News

The "feed over email" (FOE) system will deliver news using a technology that evades web-screening technologies employed by restrictive regimes.

According to a senior official at the Broadcasting Board of Governors, an independent US government agency responsible all international broadcasting sponsored by Washington, the system is now actively being tested in China and Iran.

The news feeds are sent through email accounts including those operated by Google Inc, Microsoft Corp's Hotmail and Yahoo Inc.

"We have people testing it in China and Iran," Ken Berman, the Board's IT chief told the Reuters news agency.

He provided few details on the new system, which is in the early stages of testing. He said some secrecy was important to avoid detection by the two governments.

The Internet has become a powerful tool for citizens in countries where governments regularly censor news media, enabling them to learn about and react to major social and political events.