Haystack
When the Internet first came to Iran it was, for the most part, very open and unfiltered, and served as a means of expression in an otherwise restrictive society. In fact, In the early years of the 21st century, Iran became the region-leader in Internet adoption and penetration. It was only a matter of time, however, before the Iranian government extended its strict restrictions on the press to the Internet. Today Iranian dissidents in Iran routinely have their sites and communications blocked, and in March 2007 the Iranian government began requiring that all web sites register their pages with the Ministry of Art & Culture.
The government’s aggressive censorship efforts reached a new level in the aftermath of the contested presidential election in 2009. Users turned to various Internet services and social media portals to organize demonstrations, communicate with friends and loved ones, and to share videos and pictures made by ordinary citizens who had witnessed the government’s violent crackdown of the protests. Having expelled foreign media covering the events, and silenced the domestic media, the Iranian government decided to block sites like Twitter and Facebook and to restrict access to news and current events over the internet, in order to prevent the dissemination of information.
The government’s control over communications technologies was near complete. As reported by the SRF,
Internet penetration is above average in the region and in the run-up to presidential elections due on 12June, the authorities appear to be stepping up their control. The main service providers rely on the state-run Iranian Telecommunications Company (ITC). Despite the existence of private companies, the state remains the main actor in the market and instructions given by the Minister of Culture and Islamic Orientation, Mohammed Saffar Harandi, are quickly applied.
Enter Haystack, the CRC’s flagship project.
Haystack is a software system designed to provide unfiltered and undetectable Internet access to the people of Iran. It runs on Windows, Mac, and Unix platforms, and specifically targets the filtering technology used by the Iranian government. Haystack is not an ordinary proxy system. It employs a sophisticated mathematical formula to hide users’ real Internet traffic inside a continuous stream of innocuous-looking web requests. In addition to providing anonymity, Haystack uses strong cryptography, ensuring that even if users’ traffic is detected, it cannot be read. Trying to find and decipher our users’ traffic amidst all the other traffic on the web really is like trying to find a needle in the proverbial Haystack.
Haystack, and its sister projects, have received extensive press coverage from the BBC, NY Times, WSJ, Fox News, SF Chronicle, BoingBoing, Tehran Bureau, and many others.
More information is available on the Haystack site.
