Re: [OT] another proxy, but not open source :-(

[Flamsmark <flamsmark@xxxxxxxxx>]

I seem to recall that something called haystack, with a remarkably similar webpage was the software and donations portal developed by @austinheap during the Iran election. Since Heap's twitter is still linked from the haystacknetworkcom page, I assume that this project remains the offspring of that effort. I can't comment directly, but I recall that the effort seemed pretty legitimate at that time. I assume that it's still legitimate, even if not free software in the strictest sense. The Censorship Research Center is San Francisco non-profit, started by Heap. They do have a contact form on their about page: http://www.censorshipresearch.org/about/

While I think that free (as in speech as in Stallman) software is the best way to go, I can understand why someone of good intentions might think otherwise. I reckon that haystack is not a malicious honeypot, or cynical effort to relive people of their cash. However, I do think that the project may not be overly successful, and that donations would do more good elsewhere.

On 25 May 2010 02:45, Scott Bennett <bennett@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

    I don't know who "Censorship Research Center" might be, but they claim
to have a development project going for another encrypted proxy service.
However, they say it will be free software, but *not* be open source, so no
one can examine what they have done in order to look for bugs, design flaws,
etc. :-(  There isn't much real information at the web site,

       http://www.haystacknetwork.com

but what little there is looks very much like an attempt to sucker people
who don't understand much about security.
    Oh.  I almost forgot.  Their FAQ page mentions tor, complaining about
tor's publicly available directory and arguing that their method is better,
while not mentioning bridges.


                                 Scott Bennett, Comm. ASMELG, CFIAG
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