JonDo (previously known as JAP)
is a client program, used with a Proxy Server system, written in Java
for routing data across the JonDo network. Unfortunately, being Java
based means that the application is rather bloated. Even so, to make up
for this large amount of memory consumption, JonDo does have an
attractive and user-friendly GUI, which displays lots of visual
information about your connection to the JonDo network.
Additionally, Java-based also means that it is truly cross-platform.
The free service offers 30-50 kBit/s speeds and unlimited bandwidth.
The commercial option offers a lot more features such as higher speeds,
access to all ports and SOCKS5 support.
The JonDonym group provide a free browser profile for Firefox called JonDoFox.
It is preconfigured to be highly anonymous out of the box and features
lots of useful add-ons, such as No-Script, CS Lite and AdBlock Plus.
Because it is completely free and has all these outstanding features, I
highly recommend it to anybody that is serious about anonymity. Bear in
mind, however, that JonDo does set limits on the number of users allowed
for all of their free servers, and this limited capacity means that its
network is often overloaded at peak times. Consequently, you may not be
able to connect on your first attempt.
Here are some of my personal ratings and a few technical points regarding the program:
-
Speed Rating:
   Slow. 30kbps-50kbps (Dial-up speeds).
-
Anonymity Rating: High
-
Usage Allowance: Unlimited
-
Logging Level: Minimal. They log bandwidth usage for accounting purposes.
-
Server Location(s):
 Worldwide
-
Operating System(s):
  
-
WOT Rating:
 Excellent (WOT is explained much further down).
-
76MB of RAM usage when running.
-
There is a portable version available.
Vidalia
is a client front-end that comes bundled with Tor and Polipo, and their
purpose is to route data across the Tor network. There are quite a few
bundles offered for users to get started relatively quickly. If you do
not opt for the preconfigured Tor browser bundle, you must configure
your machine's local proxy port to use Vidalia's default port of 8118 in
order to use the programs. Like JonDo, Vidalia constantly changes
your IP in order to mask your Internet trail to provide greater
anonymity.
There are not that many features or complicated configuration
options. It is a basic front-end, which strives to keep the user's
experience as 'simple' as possible while the backend to Tor, which is
largely hidden, is itself very complicated. The program also allows
users to become relays for the Tor network, helping censored users
connect to the network undetected. There is also an eye-candy feature
which shows a map of Earth with lines representing connections to the
Tor server participants and very nice bandwidth graphs.
Here are some of my personal ratings and a few technical points regarding the program:
-
Speed Rating: Generally slow
-
Anonymity Rating: Medium-Low
-
Usage Allowance: Unlimited
-
Logging Level: Unknown. It varies from peer to peer. Some may log you and some may not. Review this page for more info about entry and exit nodes.
-
Server Location(s): Worldwide
-
Operating System(s):
-
WOT Rating: Excellent.
-
There is a portable version available.
-
24 - 32MB RAM usage when running with an additional 4MB used for Polipo and another 16.5 MB for the Tor engine.
PacketiX.NET
is free service offered by SoftEther Corp as an academic experiment run
by the University of Tsukuba in Japan. Unlike Hotspot Shield and
countless other VPN clients, it is not based on OpenVPN but instead uses
a proprietary system. Like most other VPN connections, it encrypts all of your Internet activities.
The actual client itself is very customisable and powerful, allowing
you to get the most out of your VPN connection. There are a number of
features from setting the number of TCP connections and enabling data
compression to maximize throughput. The actual speed you get ultimately
depends on your geographic location in relation to Japan. This means
that a lot of people may experience slow connections (especially
Europeans). The GUI is very simple and easy to use. Installation is
rather simple, but you need to download the client and an additional
configuration file. They have a nice tutorial on their website that
guides you through the whole process to make it easier for you.
Although they do keep logs, they are open about it. You have to read
and accept an agreement stating that you will not use the service 'to do
crime' as they put it. As long as you're not doing anything you
shouldn't be doing, it should not concern you greatly.
Here are some of my personal ratings and a few technical points regarding the program:
-
Speed Rating: Medium
-
Anonymity Rating: High
-
Usage Allowance: Unlimited
-
Logging Level: High. Logs are kept permanently.
-
Server Location(s):
 Japan
-
Operating System(s):
-
WOT Rating: Excellent.
-
19MB of RAM usage when running.
