Anonymous Browsing.

[SDS909]

Anyone know of a SOLID anonymous internet browsing product out there? I have tried numerous ones, and all of them seem to stink. Most slow down my browsing by at least 90% in some cases!

I am not into the porn scene, I am strictly doing this because I value my privacy in this world. With the NSA spying going on, potential NSA tapping of blogging and social sites, as cited here:

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...mg19025556.200

I think it is very very important to do what one can to retain a certain level of anonymity on the internet. I would love to hear recomendations of great products to help with these and other privacy matters.

Slowdowns are inevitable ... the Tor network seems to be faster than it use to be (I personally don't have a problem with the speed ... as I value my privacy more). The fact that it switches circuits every 10mins means if you hit a slower circuit it'll only last 10mins. Of course privoxy is needed with tor to block DNS leaks from your browser. You'll also need to configure your browser to use privoxy for FTP & Gopher even though it doesn't handle them, which will break those protocals - The reason being if a site uses a FTP image link ... without your browser config'd this way it will reveal your real IP. So for FTP you'll need to use a dedicated FTP client or another browser that isn't config'd with privoxy/tor.

There's also a nice extension for Firefox to toggle your connection settings to bypass tor with a click of a button ... there are few other extensions available but this is the one I prefer.

I think the anonymity tor provides is excellent.

Ps. You can also run Proxomitron, privoxy and tor in a chain ... but the extra level of filtering will of course add a little more slowdown.

... It's also nice you can torify other apps - Info Link

[SDS909]

Nice tips, thanks!

I have been taking a lot of measures to ensure privacy lately. I think one of the best moves was to cut off my landline phone, and move the house to 100% VOIP service. This pretty much cut off my phone/address data from every online lookup service I have tested.

I have been evaluating Hushmail as a replacement for GoogleMail and Googletalk, after I discovered Google/Hotmail/Yahoo impregnate your email headers with tracking information and your IP, and they datamine your inbox. Hushmail is heavily encrypted, even their technical staff can't see your emails.

For searches I have been using an anonymous googlescraper service that routes searchers through scrambled servers, and wipes out the spying they do.

I switched BACK to Firefox so I could use the cookie scrubbing extensions and other privacy oriented stuff out there that isn't available for IE.

Any other tips, I am all ears.. Afterall, if we don't have our privacy, we might as well have nothing at all!

[aigle]

Proximatron does not do this?

[rdsu]

Arovax SmartHide is on beta stage and seems that will be very nice...

[maddawgz]

I use anonymouse at times......

Hi SDS909,

I'm not really into Hushmail ... I do have an account, and while they do provide a rather neat service with pseudo accounts (although it's a premium feature) ... I handle web forms, signups etc. with a gmail account that's specifically for that ... and other accounts for general *bs* emails to friends that either don't have or don't use an ISP email addy (those emails won't ever contain any confidential info). My email client is setup to filter any web-based email address to (@yahoo , @gmail etc. etc) to the junk folder and automatically deleted after 24hrs, the only account that filters differently is my Wilders account which filters them to a different folder if they get past the spam filters and seem to be legit. I keep my access to gmail web based for two reasons, 1. it masks my IP through the Tor Network and (a firefox extension you'd be interested in Customize Google) which anonymize your google userid and blocks the sending of cookies to google anaylitics [among a host of other features].

While still on the topic of firefox extensions, another I use is Refcontrol (for blocking referrers), No Script, and User Agent Switcher ... I also use Adblock Plus and the filterG filter set to block any annoyances that may get passed privoxy.

Thunderbird (the mail client I use) has a few nice extensions also ... Enigmail/OpenPGP (You need to have something like GnuPG installed to use it - I use KPGP in linux) and Redirect aka bounce.

That's about all I use privacy wise.

@ aigle if you referring to masking your IP ... No it does not. It's just a web filter.

Steve

[SDS909]

Dog, why not just use GoogleScruber? It routes your searches through their server, and "Scrubs" the UID/Cookies/Tracking and other nonsense, and purges the saved data.

http://www.scroogle.org/scraper.html

Also I found if I just block cookies to EVERY site except and enable them for the sites where it is important for me to have them, it removes much of my browsing tracks.

https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/2497/

Thanks, I had forgot about Scroogle, I use to use it all the time (P2K pointed it out to me) ... I even have the scroogle search plugin installed for firefox ... I can't figure out why for the life of me, I stopped using it. Thanks to your reminder ... it's my default once again.

