Private Apps & Services
Private Apps & Services
The Web was designed to be anonymous, at least when users wanted. But one essentially unavoidable privacy hole when you’re using the Internet is your browser’s user agent string, which sites can use to identify and track you even if you disable cookies and the like. Every Web browser has a user agent string. When
Tweaking Your Browser Profile to Stay More Private Read More »
We’ve covered online chat apps like ChatSecure and FireChat before. If you’re looking for secure chats for mobile devices, however, you may be most interested in TextSecure, a chat tool for Android that could soon be expanded to include private voice communication as well. TextSecure is an Android app that provides end-to-end encryption for instant
TextSecure Offers Encrypted Mobile Instant Messaging for Android Read More »
Tor is probably the best known all-around Internet privacy solution. But I2P, another open-source framework for secure, censor-free communications, offers many of the same features as Tor and may be better in some situations. I2P’s promise is to provide “strong privacy protections for communication over the Internet. Many activities that would risk your privacy on
I2P Offers Alternative to Tor for Anti-Censorship, Online Privacy Read More »
Want a quick and easy way around Internet censorship so you can access Twitter? FireTweet might be just the solution you’re looking for. FireTweet is an Android app that uses peer-to-peer networking to circumvent firewalls that block Twitter. It’s free, has no ads and requires no special setup. Once launched, FireTweet looks like a standard
FireTweet Provides Easy Twitter Access in Censored Countries Read More »
Most anti-censorship tools focus on getting Internet data inside countries that attempt to block it. Alibi Routing, a new system created by academic researchers in the United States, does the opposite. It lets users prevent their data from passing through certain countries in order to avoid government sniffing. When data travels across the Internet, it
Alibi Offers User-Specified Traffic Routing to Avoid Censorship Read More »
Peer-to-peer networking tools, like Lantern and uProxy, are increasingly important for circumventing Internet censorship rules. But this strategy isn’t actually very new, as GNUnet, an open source peer-to-peer connectivity tool developed since 2001, makes clear. GNUnet establishes a mesh network with no central control point. That lets users skirt traditional gateways that Internet censors could
GNUnet Circumvents Censorship with Open-Source P2P Networking Read More »
The Web — and the Internet as a whole — is supposed to be “world wide.” But it’s not when countries censor Internet access. That’s the issue that the online privacy tool Psiphon aims to resolve. In the Psiphon developers’ own description, the platform “serves a specific and simple purpose: to grant users open access
Psiphon Integrates VPN, SSH and HTTP Proxy to Fight Censorship Read More »
Need to beat online censorship, but don’t have access to a VPN? Lantern, an open-source app that uses peer-to-peer connections to get around firewalls, may be for you. Lantern was launched by Adam Fisk, the man behind the now-defunct LimeWire file-sharing platform. Fisk said he first conceived of the idea for Lantern when working on
Lantern Provides P2P Proxy Network for Beating Internet Censorship Read More »