JanusVM
is based on VMware and is a type of product often referred to as an
"Appliance" in the parlance of virtualization software, which means
basically that it is a group of programs and settings preconfigured by
and large from the vendor, and usually ready to run "out of the box," so
to speak. In this case, specifically, it is an Internet Privacy
Appliance comprised of Tor, Privoxy, Squid and OpenVPN, which run in a
virtual machine as a preconfigured client. This really is a superior
product compared to other Tor solutions as it combines the power of Tor,
Privoxy, Squid and OpenVPN to increase anonymity.
I would recommend this option for intermediate to advanced computer
users as it is not simply a case of 'click-click-done' by any means, in
spite of what the terminology suggests. It requires the installation of VMware Player
(which is free), the configuration of a VPN connection and some
background reading (albeit quite minimal). There is also a
nicely-made video tutorial for beginners who want to try out this
solution. VMware Player is required to be running every time you want to
use JanusVM. While this may not be an issue for most, those with older
hardware might struggle to deploy a virtual machine, if they can manage
it at all. Apart from these potential technical difficulties with
running the virtual machine, it can be highly inconvenient for some to
have it running all the time. This is the kind of decision you will have
to make when considering anonymity options. One hundred and
twenty-eight MB of RAM is a bare minimum to run a virtual machine!
Still, if you have only this amount of RAM available, you should
consider first upgrading to a higher amount.
In addition, once JanusVM is set up correctly, you will then have to
configure your operating system's network connection manager to dial
into JanusVM. The people over at project JanusVM also offer a hardware
based solution, dubbed JanusPA. It is really interesting as it encrypts
all of your data going through your ADSL modem or router, meaning
literally nothing can get through that is not 'Torified', that is,
running through the Tor network. More information can be found here. Even though they are currently out of stock of this hardware device, it is worth a look anyway.
Here are some technical points regarding the solution:
-
Speed Rating: Generally slow
-
Anonymity Rating: High
-
Usage Allowance: Unlimited
-
Logging Level: Unknown. It varies from peer to peer. Some may log you and some may not. Review this page for more info about entry and exit nodes.
-
Server Location(s): Worldwide
-
Operating System(s):
-
WOT Rating: Excellent
-
53 MB of RAM usage when running.
proXPN
is a VPN client based on OpenVPN; however, there is a PPTP service also
on offer for mobile phone users. They currently have servers located in
the USA and are looking to expand into Europe. Therefore, speeds vary
depending on your location. Overall, speeds are generally very fast for
most users. With it being a VPN client, it encrypts all
of your Internet activities. They use a 512-bit level of encryption
with 2,048-bit certificates for users to achieve high levels of
anonymity.
Unfortunately, registration is mandatory in order to use the service.
Of course, for the extremely paranoid folk among you, fake details may
be provided, but a real e-mail address must be used in order to activate
an account. Then again, this e-mail address could also be anonymous.
Sorry if I confused anyone with that last sentence!
The GUI is very basic and user-friendly. Even so, it could use a
little reworking, like removal of some tabs and integrating some
controls into one window for starters. One problem I encountered is that
proXPN appears to run on start-up by default for me and cannot be
stopped easily. As far as I know, this problem occurs only in Windows 7
Professional 64-bit. Use the comments section for assistance with this.
It's available for a wide variety of operating systems, including
Microsoft's modern operating systems, such as Windows XP, Windows Vista,
Windows 7 and Windows Mobile, as well as a range of Apple based
operating systems, such as Mac OS, iPhone and iPod Touch. It may work
for older operating systems such as Windows 98 and 95, but they are not
officially supported.
Here are some of my personal ratings and a few technical points regarding the program:
-
Speed Rating: Free accounts are limited to 100kbps.
-
Anonymity Rating: High
-
Usage Allowance: Unlimited
-
Logging Level:
Minimal. They log connection time and date, your bandwidth usage and
your registration details. Logs are kept for a roughly 2 weeks.
-
Server Location(s):
 USA
-
Operating System(s):
-
WOT Rating: Excellent.
-
3.6MB of RAM usage when running (+3MB for OpenVPN).
USAIP
is a PPTP/L2TP/OpenVPN VPN service. Having servers in the United
States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands, Hungary and China,
their network should deliver good connection speeds to most people
around the world.
Because PPTP and L2TP are protocols and not applications, they are
not bound to any one operating system, even though Microsoft played a
major part in their development. As a result, you can make use of the
USAIP service with the standard network connection manager program found
in most any Windows distribution, such as Windows 2000, Windows XP,
Windows Vista or Windows 7, even older Windows systems such as Windows
ME, Windows 98 and Windows 95.