You can find the search bar plugin at http://mycroft.mozdev.org/ = search scroogle.

EDIT: Customize Google - is still applicable - as it also functions with Gmail.

[GlobalForce]

dog,

Good post's! Informative!


GF

BTW ... I didn't include this link above ( http://www.emailprivacy.info/privacy_pgp ) ... Which is a step by step walk through for installing PGP (Freeware version) for Windows and sending Signed and encrypted messages.

You can grab the freeware PGP version here -> http://www.pgpi.org/products/pgp/versions/freeware/ (multiple platforms)

[btman]

I'll stick with Arovax Smarthide, wait for final release. It's pretty sweet lol.

[AZOR]

H im using
www.youhide.com for anonyme browsing
it is not more anonyme for hacking but it helping...

[sweater]

Originally Posted by btman

I'll stick with Arovax Smarthide, wait for final release. It's pretty sweet lol.

I am also waiting for this... hope it'll have free version and will not slow down my surfing... or else better trust my anti-trojan scanner to scrub those spyware cookies.

[securityx]

Originally Posted by AZOR

H im using
www.youhide.com for anonyme browsing
it is not more anonyme for hacking but it helping...

There are literally thousands of these CGI Proxies available for use. If you use one of these a lot, just install one on your own web host (it's free):
http://www.jmarshall.com/tools/cgiproxy/

You can auto-install at:
http://install.xav.com/?p=cgiproxy

These are simple proxies and must be used without Javascript or Java for maximum privacy.

----securityx----

[Seishin]

Read the info contained in here:

http://educate-yourself.org/cn/googl...r07sep05.shtml

[faterider]

Originally Posted by SDS909

Anyone know of a SOLID anonymous internet browsing product out there? I have tried numerous ones, and all of them seem to stink. Most slow down my browsing by at least 90% in some cases! ...
I would love to hear recomendations of great products to help with these and other privacy matters.

In fact I just found what you are asking: https://www.relakks.com It's free till 2006-09-18 for testing.

Basically this is VPN connection that encrypts and anonymizes all traffic - browsing, DNS requests, P2P, IRC, etc. Just connect with them and forget it. Everything that uses internet from this point is encrypted and with new IP address. Based in Sweden and blazingly fast.

I think I finally found what satisfies me.

[tristantzara]

Originally Posted by faterider

In fact I just found what you are asking: https://www.relakks.com It's free till 2006-09-18 for testing.

Basically this is VPN connection that encrypts and anonymizes all traffic - browsing, DNS requests, P2P, IRC, etc. Just connect with them and forget it. Everything that uses internet from this point is encrypted and with new IP address. Based in Sweden and blazingly fast.

I think I finally found what satisfies me.

hi,

i tried ipig from iopus before and that was way too slow. TOR is really fast compared to that. I'm interested in relakks, however i can't get it to work with the firewall. i allowed ip protocol 47 and some ports which where blocked, but to no success at this point. which firewall do you use?

greetings,

[faterider]

Hello tristantzara,

What exactly is the problem - you manage to make VPN connection, but there is no internet or you can't even connect to them?

If it is the first one I think the reason is that Relakks was featured on digg.com and tons of people signed simultaneously. So the guys form Sweden have some problems with the numbers. Even the site was down for some time.

I also normally have some empty attempts (when make connection without internet) but after some tries it starts.

Yea, I just checked their site and voala:

Hi There!
We have been completely overwhelmed by the interest in our services. Whilst we are extremely happy about this, our vpn-servers aren't. Neither is our banking partner. Both are having an extremely hard time keeping up with the interest. This manifests itself in two ways:
Payments are denied for no apparent reason.
Performance on the vpn-servers isn't good enough.
We are working with our partners to solve these matters, but in the meantime we can only ask you to not loose faith - we'll fix the problems.

Thanks for your patience!

Relakks

Otherwise I use Kerio 2.1.5 with most restricted settings allowing only IP 47 in/out to 82.209.168.10.



Regards

[tristantzara]

hi faterider,

thanks for the reply.
well, i manage to connect to them, but using applications like virusupdates or firefox they time out and say they cant connect to server. from the firewall log i think i allowed everything that was blocked, but i have to look into this more. i know that it is some minor detail in the firewall configuration (i use looknstop 2.05p3). if i don't find the mistake i'll ask climenole, he knows my configuration because he helped me so much with it already (thanks again).

greetings,

Edit:
and i have to grant windows explorer direct access. i usually have it blocked and just allow it to start apps which connect...

p.s.
thats what i have to allow basically: (Netbios is not allowed there)

[ESQ_ERRANT]

SDS909 (RE: ANONYMOUS BROWSING)

What I use is a hardware device called "IPHANTOM." You can find the Company, Phantom Technologies, at http://www.iphantom.com/product.html.

