Anonymizer software circumvents China’s Great Firewall

Anonymizer on Saturday announced the availability of its Operation: Anti-Censorship software, which is designed to circumvent Chinese government efforts to block access to certain Web sites.

The software is available free to users who register their e-mail address at the Operation: Anti-Censorship Web site. The software requires a user to access the Internet from a Chinese IP (Internet Protocol) address for it to work.

There’s just one potential hitch: the Web site and registration information is only available in English. No Chinese-language information is available for those Chinese Internet users who don’t read English.

Anonymizer executives were not immediately available to comment.

Censorship is a fact of life for Internet users in China. The Chinese authorities routinely block access to certain Web sites, including those deemed politically unacceptable.

Anonymizer expects Chinese authorities to block access to the Operation: Anti-Censorship Web site. As a result, the company plans to periodically change the URL address of the site. The site was accessible in Beijing over a consumer broadband connection on Monday morning.

In a bid to circumvent Chinese efforts to block the Operation: Anti-Censorship Web site, Anonymizer is counting on users to spread the word, passing on the software to family members and friends.

Anonymizer did not disclose detailed information about how the Operation: Anti-Censorship software works. However, the company’s other products work by routing a user’s Internet traffic through its own servers, and this product appears to work in a similar fashion, according to the limited information made available.