Alphecca: New Firefox "Anonymous Browsing"

September 22, 2006

New Firefox "Anonymous Browsing"

Now you can surf all those porno sites scholarly research sites without revealing who you are. From PC World:

A tweaked version of Firefox that makes Web browsing anonymous has been released by a group of privacy-minded coders.

Every few minutes, the Torpark browser causes a computer's IP address to appear to change. IP addresses are numeric identifier given to computers on the Internet. The number can be used along with other data to potentially track down a user, as many Web sites keep track of IP addresses.
Hackers Promote Privacy

Torpark's creators, a group of computer security gurus and privacy experts named Hactivismo, said they want to expand privacy rights on the Internet as new technologies increasingly collect online data.

The browser is free to download at torpark.nfshost.com. It's a modified version of Portable Firefox, an optimized version of the browser that can be run off a USB memory stick on a computer.

The Torpark browser uses encryption to send data over The Onion Router, a worldwide network of servers nicknamed "Tor" set up to transfer data to one another in a random, obscure fashion.

Internet traffic, such as Web site requests, carries information on where it came from and where it's going. But that's muddled using Tor, which has been endorsed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and is hard to trace back to a source.

I believe this only runs on PCs at the moment but I'm not sure. Pretty spiffy since running it off your USB plug-in card lets you use it at any internet cafe, thereby increasing your anonymity. Illegal music and video downloads were never easier and safer from the RIAA's prying eyes. Oh, ha-ha, did I just say "illegal music downloads"? What I MEANT to say was, legal purchases of music downloads...

Posted by Jeff Soyer at September 22, 2006 07:31 AM

Comments

Such a browser would have been useful to the felons at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory who got caught because of their sloppy browsing of my websites. See this paper I wrote on the topic.

Posted by: Joe Huffman at September 22, 2006 10:41 AM

Jeff,

Interesting post.

Have you tried this?

Let us know how it turns out.

Posted by: 1894C at September 22, 2006 11:22 AM

Damn! I wish you guys woudl quit broadcasting this info all over. I get the "timed out" message about half the time now; after every Tom, Dick and Harry climb onto the Tor net, it'll get up to 90%. :-)

Be aware that some websites will refuse a connection coming off a Tor server. /. for one.

Posted by: bud at September 22, 2006 12:53 PM

http://www.preemptive.com/

Posted by: Zendo Deb at September 23, 2006 01:21 PM

Sorry that isn't the right sight... and now I can't find the link....

There are several ways to mask your IP address. I wish I could find that damn link.....

If you want to hide from the copyright police, you can probably manage it. If you are just trying to hide (from threats in the physical world) that is getting much harder to do. (There are web sites that will locate your family, cousins, ex-coworkers, etc.... mostly for bill collectors who are trying to track you down, but they are also useful to that abusive ex.)

My solution to this probem? The best defense is a good offense. Anybody uninvited comes into my home will be met by my friends Strum and Ruger.

Posted by: Zendo Deb at September 23, 2006 01:29 PM

Rule #1: Never hack from home.

Rule #2: See rule #1.

IP spoofing has been around for a very long time. You can still be traced.

Posted by: Magus at September 23, 2006 09:53 PM

"You can still be traced."

Sure I can. I'm sure that NSA can find me in a heartbeat. OTOH, when they notice that all I'm interested in is pr0n and avoiding spam, I assume that they'll go look for "real" bad guys.

When I use TOR, *you* aren't going to find me.

BTW, on this site, I'm not using TOR, nor is my email hidden (obfusacated to confuse the spambots, but still mine).

Posted by: bud at September 25, 2006 11:43 AM

Even though Torpark is a portable application, there are many people who might be interested in trying it out who are not comfortable with a "no install" installation. Thus, I have created a Torpark installer and a step-by-step guide for using it.

If anyone is interested, the installer and guide are available from http://www.dailycupoftech.com/?page_id=165.

Posted by: Tim Fehlman at September 26, 2006 04:38 PM

Got it, and tried it. Lots of blogs won't accept a comment coming from tor, and the constant contacting makes big uploads all but impossible. also accidntally opened it and stopped it before it loaded, but it left its warning there, and needed a reboot to get rid of it.

That said, it seeems a good idea and a contribution to free speech.

Posted by: Keith at September 27, 2006 11:02 AM

Note: Comments close down on posts after seven days and then
the comment input form disappears.

Your comments are welcome. You don't need to enter a URL and you don't need a "valid" email address, either. Note though that MT Blacklist is installed to flag suspiciously spam-like strings. Unfortunately, because of the bastard spammers, the strings "google.com" and "yahoo.com" (even in your email address) are currently banned as well. So are strings such as "cialis" (a common spam) which rules out words such as "socialism". Try putting a hyphan in a word like that.

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Into science fiction? Check out my group blog novel, Colony: Alchibah.
See the reader's guide there for first-timer tips.

Alphecca

Check it out: My group sci-fi blog novel: Colony: Alchibah

September 22, 2006

New Firefox "Anonymous Browsing"

By Golly, you're reading an archived post. Click Here to head to the main page and read current stuff...

Check it out:

My group sci-fi blog novel:

Colony: Alchibah