The product isn't cheap. It costs $89.00 and there is a monthly charge of $12.95 for a residence. Nonetheless, I prefer it to software programs, such as Anonymizer, which I have tried and which have caused problems for my computer.

The product does work. I have tested it online; and it completely masks your IP as all communications go through Phantom's own servers. Apparently, the Company uses encryption as well. Now, whether Phantom Technologies will forward a record of your surfing habits to third parties, i.e., the federal government, if queried, the Company will probably do so. Read the Company's privacy policy. Still, of all the anonymous surfing products available, that I have read about or have tried out, I find the IPHANTOM device to be the best for my purposes. One, there are no compatibility issues with software, as it is a hardware device which sits between my netgear router and my modem. Two, the product is easy to set up. Three, the device does not noticeably slow down my computer, but I do have broadband cable. With dial-up, there could be problems. Four, the product does appear to do what the Company says it will do -- make you invisible. Five, the support staff is both knowledgeable and readily available via telephone and, I believe, are Americans -- English is spoken with a recognizable accent. And, six, the product appears to hold up very well. I have had it for several months now and I have never had a problem.

Be advised that I have no monetary interest in Phantom Technologies whatsoever. So, please do not construe this reply as a paid advertisement for the product. It is not.

[faterider]

Originally Posted by tristantzara

well, i manage to connect to them, but using applications like virusupdates or firefox they time out and say they cant connect to server.

If you make the connection the problem isn't in your TV Just disconnect and try again till you have internet. It normally takes few attempts to make web flows.

If you are not in very dangerous network you can switch off the firewall for a sec. to see that it doesn't block anything.

and i have to grant windows explorer direct access. i usually have it blocked and just allow it to start apps which connect...

No, you don't have to allow windows explorer any direct access. I didn't do that. Starting from my normal firewall configuration I allowed only IP 47 in/out to 82.209.168.10. I received some connection attempts from the range of 82.209.*.* to svchost and system but I denied and nothing stopped.


Regards

[Climenole]

Hi TristanTzara and the others

About VPN and Look'n'Stop.

1- This is out of the scope of my knowledge ...

2- The best is to start a new thread in the LNS forum about this issue:
I guess Fredéric (the author of LNS) may help you better than me...

3- For the moment you may check this information:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_private_network

and ask for some hints (for the Windows side) in a MS News Group such as

news://microsoft.public.windowsxp.general

(accessible with a NNTP Reader such as
Outlook Express
or 40tude Dialog http://www.40tude.com/dialog/
or MesNews http://www.mesnews.net/index-gb.php
etc.)

Since it's a M$ Stuff I'm pretty sure that NetBios is used with the M$ VPN in W xp... so you must autorised this...

Sorry, I Have no better idea for this moment...

[tristantzara]

Hi guys,

I got it working finally. it wasn't the ruleset's fault, because i tried with internet filtering disabled and it wouldn't work either. So i followed faterider's advice to try again and again and after some time i had web flow. I have to say that i tried to no avail today, same problem, but at least i know the firewall config is working like that..
As for the service itself, i have to say i'm impressed. The speed for surfing isn't much different from my DSL 2000 connection. I also tried various ip test pages and the usual stealth scans and contrary to using a plain proxy, everything was stealthed. Anonymization works, from my email client (the bat) to bittorrent, which ran with 50 % of my usual speed, which actually is quite enough for me.... So i really like it... And if i need to use the laptop with wireless connection more often, i think i will subscribe. That is given they can sort out the server problems with the connection attempts...

Climenole, thanks for the links and your input. Always appreciated

greetings,
tt

Gmail does datamining of private emails?

This doesn't make any sense. I know they keep backups of emails and eventually delete them (which is good - I don't want a lost email due to a failure). I also know they scan emails for ads and it is automated.

Don't all the email services give emails unique IDs? I remember the controversy over Gmail that was a joke. It's arguably the best email service in the industry that doesn't require a direct payment.

I've been beginning to use Gmail for online ordering because the line from Gmail to my computer is encrypted. I cannot say that for any other free email service or Comcast - what I use. I'm powerless in the line from say, Amazon to google...but it's still better than other options.