Additionally, the USAIP services may be used in other operating systems as well, such as MAC OS and Linux, which already include VPN
clients within their respective operating systems. The program
effectively tunnels all of your data through this service.
Consequently, not only your web browsing session is anonymous, but all
of your Internet activities are likewise so. This is indispensable for
applications that use other protocols, such as UDP. I used to play
online games using this service, and my ping was higher than many of the
programs listed here can offer.
The free service has unlimited bandwidth, and you can use it for as
long as you wish. However, there is one big catch. They allow you to try
their service for absolutely nothing but disconnect you every seven
minutes to entice you to upgrade to one of their premium packages.
Actually, this caveat sounds a lot worse than it actually is, and we
cannot complain too much because we can, after all, automatically redial
immediately after we have been disconnected. Most of the network
connection programs have an automatic redial function available, so make
good use of it. In many cases being disconnected every 7 minutes can be
unnoticeable, but if you are playing online games frequently, as
I noted earlier, then getting disconnected is going to be very
noticeable! Indeed, I would prefer using this service as a backup to
some of the other services listed on this page.
Here are some of my personal ratings and a few technical points regarding the program:
-
Speed Rating: Fast
-
Anonymity Rating: High
-
Usage Allowance: Unlimited
-
Logging Level: Minimal. They log bandwidth usage and keep them for 48 hours.
-
Server Location(s): USA
 UK  Germany  The Netherlands  China
-
Operating System(s):
-
WOT Rating:
 Unknown.
VPNReactor is a L2TP/PPTP/OpenVPN VPN service similar to USAIP. They currently only have servers in the USA, so speeds may vary.
Most of the points that were mentioned about USAIP apply to this
product too. While the free service also has unlimited bandwidth and
usage, the only major difference is that the VPN connection disconnects
every 30 minutes. Registration is mandatory, and they also require users
to reactivate their accounts monthly. I'm not sure if they support
mobile devices, but in theory they should support any devices that use
PPTP or L2PT.
Here are some of my personal ratings and a few technical points regarding the program:
-
Speed Rating: Fast
-
Anonymity Rating: High
-
Usage Allowance: Unlimited
-
Logging Level: Minimal
-
Server Location(s): USA
-
Operating System(s):
-
WOT Rating: Excellent.
Your Freedom
is a Java-based "sophisticated tunneling solution" offered by
resolution GmbH. Again, being Java-based means that it is truly a
cross-platform solution. The GUI lacks elegance, and it looks plain and
simple, even for Java. On the other hand, they have servers located
worldwide, have support for lots of protocols, for instance, UDP, and
they allow you to play online games using the tunnel.
However, the speeds are on the slow side: 64 kbit/s dial-up speed for
free users. They also limit usage of the proxy tunnel for up to 6 hours
per day or up to 15 hours per week. It's not much at all and that is
why I recommend this service rather as a backup solution. They only keep
logs of your statistical data for accounting purposes.
-
Speed Rating: Slow. 64kbits/s (Dial-up speed).
-
Anonymity Rating: High
-
Usage Allowance: Low. Up to 6 hours per day and up to 15 hours per week.
-
Logging Level:
Minimal. They only keep logs of part of your IP (16-bit or half of your
IP address) and your statistical data for accounting purposes only and
are usually deleted within 4 weeks.
-
Server Location(s): Worldwide
-
Operating System(s):
-
WOT Rating: Excellent.
The xB Browser
(or XeroBank Browser, previously known as TorPark) is a Firefox and Tor
bundle. It was at one time unique compared to the other Tor programs,
offered as an 'all-in-one' solution. You can start surfing anonymously
straight out-of-the-box. Firefox users will feel comfortable using the
XeroBank Browser as it is based on the same browser. Speeds vary as they
do with all Tor connections, but you will find they are usually quite
slow. You may be able to speed things up somewhat by disabling images
(add-on download required).
Here are some technical points regarding the program:
-
Speed Rating: Slow
-
Anonymity Rating: Medium-Low
-
Usage Allowance: Unlimited
-
Logging Level: Unknown. It varies from peer to peer. Some may log you and some may not. Review this page for more info about entry and exit nodes.
-
Server Location(s): Worldwide
-
WOT Rating: Excellent.
Hotspot Shield is a free VPN client based on OpenVPN. Unlike other anonymous surfing options, such as JonDo or Tor, Hotspot Shield encrypts all
of your Internet activities and not just web browsing. This is ideal
for people who want to anonymise other applications without the need to 'proxify' them, which can be a complicated and tedious task.
