The tool has been described as 'one of the most important free-speech tools on the Internet' by Wired, and as the 'best performing' circumvention tool by Harvard University in a 2007 study a 2011 study by Freedom House ranked it fourth. It currently boasts as many as 11 million users worldwide. The software was designed as a means of allowing internet users to bypass the Great Firewall of China. The software was developed by two different groups of Falun Gong practitioners at the same time, one starting in the US in 2002 by expatriate Chinese. The software bypasses Internet censorship and firewalls using an HTTP proxy server, and employs encryption protocols for privacy. UltraSurf is a freeware Internet censorship circumvention product created by UltraReach Internet Corporation.
