Haystack warning , another tool promoted to circumvent censorship in countries like Iran .
Initially it was widely praised and promoted before security researcher Jacob Appelbaum found serious holes in it . The vulnerabilities that people may be at risk .
The tool was subsequently abandoned and disabled.