Anchorfree does not collect any identifiable information about you,
so you can rest assured that your privacy is not compromised. Another
advantage to using this option compared to others is its speed. I was
pleasantly surprised when I first used Hotspot Shield as the speed was
noticeably much faster than Tor and JonDo's free servers combined. It
can load web pages nearly as fast as my unencrypted connection can
even in ideal circumstances.
One catch to the service, however, is that Anchorfree displays
advertisements on every web page that you visit. Luckily, those who have
the AdBlock Plus and NoScript
addon for Firefox won't see ANY adverts at all; but those who use
Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari or any other browsers
without equivalent plug-ins will see them. This isn't
necessarily a bad deal considering what you are getting; namely, a
commercial-like service for the sake of a few adverts (or none if you're
a Firefox/AdBlock Plus/NoScript user). If you really cannot tolerate
the advertisements, then I highly recommend that you use JonDoFox, a
free Firefox profile which includes all the necessary plugins (including
AdBlock Plus and NoScript) for greater anonymity and to block Hotspot
Shield's adverts.
We've already sung the praises about JonDoFox above in the JonDo
review, I really recommend you get it! Hotspot shield can seem a bit
intrusive as it always loads with Windows and cannot be stopped unless
you disable its services. This isn't necessarily a bad thing for fast
computers but if you're using something with minimal resources, then
you'll want to preserve as much RAM as possible. In that case I
would suggest you configure your operating system to disable HotSpot
shield's services, of which there are three in total. If you're a
regular user, this may be an advantage to you!
Now for a few technical points regarding the program. There is no
standalone GUI for the program, but instead it uses a web page
interface. It is very simple to use as it has only two buttons, connect
and disconnect. It is a relatively small download (5258kB), which
includes the necessary OpenVPN components, and it uses around 68Mb of
memory when running. No registration is required. Anchorfree has a
number of high-speed dedicated servers based in different locations in
the United States.
More information about the data that Achorfree does collect can be found at this page. Achorfree also offers a UK version of this popular product called ExpatShield, which can be used to access the popular BBC iPlayer serivce from outside the UK.
Here are some of my personal ratings and a few technical points regarding the program:
-
Speed Rating: Fast
-
Anonymity Rating: High
-
Usage Allowance: Medium. 5 GB per month.
-
Logging Level: Minimal. They log connection times and volume of traffic.
-
Server Location(s): USA UK
-
WOT Rating:
 Good.
AdvTor
is a powerful alternative to the Vidalia bundle and as the name
suggests, it is built with the advanced Tor user in mind. You can
customise pretty much any aspect of your Tor connection, from bandwidth
throttling to manual entry or exit node selection. One of its nicest
features is the ability to force a program to use your Tor
connection! Although that particular feature is in a Beta stage, I've
managed to get various programs to work with it. This feature is very
promising. Try it yourself, force a program such as an instant messaging
client to use Tor without changing its internal proxy settings. This is
great for applications that simply refuse to use your Tor connection.
It's important to note that Tor does not support the UDP protocol, so
programs that use this protocol will send and receive UDP packets
unencrypted over your network connection and untouched by Tor. As far as
I know, there is no way to route UDP packets over the Tor network and
there are no plans to implement such a feature.
The GUI isn't particularly elegant or user-friendly, but for all it
lacks in looks, it makes up for in features. A must have for advanced
Tor users.
Here are some of my personal ratings and a few technical points regarding the program:
-
Speed Rating: Slow (high with custom configuration)
-
Anonymity Rating: Medium-High
-
Usage Allowance: Unlimited
-
Logging Level: Unknown. It varies from peer to peer. Some may log you and some may not. Review this page for more info about entry and exit nodes. (Minimal with custom configuration)
-
Server Location(s): Worldwide
-
WOT Rating: Excellent.
-
8MB of RAM usage when running.
-
There is no installer file. The program is provided in a Zip archive.
-
Since there is no installer, the program is fully portable.
SecurityKiss
is a simple Windows VPN client based on OpenVPN. They have servers
located in Germany, the United States of America, The United Kingdom,
Switzerland and are looking to expand into other locations. Speeds are
relatively fast depending on your location to the nearest server. They
do not cap speeds and use data compression to ensure you get the very
best connection.
There is a 300 MB per day limit for free users, which they insist
will always be free, will never decrease but may increase in the future.
This would work out as roughly 9GB a month, which is more than adequate
for surfing the web or very light to moderate downloading activities.
