A piece of software called Haystack, which claimed to be an “anti-censorship” system to let people in Iran use the internet anonymously, has been withdrawn by its author after experts raised serious questions about its security.

The author, Austin Heap, a 26-year-old programmer from San Francisco, has been roundly criticised by professionals who complain that he has never allowed them access to the program’s code – which they say is a necessity with security software to check whether it can do what it claims.

Decision follows concerns that system aiming to let people in Iran use internet anonymously could put users at risk

After having obtained access by other means, the experts now say that instead of making users anonymous, it could reveal key information about them to the Iranian authorities.

In a post on his blog on Monday, Heap says that in the “vigorous debate” about Haystack’s security “many of the points made were valid” and that users have been asked to stop using it. (more…)

Tags: Security, software, Technology