Editing Falun Gong (section)

== Internet circumvention software ==
In the early 2000s, Falun Gong adherents in the United States developed [[Ultrasurf]] and [[Freegate]], [[freeware]] intended to circumvent Chinese government internet censorship.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pan |first=Philip P. |date=21 February 2006 |title=Free Software Takes Users Around Filters |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/20/AR2006022001305.html |access-date=2 January 2024 |newspaper=Washington Post |archive-date=3 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303180529/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/20/AR2006022001305.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2011-02-04 |title=Cracking the 'Great Firewall' of China's Web censorship |website=[[USA Today]] |url=http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2008-04-22-InternetBandits_N.htm |access-date=2023-12-31 |archive-date=4 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110204000130/http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/techpolicy/2008-04-22-InternetBandits_N.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> According to NPR:
:Adherents of Falun Gong first developed Ultrasurf nearly two decades ago to get around censors in China and elsewhere. Early on, Ultrasurf seemed a highly promising tool in aiding activists and journalists to talk securely online. It earlier received development money from the State Department and the predecessor agency to USAGM.<ref name="NPR-ULTRASURF-2021">Folkenflik, David. 2021. [https://www.npr.org/2021/04/14/986982387/falun-gong-steve-bannon-and-the-trump-era-battle-over-internet-freedom "Falun Gong, Steve Bannon And The Trump-Era Battle Over Internet Freedom"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231102140639/https://www.npr.org/2021/04/14/986982387/falun-gong-steve-bannon-and-the-trump-era-battle-over-internet-freedom |date=2 November 2023 }}. ''NPR''. Online.</ref>

A [[Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society|Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society]] report on the circumvention landscape in 2007 found Ultrasurf's performance to be "the best of any tool tested in filtering countries, the only tool to display okay speed for both image heavy and simple, text oriented sites."<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Roberts |first1=Hal |last2=Zuckerman |first2=Ethan |last3=Palfrey |first3=John |date=March 2009 |title=2007 Circumvention Landscape Report: Methods, Uses, and Tools |url=https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/2794933/2007_Circumvention_Landscape.pdf |access-date=30 December 2023 |website=dash.harvard.edu |archive-date=31 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231231035126/https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/2794933/2007_Circumvention_Landscape.pdf |url-status=live}}</ref> A [[Wired (magazine)|Wired]] article described Ultrasurf as "one of the most important free-speech tools on the Internet, used by millions from China to Saudi Arabia."<ref name="GF">{{Cite magazine |last=Beiser |first=Vince |date=1 November 2010 |title=Digital Weapons Help Dissidents Punch Holes in China's Great Firewall |language=en-US |volume=18 |magazine=Wired |issue=11 |url=https://www.wired.com/2010/11/ff-firewallfighters/ |access-date=2023-12-31 |issn=1059-1028 |archive-date=29 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110329093936/http://www.wired.com/magazine/2010/11/ff_firewallfighters/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Beyond China, Freegate gained popularity among Iranian protesters soon after its [[Persian language|Farsi]] version was introduced in July 2008.<ref>{{Cite news |date=2009-07-02 |title=Falun Gong helps crack Iran's web filter |language=en-AU |work=ABC News |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-07-02/falun-gong-helps-crack-irans-web-filter/1339448 |access-date=2023-12-31 |archive-date=31 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231231041800/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2009-07-02/falun-gong-helps-crack-irans-web-filter/1339448 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Ramirez |first=Jessica |date=2010-01-25 |title=Internet Freedom Group Helps Dissidents Abroad |url=https://www.newsweek.com/internet-freedom-group-helps-dissidents-abroad-71155 |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=Newsweek |language=en |archive-date=31 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231231041800/https://www.newsweek.com/internet-freedom-group-helps-dissidents-abroad-71155 |url-status=live}}</ref> During the [[Iranian Green Movement|Green Movement]] protests surrounding the 2009 election, its servers were overwhelmed by Iranian Internet users.<ref name="GF" /><ref>{{Cite news |date=2023-12-16 |title=Iranians and Others Outwit Net Censors |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/technology/01filter.html |access-date=2024-01-03 |archive-date=16 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216092535/https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/technology/01filter.html |url-status=live |last1=Markoff |first1=John}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Lake |first=Eli |date=2009-09-02 |title=Hacking the Regime |magazine=The New Republic |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/68899/hacking-the-regime |access-date=2024-01-03 |issn=0028-6583 |archive-date=9 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209103840/https://newrepublic.com/article/68899/hacking-the-regime |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2010, the [[United States Department of State]] under the [[Obama administration]] offered a $1.5 million grant to the [[Global Internet Freedom Consortium]] founded by Falun Gong adherents that developed Ultrasurf and Freegate, drawing opposition from the Chinese government.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Pomfret |first=John |date=12 May 2010 |title=U.S. risks China's ire with decision to fund software maker tied to Falun Gong |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/11/AR2010051105154_pf.html |access-date=2 January 2024 |newspaper=Washington Post |archive-date=30 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231230015442/https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/11/AR2010051105154_pf.html |url-status=live}}</ref> A 2011 [[Center for a New American Security]] report recognized the need for the US government to fund high-performing technologies like Ultrasurf and Freegate, despite the stress it might cause on the U.S.-China relationship, but recommended the US government diversify the technologies it funds.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Internet Freedom: A Foreign Policy Imperative in the Digital Age |url=https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/internet-freedom-a-foreign-policy-imperative-in-the-digital-age |access-date=2023-12-31 |website=www.cnas.org |language=en |archive-date=31 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231231042951/https://www.cnas.org/publications/reports/internet-freedom-a-foreign-policy-imperative-in-the-digital-age |url-status=live}}</ref>