The GUI is very basic; it features a connect and a disconnect button,
a button to change servers and a button to leave feedback. It also
displays how much of your daily download quota has been used and how
long before a new cycle begins.
SecurityKiss insist they do not keep personally identifiable data
about their users and only log your IP addresses,
connection/disconnection times and traffic volume. They use the 128-bit
Blowfish algorithm to encrypt session data and use 1024-bit RSA
certificates for session keys. Therefore, users can be assured that nobody can eavesdrop on your data.
Here are some of my personal ratings and a few technical points regarding the program:
-
Speed Rating: Fast
-
Anonymity Rating: High
-
Usage Allowance: Medium 300 MB per day
-
Logging Level: Minimal. They only log your IP address, connection/disconnection times and traffic volume which are kept permanently.
-
Server Location(s): USA UK Germany
 Switzerland  Canada
-
WOT Rating: Unknown.
-
2MB of RAM usage when running (+3MB for OpenVPN).
-
Available for both 32-bit and 64-bit Windows.
UltraSurf
is a VPN program for Windows. They have servers located in USA and
collect the following data about you; your IP; the properties of browser
and/or your computer; the number of links you click within a site;
state or country from which you accessed the site; date and time of your
visit; name of your ISP; web page you linked to our site from; and
pages you viewed on the site.
The GUI is very basic with a few standard Windows-like buttons to
access options, help and to exit the program. There are radio buttons
for server selection and that's all that is interesting about the GUI
apart from the server utilisation displays which are helpful in deciding
which server is currently the fastest.
At the moment, users are unable to change the default port (9666) to a
custom one. Users should be aware of any restrictions that prevent the
program from listening on that port before attempting to use it. NB:
Some antivirus programs falsely identify Ultrasurf as a virus/trojan as
it can penetrate through firewalls. This is a false positive. Please be
aware of this if you get any alerts and such.
Here are some of my personal ratings and a few technical points regarding the program:
-
Speed Rating: Fast
-
Anonymity Rating: High
-
Usage Allowance: Unlimited
-
Logging Level:
High. UltraSurf collect the following data; your IP; the properties of
browser and/or your computer; the number of links you click within a
site; state or country from which you accessed the site; date and time
of your visit; name of your ISP; web page you linked to our site from;
and pages you viewed on the site.
-
Server Location(s): USA
-
WOT Rating: Good.
-
5MB of RAM usage when running.
CyberGhost VPN
is a VPN client offered by S.A.D. GmbH, whose servers are based in
Germany. It uses 128-bit AES encryption on all connections to ensure a
high level of anonymity and special data compression techniques to make
speeds faster. With its free service, you get 1 GB a month, which is
more than enough for surfing the web.
It has a clean, intuitive and user-friendly GUI. It supports lots of
languages including English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish.
This is a more complete solution compared with others listed here,
one which is great for everyone. You may have to wait in a queue during
peak times due to the service's popularity. I am very pleased with this
product and believe that it is well worth a good look to
anybody serious about his or her privacy and anonymity.
Here are some of my personal ratings and a few technical points regarding the program:
-
Speed Rating: Fast
-
Anonymity Rating: High
-
Usage Allowance: Low (1 GB a month)
-
Logging Level: Unknown. Awaiting a response from the CyberGhost VPN team.
-
Server Location(s): Germany
-
WOT Rating: Excellent.
-
27MB of RAM usage when running.
-
You must register in order to use this service.
Freegate
is a free proxy offered by Dynamic Internet Technology Inc. This
specific program offers unrestrictred access for Chinese users but
restricted access for all others. The extent of this restriction is
unknown, but I have successfully managed to search Google, load up
YouTube and Facebook without hassle. Obviously, this feature makes it a
great choice for Chinese users.
-
Speed Rating: Medium.
-
Anonymity Rating: Medium.
-
Usage Allowance: Unlimited.
-
Logging Level: Unknown.
-
Server Location(s): Worldwide
-
WOT Rating: Excellent.
-
15 MB of RAM usage when running.
-
Fully Portable.
The (Amnesic) Incognito Live System
is a Debian-based (i.e., Linux) Live CD. It can be downloaded as an ISO
file and then burned to a CD. Then, the user simply boots from the CD,
which now contains everything needed to run the OS in RAM without
installing any of it to the disk. It will automatically configure your
internet connection using your system's ethernet interface. Vidalia is
bundled with the CD, which forces all connections to go
through the Tor network. Absolutely no data is stored when using the
Live CD unless you explicity configure it to do so. However, data may be
stored on a Live USB setup if you like.
