BBC– Developed by US computer scientists the software, called Telex, hides data from banned websites inside traffic from sites deemed safe.
The software draws on well-known encryption techniques to conceal data making it hard to decipher.
So far, Telex is only a prototype but in tests it has been able to defeat Chinese web filters.
Outside in
Telex was developed to get around the problem that stops other anti-censorship technologies being more effective, said Dr Alex Halderman, one of the four-strong team that has worked on Telex since early 2010.
Many existing anti-censorship systems involve connecting to a server or network outside the country in which a user lives.
This approach relies on spreading information about these servers and networks widely enough that citizens hear about them but not so much that censors can find out and block them.
Telex turns this approach on its head, said Dr Halderman.
Read more about Telex To Help Defeat Web Censors
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