Daily Cup of Tech

Disclaimer:
I want to start this entry by saying that this tool could very easily be used to bypass security measures put in place to protect you and the systems that you are working on. The purpose of this post is to provide people with a way to access information that they have not been able to get because of political sanctions. This is not intended as a way to bypass your work or school’s proxy system.

I was reading an article about using Google as a proxy when it dawned on me that this could be a really useful tool in the fight against censorship. I am thinking of countries like China where the government dictates where you can go on the Internet.

There are three issues with the solution that Jason proposes in his blog:

1. If Google becomes blocked, then you are right back to where you started
2. The information given, while relatively easy to follow, is still too much for the average user to understand and use
3. This information needs to spread across the Internet so that it can be used from several different websites

So, what I have done is create a simple web form. All you need to do is type in the website that is blocked and click on the Protect Freedom of Information button.

Now that the ease of use issue has been addressed, I wanted to address the issue of blocking Google. I have created two different versions of the form. One uses Google but one also uses BabelFish. You end up with the same results but you are using a different website to bounce off.

In order to get this information out to as many people as possible, I have made the code for these tools available to other webmasters so that all you need to do is cut and paste the code into your website.

I am also looking for other translators/websites that will do something like this as well. If you know of other websites, then please let me know in the comments.

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