Activists aim to punch holes in online shields of authoritarian regimes

It is the Internet version of David vs. Goliath -- computer savvy activists who launch guerrilla tech attacks to punch holes in online shields erected by governments to control what their citizens do online.

One of the newest cyber-warriors is Austin Heap, a 25-year-old San Francisco software developer who helped launch Haystack, a program to help Iranians wiggle past government filters as tensions between authorities and the opposition movement surge. "It's an arms race," said Rebecca MacKinnon, an expert on Chinese censorship who is familiar with efforts to open up the Internet in Iran as well as other authoritarian countries. "There is no precedence for this." Heap is not alone. He's one of a growing number of online activists building software tools designed to serve as virtual slingshots to take on government censorship.

Experts in the field, though, caution that programs devised to assist dissidents and others trying to elude authorities online are not fail-proof in the never-ending battle of wits and technology between authoritarian regimes and savvy geeks.