The Foreign Service Journal, November 2010

N O V E M B E R 2 0 1 0 / F O R E I G N S E R V I C E J O U R N A L 9 their cries of fraud and election rig- ging. At that moment, he remembers saying, “OK, game on.” Heap left a lucrative job to found the Censorship Research Center ( www. censorshipresearch.org ) , a nonpro- fit dedicated to providing “anti-censor- ship education, outreach and tech- nologies for free to those who need it most.” Heap first posted advice on his blog about how people could run proxy servers from home to mask their iden- tity as they surf the Internet. He soon had nearly 10,000 people following his instructions, but quickly discovered that the Islamic Republic’s censors read his blog, too, and simply trailed behind him, closing proxies as soon as he pronounced them ready to use. Aided by a disaffected Iranian offi- cial who provided him with a copy of the internal operating procedures for Iran’s filtering software, Heap then created Haystack, an anti-censorship software built on a sophisticated math- ematical formula that conceals some- one’s real online destinations inside a stream of innocuous traffic. As Newsweek reporter William J. Dobson explains, a Haystack user may be browsing an opposition Web site, but to the censors it will appear she is visiting, say, weather.com. Moreover, Heap tends to hide users in content that is popular in Tehran, sometimes the regime’s own government mouth- pieces. While other anti-censorship pro- grams — such as Tor, Psiphon or Free- gate — can successfully hide some- one’s identity, censors are able to de- tect that these programs are being run and then work to disable them. But with Haystack, the censors aren’t even aware the software is in use. But as Cecilia Kang reports in her Sept. 14 “Post Tech” column ( www. voices.washingtonpost.com/post tech ), whether the technology will be widely adapted remains to be seen. About two dozen Iranians have been testing the program for the past year, but some critics have expressed concern that lax security could expose users’ identities to government author- ities. In response, Haystack has halted C YBERNOTES Site of the Month: www.stimson.org Many Journal readers are doubtless already familiar with the work of the Henry L. Stimson Center, a nonprofit, nonpartisan institution devoted to strengthening in- stitutions for international peace and security, building regional security, and reduc- ing weapons of mass destruction and transnational threats. A 2008 report it and the American Academy of Diplomacy produced on the 150 Account helped pave the way for the current Foreign Service hiring surge at the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. Like AFSA, the center is also a key supporter of AAD’s current study of diplomatic professional education and training. Stimson, as the center breezily refers to itself on the new and improved homepage, has just launched a redesigned Web site. The page centers on a rotating carousel with four screens of “Spotlights,” all of which highlight the center’s research and activi- ties. These items include teasers for various policy papers, profiles of upcoming guests for the Chairman’s Forum, current publications, video clips and information graphics. There is also an increased capability for users to connect with Stimson using social networking tools, such as RSS feeds, Facebook and Twitter. Even those with just a cursory knowledge of the Stimson Center’s work can eas- ily find the information they’re looking for through new “topics” pages. These pages aggregate and display research from all of Stimson’s experts and programs, as well as provide alternative categories and regions for the user to explore. Currently, there are about 30 topics listed as related to the center’s research, ranging from border se- curity to river basins. At the same time, the site has retained the previous organizational structure. Stim- son programs, experts and their corresponding work are all still accessible from the homepage, through a dropdown menu. Research, books and reports dating back to 1989 will also be archived on the new site.