Peacefire – Official Site
1. First, try a circumvention site like https://www.MouseMatrix.com/. Be sure to type https at the beginning of the URL, not 'http'. Even though this site has been widely known for months, many networks have their blocking software set up incorrectly so that sites beginning with https:// are not blocked, and https://www.MouseMatrix.com/ will still be accessible.
2. If that doesn't work, you can join our e-mail list where we mail out new Circumventor sites every 3 or 4 days. Of course, employees of blocking software companies have gotten on this list as well, so they add our sites to their blocked-site database as soon as we mail them out, but in most places it takes 3-4 days for the blocked-site list to be updated. So the latest one that we mail out, should usually still work.
3. If you have a computer with an uncensored Internet connection, you can follow these easy steps to set up your own Circumventor site. For example, if you want to get around blocking software at work, and you have a home computer with an uncensored Internet connection, you can install the Circumventor on your home computer. Then it will give you a new URL, and you can take that URL in with you to work and type it into your browser to get around the network blocking software.
4. If you're trying to get around blocking software that's installed on the local computer, and not on the network, use these instructions to boot from the Ubuntu Live CD. (These instructions include tips on how to tell the difference between blocking software that's installed "on the local computer" and software that's installed "on the network".)
Past news items that generated the most interest:
Report on double standards for anti-gay "hate speech" Peacefire created four pages, on free servers such as GeoCities, which consisted of anti-gay quotes copied from four different conservative Web sites: Dr. Laura, Concerned Women for America, Family Research Council and Focus on the Family. Using anonymous HotMail accounts, we then sent the URLs of the newly created pages to six blocking software companies, recommending that they block the newly created pages as "hate speech". After the companies had agreed to block the sites we created, we told them that all the quotes on those pages had been taken from the four conservative Web sites, and asked why they didn't block those pages as well. The blocking companies did not block those Web sites and did not respond to our inquiries.
WebSENSE publishing daily porn links For five months, the makers of WebSENSE blocking software published a daily list of pornographic Web sites that were not blocked by their competitors, allegedly to show that their own product was superior. Students using the Internet in schools that were using those competitors' products, could access the WebSENSE site and get a list of unblocked porn sites, by clicking a link agreeing that they were over 18 years of age.
Human rights pages blocked In December 2000, Peacefire released Amnesty Intercepted, a report on human rights pages including Amnesty International that were blocked by blocking software.
Candidates' sites blocked during 2000 elections In November 2000, Peacefire released a list of political candidates whose sites had been blocked as "pornography" by major blocking programs. One candidate had carried the statement on his Web site, "We should demand that all public schools and libraries install and configure Internet Filters." He changed his position after finding out that his own site was blocked, and later became a plaintiff in the ACLU's lawsuit to overturn a law requiring blocking software in schools and libraries.
Pro-blocking site blocked In July 1997, librarian David Burt launched the now-defunct FilteringFacts.org site, advocating the use of blocking software in libraries. The site was later blocked as a "Drugs/Alcohol" site by SurfWatch (which has since been bought out by Cyber Patrol).