The Gnome GUI is very clean and intuitive, as well as easy to use. It
is similar to the popular Debian-based Ubuntu distribution. You get
some essential software such as an instant messaging client (Pidgin), a
secure browser with Tor button (Iceweasel) and an e-mail client (Claws).
Lots of other software packages are also included to help you work
productively, such as OpenOffice.org. Lots of network devices are
supported out-of-the-box but if you require support, visit their forum here.You
do not need a speedy machine in order to use the Live CD as merely 256
MB of RAM or greater is recommended, 128 MB being a bare minimum. One
can't complain too much anyway, given the nice pricetag. :)
Here are some of my personal ratings and a few technical points regarding the program:
-
Speed Rating: Medium
-
Anonymity Rating: High
-
Usage Allowance: Unlimited
-
Logging Level: Unknown. It varies from peer to peer. Some may log you and some may not. Review this page for more info about entry and exit nodes.
-
Server Location(s): Worldwide
-
WOT Rating: Good
Privatix is by design almost identical to (Amnesic) Incognito Live System.
One significant difference is that the default browser configuration is
Firefox with the Tor button. If you want more information on Privatix,
read the Amnesic section as most of the points regarding that product
apply to this one too. Alternatively, you can visit the project's
website here.
Here are some of my personal ratings and a few technical points regarding the program:
-
Speed Rating: Slow
-
Anonymity Rating: Medium-High
-
Usage Allowance: Unlimited
-
Logging Level: Unknown. It varies from peer to peer. Some may log you and some may not. Review this page for more info about entry and exit nodes.
-
Server Location(s): Worldwide
-
WOT Rating: Excellent
Test Your Anonymity
JonDonym's Anontest is a free comprehensive anonymity test. It displays all the
information that sites can obtain from you simply by visiting them.
Lots of sites gather information about you when you visit which is used
to enhance your site experience; however, lots of the information you
give out to them is not needed.
Enter; Anontest. It clearly identifies areas of your configuration
that are not as secure as they should be and gives suggestions as to how
to fix them. Areas are colour coded with easy traffic light colours;
red being highly insecure/bad and green being secure/good. They also
have a number of other neat features for the 'techies':
-
IP Whois
-
Show IP location on a map
-
Traceroute
Curious to know what websites can gather from you just by
visting them? Take the Anontest and see for yourself! It's one of the
most essential tools I use to test anonymity.
NB: This test may falsely identify your IP and User-Agent as
'insecure', but this may not necessarily be the correct conclusion. The
reason it does this is because the test was designed for JonDo+JonDoFox.
Test Your Speed
Speedtest.net
is a free service that allows users to test their Internet connection
speed based on their location. You can use this to test the speed of
your connection when using the products listed above to help you decide
which is the fastest solution for you. Be sure to select the nearest
server to your location for accurate results. You should be aware that
there is generally a trade off between speed and anonymity, especially
with free products.
Noteworthy Add-ons for Firefox Users
HTTPS Everywhere is an add-on for the Firefox browser developed by Electronic Frontier Foundation and supported by The Tor Project ,
and its purpose is to force your browser into making certain websites
to use the secure HTTPS protocol instead of the standard HTTP
protocol. Currently, the number of sites it supports is limited by
predefined rule-sets, the list of which is growing through updates made
periodically. However, custom websites may be added on an ad hoc basis
so that users can access other websites using the HTTPS protocol. By
using this add-on, or by accessing HTTPS websites where possible, you
can automatically increase your level of anonymity. You will find a
thorough and fascinating discussion of this topic on the website where
it is supported, www.eff.org. Here are but a few of the many sites supported by this excellent Firefox extension:
-
Faceboook
-
GMX
-
Google
-
Ixquick
-
Live (Hotmail)
-
Meebo
-
Microsoft
-
Mozilla
-
NY Times
-
PayPal
-
Twitter
-
Washington Post
-
Wikipedia
-
WordPress
NoScript is
a popular and powerful add-on that blocks JavaScript, Java and Adobe
Flash html elements present on most websites. All of these are capable
of revealing your true IP or host address, as well as compromising other
vulnerabilites of your system, even though you may be using a proxy or
VPN. NoScript provides a smartly crafted defense, allowing you
to select which elements you wish to run. NoScript is an excellent,
open-source and well-maintained extension, which provides you with a
broad range of capabilites so that you can take back control of your
surfing experience. If you want to make some easy and automatic settings
for a broad-brush approach to defense or if you want to fine tune
it and tweak the extension for maximum effect, this is the extension you
need to get. With it you can also create a whitelist so that you can
permit, for example, JavaScript to run on any of those sites that must
have it enabled to work properly.
