Technical solutions have proven to be more effective, at least in the case of China. Some efforts in this arena include anonymous browsers and search engines, developed by human rights organizations, NGOs or individuals, committed to the cause of right to freedom of speech and expression, on the internet.

One such example is Psiphon, an open source, anonymous software program that works as a censorship circumvention tool, developed to allow access to blocked sites in countries where there is excessive censorship. The free software, which has been available on the internet for download since December 2006, turns a PC into a personal encrypted server, which can retrieve and display web pages in any part of the world.

In technical terms, Psiphon acts as a web proxy ad operates through a network of trust. Psiphon providers install and administer a Psiphon server, called Psiphonode, in an uncensored country, to enable psiphon users to log in and access the server from a country that censors the internet.

Another tool used in China, to dodge the law is UltraSurf 8 software, which implements a complex proxy, promising transparency and a high level of encryption on Microsoft Internet Explorer platform. The software claims to enable users to browse any website freely on IE, while it automatically searches the highest speed proxy servers in the background.

UltraSurf 8 claims to implement almost all browser functions based on HTTP and user needs such as browsing websites, login and posting on web forums, using web mail, uploading and downloading data files and real time multimedia programs. Moreover, the developers of the software, UltraReach Internet Corp, have invented a technology platform called the GIFT System, which claims to offer guaranteed connection and reconnection service, censor behavior detection and counter blocking and capability of serving a large number of users with affordable resources.

Other popular tools include Elgoog, a mirror image of Google, which was a search engine that displayed results in reverse. Developed by a group called AllTooFat the site had nothing to do with Google, but on September 6, 2006, it made headlines when it surpassed the Chinese firewall.

Freenet is another free software which lets users publish and obtain information on the internet, via a decentralized network. The Freenet file sharing network stores documents and allows them to be retrieved later, by an associated key, with protocols such as HTTP. The stored info is encrypted and replicated across participating computers around the world, which are anonimized. Created by Ian Clarke, Freenet is designed to act more like an Internet, within the Internet. It can be used for publishing websites or freesites, communicating via message boards and for content distribution.

In addition to the above, numerous other websites, software and search engines crop up ever so often, to defend the right to freedom of speech and expression of fellow- netizens.