An enterprising Computer Student from Singapore going by the name @nubela on Twitter has released a Chrome plugin that allows people to evade some of the ISP filters.
On his websites goawaycameron.co.uk he has published a mini FAQ and a getting started guide;
Will this work outside of UK?
Yes! This will work anywhere, and with any websites that are blocked by firewall, universities, workplaces, nanny filters, or well, censorship.
What is “Go away Cameron”?
“Go away Cameron”, or GAC, is a chrome extension that automates a private and smart proxy service to route your access around censorship so you can regain your access to your favourite blocked sites in UK.
Is it legal?
GAC is essentially a smart proxy service. And I don’t believe a proxy service is illegal.
Are you harvesting info?
No, no logs are stored.
Can you trace who I am?
No, I can’t even do that. Other from your IP address, which isn’t logged as well. But how can you know for sure? See my answer to the last question.
Is it safe?
It is even safer than you using any unknown Hotspot Shield, or surfing websites through the random web proxy (which you already am and needs no setting up in case you don’t know, thats how they block you from the websites). In fact, it is even FASTER. Because the server uses better international routing than your homeline internet. And most of the blocked websites are international.
Why do you need the permission to “access data on all websites?”
Because blocked sites lie on arbitrary urls! And I don’t have, nor will I ever can have, an exhuastive list of UK banned sites. What I can do is to merely detect whether the website returns you an error message saying UK blocked it. (This is when the extension kicks in). I think I have an at most 10line code that checks for this. I welcome you to check the code for this.
Why do you need the permission to “access tabs and browsing activity?”
Because I apply a private proxy (not public, so even safer) to your browser temporarily for you to be able to view the banned website. But because it is private, it needs to enter the username and password to the proxy. Which I don’t want you to manually enter, so I hijack the process and manually enter it for you. So thats why I need this permission so I can make it seamless for you. I promise I do nothing more than that.
What is your intention for making this?
3 reasons. One, It was a holiday project as I was learning Twitter bootstrap. Two, I enjoy my internet freedom, and urge all of you to never give that up, let alone to any government agencies. Three, I did have some blind hopes for it going viral.
@nubela
Well here’s to hoping it, and the reasons for needing it, go viral!
Install Go Away Cameron for Chrome
Update:
Mainstream news have picked up on the story:
http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2013-12/23/go-away-cameron
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/internet-security/10534618/Go-Away-Cameron-browser-extension-bypasses-UK-porn-filters.html
http://www.techradar.com/news/internet/-go-away-cameron-chrome-extension-nullifies-pm-s-porn-blockade-1210457
http://metro.co.uk/2013/12/20/go-away-cameron-browser-extension-lets-users-bypass-uk-porn-filters-4238809/