On the other hand, if you watch videos on YouTube, then it is likely
that YouTube is obtaining your true IP address every time you do so,
whether or not you connect with a proxy or VPN. If you really want to
watch a "must see" video safely, the smarter thing to do would be to
download and watch it offline. You can do so with a number of different
programs. You may want to look at some of these options: KeepVid alternatives.
BetterPrivacy is
another good extension to help protect you from a persistent form of
Flash cookie that is more cleverly hidden and dangerous than regular
browser cookies because of the way it is placed so as not to be
removed with normal browser cleaning procedures. These so-called
Super-Cookies are now used pervasively on the web as a means of tracking
users' surfing activities without even making their presence known or
apparent. And, what's more, these cookies NEVER expire! However, with
this addon you can easily and automatically have them removed just as
quickly as they get placed by a website or just as soon as you close
your browser. Sieze the day!
AdBlock Plus
is another popular add-on that blocks adverts and tracking elements on
webpages. In addition to the loss of a snappy and responsive browsing
experience that comes from having too many advertisements choking your
bandwidth and memory, malware from malicious sites often makes its way
into your browser from intrusive advertising practices. However, these
problems can be prevented by this extension because it allows you to
install filters to block forms of html bloat and disreputable domains.
These filters were designed to install painlessly and seemlessly into
the browser's functionality, and there are several different filter
subscriptions to help you keep up-to-date in the never-ending arms race
against malware and other kinds of intrusion.
Anonymous Search Engines
If you are like me, you spend a fair amount of time on the
Web searching. It is a critical function and one of the features that
has allowed the Web to thrive and enrich our computing experience. Its
importance cannot be overstated. At the same time, this pervasiveness
has in no small measure infringed upon our privacy. Privacy is one of
the hallmarks of freedom and one of the liberties we need to protect
vigilantly. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that we not
underestimate the power inherent in the ability to monitor and record
our activities while searching on the Web. The search engines you
utilize will profoundly affect your rights of privacy, both now and in
the future.
Ixquick purports
to be the most private search engine on the Web, and it earned the
first European Privacy Seal. The search policy is plainly laid out and
easy to understand. Simply put, it does not record any of the
individually identifying information normally collected by other search
engines: IP address, user-agent, search history, etc. Yet, it provides
users with comprehensive results and advanced searching features. If you
go to Ixquick's website https://www.ixquick.com/eng/ and
click on the About link, you can find out about its functionality and
philosophy. I was quite impressed with it, and I use it often. Ixquick
also operates another search engine called Start Page, available here: https://www.startpage.com/. Start
Page brings all the power of the Google search functionality to you,
along with Ixquick's additional privacy features, by serving as a proxy
between users and the Google website. Accordingly, "On Startpage the
privacy of Ixquick is combined with the Web search results from Google."
Thus, for those who are used to Google's search results but prefer not
to expose their personal identities or interests to Google's logging and
tracking procedures, Start Page is the best solution. I use Start Page
as my home page on Internet Explorer 9. It has a built-in proxy
function to allow you to visit the search results anonymously via one of
the company's own secure proxies. This provides an additional layer of
anonymity without sacrificing any of the results.
Another outstanding search engine that provides privacy combined with
excellent results is called DuckDuckGo, which you can find here: http://duckduckgo.com/.
The name is rather humourous, I know, and its appearance is perhaps a
bit childlike, but do not let these features fool you. It is private and
powerful. On that linked page you should look carefully toward
the bottom, where you will see a few inconspicuous links, one of which
is shown as "More". Click it and you will see much more indeed about
this search engine's functionality and features, and at the top of that
page is another "More" button, which you may want to check out for
additional information. Like the other two already mentioned, this
search engine prides itself on discretion but delivers much more than
you would expect from its lack of flare and advertisements. I also use
this site for searching, and I am quite satisfied with it. No frills and
no fuss, just anonymity, efficiency and effectiveness. You really need
to check out this ducky yourself!
Anonymous E-mail
Anonymous E-mail
is a truly anonymous e-mail service which uses random remailers of the
mixmaster remailer network. Unfortunately, you cannot receive replies
and track the e-mail. It can take up to 12 hours for the recipient to
receive the message. In order to ensure your anonymity is not
compromised, consider using one of the programs listed above.
