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Wednesday, February 10, 2016

New Executive Director Talks About Online Anonymity Tor

A core team of Tor Project employees mingled with Berlin cypherpunk underground at a secret location on New Year’s Eve 2015. There was one person missing: Shari Steele, their new executive director who was publicly introduced few days earlier with much fanfare at the hacker’s oldest gathering: The annual Chaos Communications Congress in Hamburg.

Steele says that’s the way she work and will continue to work like that for Tor. Her former colleagues also confirmed that she loves to work behind the scenes and is quite effective in doing so. 

Steele was the executive director of Electronic Frontier Foundation for 15 years before coming Tor and it was her decision as the head of EFF in 2004 to take Tor under the company’s wing. That is the reason Tor exists in its current shape today. However, she does not take any credit for that and it earned her the loyalty of Tor employees and devotees. 

The Tor online anonymity network is a software suite designed for online anonymity and censorship circumvention. It was earlier called The Onion Router as it users maintains online anonymity by disguising their online traffic under the layers of relays just like an onion. 

Even though Tor gets around 2 million users daily, it has faced trouble while gaining traction with people associating its online anonymity features with criminal activity and child abuse. 

For example, Cryptowall, a website which accesses and encrypts files on a victim’s computer and only releases them after a payment of ransom, is the first to use Tor to host such sites where the criminals demand payment. James Comey, the FBI director who has campaigned to make automatic encryption illegal for a long time says that those sites give cyber criminals an extra layer of online anonymity making them even more difficult to track.

Tor has continuously struggled with to disassociate itself from the outrageous users of online anonymity. It makes the case for journalists, law enforcement, whistleblowers, etc. It even started as a US Naval Research Laboratory project in 2002. 

According to Steele, Tor staffs are generally “freedom fighters” as they desperately care about the technology and what it means to the world. She also added that they love the product and the organization, even though it has not supported them some times and they have not been able to depend on the organization. 

One of the biggest concerns for staff is its funding model. Tor gets money from US government and many are concerned that a single source of money can damage its credibility and make it more vulnerable. Most of the staff feels that it should look for other sources. 

Steele also agrees that Tor’s funding model is quite unusual. For a software suite like Tor that promotes itself of government circumvention, but gets funding entirely from US government is not good. Steele mentioned that Tor is open to other funding resources and will look to explore many of them in near future. 

Even though Tor is registered as a non-profit organization, it failed to get any significant money from individuals, organizations, corporate donors, etc. Steele is aware of that and briefly spoke about it during Tor’s recent keynote speech to 3,500 people attending the event. She has introduced a funding drive raising $170,000 till now and looking for more to keep up the ongoing work in the organization, which is important for maintaining online anonymity of its user base.

Visit http://internet-anonymity.com/ to read more about online anonymity.

Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Internet Anonymity: How To Be Anonymous Online

Internet anonymity is a precious thing that you need to think about if you want to be safe online. This is especially important as there are often times when you might have to bear with your IP address, email information or other reports being used here. It is not going to be too hard to keep your Internet anonymity going if you use a few tips.

Use Incognito Features On Browsers


You can start by using the incognito features on your browsers. Private browsing settings are used on major web browsers like Chrome and Firefox to keep sites from storing cookies onto your browsers. Your browsing history will not be listed in a browser when this setting is active either. When used properly, it should be easy for you to stay private online without worrying about your information being stolen.



Use DEAs


Disposable Email Addresses, or DEAs, can also help you maintain Internet anonymity. You can use Mailinator or Guerrilla Mail to get a temporary email address that you can use when sending information out there. You can use this for a one-time email that you want to send to someone.

Try Tor or VPN


The Onion Router (Tor) can also be used for your Internet anonymity needs. This will connect to your Firefox browser and adds a few layers of protection over your identity so it will stay concealed for as long as possible. VPN like TorGuard uses a disguised IP address that also links to a remote IP. This allows you to work under an IP and other source that is different from what you might be normally used to handling.

Keep Location Data Off


Some programs, particularly ones on mobile devices, can identify your location based on the Wi-Fi or IP connection you are on. Any GPS functions on a mobile device may also be used here. You can maintain your Internet anonymity by going to a privacy section on your browser and choosing to stop having your location tracked. This may limit a few functions or features within your browser but this can ensure that your specific location cannot be identified by others that you do not want to be contacted by.

Review Your Plug-Ins


The plug-ins that your browsers might gather over time can end up causing people to take a look at what’s inside your computer. You must go into the settings feature on any browser you have and then reconfigure your plug-ins based on what is going to access your computer at a given time. Everything must be checked based on what is active and how data will be shared. You can choose to block particular plug-ins that you feel might end up taking your data and make it more visible and easier for others to take in.




You have to be careful when getting your Internet anonymity preserved. Be certain that you are careful with what you do online and always use the right tools or options to keep your data in check.

To read more about Internet Anonymity, visit here http://internet-anonymity.com/.
 
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