In recent years, Ultrasurf has been a major point of contention in large part because it is not open source, meaning that it cannot be reviewed by outside engineers for vulnerabilities and back doors.<ref name="THE-VERGE-2020">Brandom, Russell. 2020. "A new Trump appointee has put internet freedom projects in crisis mode". ''The Verge''. [https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/23/21300424/open-technology-fund-usagm-circumvention-tools-china-censorship-michael-pack Online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231117040504/https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/23/21300424/open-technology-fund-usagm-circumvention-tools-china-censorship-michael-pack |date=17 November 2023 }}.</ref><ref name="NYT-2020-ULTRASURF">{{cite web |quote=This battle revolves around software developed by Falun Gong, the secretive spiritual movement persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party. |last2=Wong |first2=Edward |first1=Pranshu |last1=Varma |date=2020-07-04 |title=New Trump Appointee Puts Global Internet Freedom at Risk, Critics Say |work=[[The New York Times]] |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230109072218/https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/04/us/politics/michael-pack-china-internet.html |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/04/us/politics/michael-pack-china-internet.html |archive-date=2023-01-09}}</ref> Additionally, as reported by ''The Verge'', since the 2000s, the software has drawn criticism "for its content filtering (which blocks pornography) and its ability to surveil user traffic, which is often impossible by design in competing tools".<ref name="THE-VERGE-2020" />

Although it receives public funding, both its creators and owners have rejected attempts at allowing outside parties to review its effectiveness and utility.<ref name="THE-VERGE-2020"/><ref name="NYT-2020-ULTRASURF"/> A 2020 audit by the U.S. State Department concluded that "censoring Ultrasurf nation-wide would have been trivial for a moderate-budget adversary".<ref name="NPR-ULTRASURF-2021"/><ref name="NYT-2020-ULTRASURF"/>

After conservative documentary filmmaker [[Michael Pack]] was appointed CEO of the [[U.S. Agency for Global Media]] (USAGM) during the Trump administration in 2020, Pack tied up $19 million in federal funds from other projects for the Ultrasurf project. Numerous other projects, including other secure communication projects, lost funding during this period. Ultrasoft eventually received $249,000 of the allotted funds. Once receiving funding, only "four people abroad used it to access Voice of America and Radio Free Asia, a key purpose for its subsidy" during December 2020 and January 2021.<ref name="NPR-ULTRASURF-2021"/>

Two days before U.S. President [[Joe Biden]]'s 2021 inauguration, Pack appointed a columnist from the ''Epoch Times'' to the board of directors for the networks his agency oversaw. This columnist had claimed the [[January 6 insurrection]] was a "[[false flag]] operation". During his eight months in office, Pack regularly appeared in the ''Epoch Times'', where he also discussed Ultrasurf.<ref name="NPR-ULTRASURF-2021"/>

As of 2020, Pack, along with other USAGM officials he did not fire during his time there, faced a criminal inquiry in response to whistleblower allegations that the "concerted effort to divert funds to the Falun Gong software Ultrasurf was a criminal conspiracy".<ref name="NPR-ULTRASURF-2021"/>