Safe-mail
is a secure and anonymous e-mail service. You can define your own
e-mail address with the @safe-mail.net domain. As a free user, you get a
whopping 3 MB of storage, no downloads, no cookies and no ads. It also
includes file storage, secure chat, photo storage, jotter, calender,
your own secure messageboard, spam filters and virus protection. It
works with most browsers and is compatiable with the following
protocols:
Finally, a few tips:
-
If you set a password, don't forget it! It is impossible to retreive it from them.
-
Try to use one of the programs listed above with this service to increase your anonymity.
HushMail
is an anonymous e-mail service. It's very reliable, secure and
completely anonymous. You can define your own e-mail address or generate
one and can choose from one of the following domains;
-
@hushmail.com
-
@hushmail.me
-
@hush.com
-
@hush.ai
-
@mac.hush.com
As a free user, you get a whopping 2 MB of storage! In order to
keep using the service, you must login at least once every 3 weeks.
Finally, a few tips:
-
If you set a password, don't forget it! It is impossible to retreive it from them.
-
Try to use one of the programs listed above with this service to increase your anonymity.
-
Choose a good encryption question and answer to increase anonymity.
10 Minute Mail
is a disposable e-mail service. This service is especially useful for
signups and activations where you do not want to disclose your real
e-mail address. This acts as a good spam prevention method. A random
e-mail is generated and is updated automatically when e-mails arrive.
As the name suggests, the mailbox only lasts for time minutes until
it self destructs. However, if you need to use the mailbox for a little
bit longer, you can request another 10 minutes quite easily and repeat
as many times as required. Highly anonymous as your mail is destroyed
after 10 minutes. You cannot send e-mails using this service.
Yopmail
is a disposable e-mail service. It is a little more sophisticated than
10 Minute Mail and allows you to define your own e-mail address
@yopmail.com or generate a random one. The accounts last for 8 days and
then it expires. Again, useful for signups and activations where you do
not want to disclose your real e-mail address. You can only send e-mails
to other Yopmail users using this service.
A Final Note...
I would suggest that you try to avoid web-based HTTP/CGI proxies.
They are not serious tools for achieving anonymity, but are a great tool
for accessing blocked content. Remember, requests are still sent to
your ISP unencrypted and then on to the proxy server, which you may know
very little about, and then out to the Internet. If we don't know
anything about the host we're sending our data to, how can we be sure we
can trust them? This isn't very anonymous at all, is it? :-)
Services like HideMy*** can be seen as trustworthy, as they have a
good track record in the business of anonymisation and proxies. I can
only recommend 'elite' or 'highly anonymous' HTTP proxies are genuine
solutions. Choose your proxy solution wisely.
Legal Statement
We, members of 'Gizmo Freeware' and 'TechSupportAlert.com', are not
responsible for any damage that these programs may cause to your
computer. We are also not liable for any abuse or misuse of the
aforementioned products by users and it is recommended that users read
the terms and conditions of use for their chosen product. We cannot be
held responsible if you break any laws using these programs, after all,
we just review them and provide links to them. In short, don't do
anything you shouldn't be doing, and you shall surf long and prosper!
The article and the images are the property of TechSupportAlert.com.
Feedback
We really appreciate your feedback, so if you have any criticisms,
ideas, experiences, information or queries regarding the products listed
here or the article then by all means use the comments section below.
Thank you for reading.
Coming Soon...
-
Polippix
-
FoxyProxy
-
I2P
-
Images!
-
BestFreeVPN
-
FreeOpenVPN
-
VPN Steel
-
DemocraKey
-
TorK
Interesting Fact...?
Each of these reviews was written after using the respective program.
Interesting Experiment...?
What if we initially connect to one of the aforementioned services,
and then connect to another service through our initial connection.
Effectively, we would be anonymising our anonymous surfing session! This
sounds like a very good idea if we want to double our level of
anonymity. Unfortunately, this may come at a price, that price is speed.
So far, I've tested this 'theory' with proXPN (proxy #1) and Ultrasurf
(proxy #2) and observed only minimal speed degradation. To make this
work, follow these steps:
-
Connect to proxy #1
-
Check your IP
-
Connect to proxy #2
-
Check your IP
Both IPs should have different values and not your actual IP.
What is actually happening here is that your web browsing session is
being processed through proxy #2 which in turn is being processed
through proxy #1. Try it for yourself and see which mixes you like best. |