More here:
Peacefire - Official Site
- NetChoice in Court to Halt Arkansas Window Dressing to Online Censorship Law - NetChoice - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- Donald Trump Boasts About Crushing Legacy Media, And Newsom Mocks - Deadline - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- The Take: The hidden battlefield Censorship in the Israel-Iran war - Al Jazeera - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- On The Weeknight, Angelo Carusone discusses how Trumps attacks on reporters "create a culture of self-censorship" in the media - Media... - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- Opinion | Social Media Isnt Just Speech. Its Also a Defective, Hazardous Product. - The New York Times - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- Libraries urge residents to defend right to read amid rise in censorship - MidlandToday.ca - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- USFWS Moved To Censor Materials On Climate Change And Indigenous History - National Parks Traveler - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- Banned Books: New York writers and educators talk about the dangerous impacts of censorship on literature - amNewYork - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- Trump closes The Kennedy Center for renovation, sets a standard of censorship for the nation - The Miami Student - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- Offline by decree: Irans war on the internet - Index on Censorship - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- Are You Being Shadowbanned? Here's What You Need To Know - The Advocates for Self-Government - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- Watch: The livestream of PFLAGs panel on LGBTQ+ censorship at SXSW EDU - dallasvoice.com - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- Op-ed | From Prison Cell to Public Forum: What Prison Censorship Teaches Us about Democracy - Davis Vanguard - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- How to Kill a Free Press Without Killing a Free Press - Real Patriotism with Terry Moran - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- Hicks: There's only one way to 'interpret' efforts to censor history at National Parks - Post and Courier - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- Russia: Googling anything against the authorities is a crime - Index on Censorship - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- AKBAYAN YOUTH CONDEMNS CENSORSHIP OF UM CAMPUS PUBLICATION The Akbayan Youth has criticized the censorship of Primum, the official campus publication... - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- Ethereum Foundation publishes formal mandate to hardlock censorship resistance and privacy - crypto.news - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- Another weekend & another dust-up between Donald Trump and Gavin Newsom -- this time about media censorship or control, depending on who you ask.... - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- FCC chair calls Colbert censorship controversy a hoax orchestrated for clicks and donations - Washington Times - March 17th, 2026 [March 17th, 2026]
- Congress Is Considering Abolishing Your Right to Be Anonymous Online - The Intercept - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- The public deserves to know when Iran war reporting is stifled - Freedom of the Press Foundation - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- The Greenville Eight and Library Discrimination, Then and Now: Book Censorship News, March 6, 2026 - Book Riot - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- Berlin Golden Bear Winner Ilker Catak Reacts to German Government Recommendations For Festival: We Would Have to Call It What It Is: Censorship -... - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- End User: Users should be aware of censorship on social platforms - The Ithacan - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- Press must be transparent about wartime censorship - Freedom of the Press Foundation - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- Oklahoma, Florida, Idaho Propose More Restrictive Book Bills | Censorship News - School Library Journal - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- The Toronto Film Critics Association Is Falling Apart - Vulture - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- Golden Bear winner warns of possible German government 'censorship' - Euronews.com - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- Censorship is a tool of the state but it's also a tool of the censored - Independent Australia - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- Censoring Courses Isnt the Law in Texas. Public Universities Are Doing It Anyway. - The Chronicle of Higher Education - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- Workshop on Investigating Prison Book Bans - The Marshall Project - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- Elle-Mij Tailfeathers Rejects TFCA Award Over Alleged Censorship of Acceptance Speech Mentioning Palestine - TheWrap - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says in deposition that he resisted censoring platforms - ABC News - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- The Unseen Cost: Media Censorship and the Human Face of War - Devdiscourse - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- Roblox is censoring chats with AI - The Verge - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says in deposition that he resisted censoring platforms - chronicleonline.com - March 7th, 2026 [March 7th, 2026]
- Europes global censorship threat, spare us the moral posturing, lefties and other commentary - New York Post - March 4th, 2026 [March 4th, 2026]
- WhatsApp officially names Mullvad and Amnezia VPN as go-to tools for bypassing censorship - TechRadar - March 4th, 2026 [March 4th, 2026]
