Fwd: Soapy: an even better anti-SOPA browser plugin

If it works against takedowns, why not for persistence too?  :)  ISSUE-50

Jonathan


http://feeds.boingboing.net/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/86S_8ZbW61Q/soapy-an-even-better-anti-sop.html
via Byline <http://phantomfish.com/byline.php>

Kate sez, "Soapy is a new web browser plug-in that allows users to visit
websites blocked by SOPA by automatically redirecting them to the site's IP
address. The Firefox version of the plugin is downloadable now; the Google
Chrome version will be finished shortly. This free software makes the
practical implementation of SOPA impossible, since anyone can download the
plug-in and circumvent SOPA. So--if anybody can unblock SOPA, what is the
point of SOPA?"

 Soapy is written in JavaScript and XML. It automatically redirects the
user to the site's IP address or an alternate site where the content is
mirrored. These sites include everything from Wikileaks (frequently blocked
at the DNS level) to the Computer Science Department at UC Davis (which
discusses circumvention). And because only blocked sites or sites at risk
are included, normal browsing isn't affected by the plugin. It is resilient
because it cannot be blocked. Technically, all of the rules are contained
within. It doesn't use an outside site or list or list of blocked websites,
which makes it difficult or impossible to block.

The code is available on GitHub <https://github.com/glamrock/Soapy> for
programmers, activists, and informed consumers. Every site that Soapy
unblocks has a set of XML rules that are tailored to the quirks of that
specific site. Much of the code has been borrowed from HTTPS-Everywhere and
NoScript. Templates are available so that unblocking future sites can be
crowdsourced by hacktivists inside or outside the United States (Soapy's
developer is a member of this community) as quickly as they are identified.

Soapy <http://www.griftastic.com/soapy.html> (*Thanks,
Kate<http://www.griftastic.com/soapy.html>
!*)

Received on Friday, 13 January 2012 11:42:06 UTC