- Inside Scoop: America off the rails, Colbert censorship controversy, Royal Reckoning - Washington Examiner - March 4th, 2026 [March 4th, 2026]
- Two Views on AI in Chinas Censorship and Influence Operations - China Digital Times - March 4th, 2026 [March 4th, 2026]
- Internet blackout is tool of desperate regime to isolate Iranians, say experts - The Guardian - March 4th, 2026 [March 4th, 2026]
- The Right Expands Its Campaign to Censor College Professors - The Progressive - March 4th, 2026 [March 4th, 2026]
- Author Sandra Cisneros to Texas A&M: The word is watching you censor education - Houston Chronicle - March 4th, 2026 [March 4th, 2026]
- Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg says in deposition that he resisted censoring platforms - Traverse City Record-Eagle - March 4th, 2026 [March 4th, 2026]
- More than 200 schools sign a manifesto against the censorship of Catalan and island authors - Diari ARA - March 4th, 2026 [March 4th, 2026]
- Advocates: Prohibit Admin From Censoring ICE Reporting Tools 03/02/2026 - MediaPost - March 4th, 2026 [March 4th, 2026]
- CNN reporter's live 'gaffe' in Iran war coverage from Israel goes viral; did she admit censorship? | Watch | Hindustan Times - Hindustan Times - March 4th, 2026 [March 4th, 2026]
- Lost in Translation: How Misunderstanding Free Speech Undermines the Very Purpose it Claims to Serve - Verfassungsblog - March 4th, 2026 [March 4th, 2026]
- Susan Sarandon Says She Was Banned From Hollywood After Calling for Gaza Ceasefire: I Feel Repression and Censorship in United States - Variety - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- Trumps Selective War on Censorship - Human Rights Watch - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- The View censors Whoopi Goldberg during on-air discussion about Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein - AOL.com - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- Opinion: Another year, another school censorship bill - Concord Monitor - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- Inside Texas A&Ms Scramble to Censor Its Curriculum - The Chronicle of Higher Education - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- Rep. Boyle calls for federal protections for Independence Mall and other sites - WHYY - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- Lawsuit targets censorship at Grand Teton, other national parks - KHOL 89.1 FM - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- Is the FCC 'equal time' rule leading to media censorship and self-censorship? - NPR - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- Free speech is the casualty in Ukraine war - Index on Censorship - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- The Personal is Political: M. Lin on Censorship and The Memory Museum - see you next tuesday media - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- A professor challenged the Smithsonian. Security shut the gallery. - The Washington Post - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- Colbert, CBS, censorship, and the FCC - Drexel Triangle - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- Academics and students face censorship for Palestinian support - Times Higher Education - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- More Censorship May be Heading Our Way (Does Hollywood Care?) - Hollywood in Toto - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- Letter: Library display highlights the rise in challenged books - Squamish Chief - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- Press Release: Congressman Brendan Boyle Introduces Legislation to Protect American History from Censorship - Quiver Quantitative - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- Geeses Acceptance Speech Got Censored at the BRITS - Vulture - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- Apple News is censoring conservatives; Republicans are fighting back - Elizabethton Star - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- They Helped Women Fight Online Abuse. They Were Barred From the U.S. - The New York Times - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- TikTok Returns to Albania After Ban Expires, Safety Debate Grows - Global Banking & Finance Review - March 2nd, 2026 [March 2nd, 2026]
- US to unveil platform aiming to bypass internet censorship in China, Iran and beyond - Fox News - February 22nd, 2026 [February 22nd, 2026]
- Chinas King of Banned Films Wants to Change the Subject - The New York Times - February 22nd, 2026 [February 22nd, 2026]
- The whole world has been saying it for years: the EU Commission weaponized its censorship law against Elon the second he bought Twitter and turned it... - February 22nd, 2026 [February 22nd, 2026]
- Film shot inside Iran breaks censorship ground with intimate scenes - - February 22nd, 2026 [February 22nd, 2026]
- Berlin Film Festival Rejects Accusation Of Censorship On Gaza - Barron's - February 22nd, 2026 [February 22nd, 2026]
- University of North Texas Students Withdraw Thesis Shows, Citing Censorship - Hyperallergic - February 22nd, 2026 [February 22nd, 2026]
- Coalition Files Lawsuit to Challenge Censorship, Erasure of American History and Science at National Parks - Union of Concerned Scientists - February 22nd, 2026 [February 22nd, 2026]
- ACLU of Texas, NCAC Urge University of North Texas to Apologize and Uphold Academic Freedom after Apparent Censorship of Art Exhibit Critical of ICE -... - February 22nd, 2026 [February 22nd, 2026]
- Censoring gender in higher education impacts more than just trans people - The University News - February 22nd, 2026 [February 22nd, 2026]
- Announcement Concerning the Recent Censorship of Former President Jos Jer - Dentons - February 22nd, 2026 [February 22nd, 2026]
- AG Drummond demands answers from YouTube over alleged conservative censorship - News 9 - February 22nd, 2026 [February 22nd, 2026]