Today I attended a lecture on privacy given by Les Seagraves, Chief Privacy Officer at Earthlink. During the Q&A, I asked him if he had noticed a rise in the usage of anonymization tools like TOR. He replied that he had noticed a rise in the use of tools like TOR, and attributed the growing popularity to customer’s increasing concerns for privacy.
I’ve written before about TOR–a means of accessing the Internet anonymously. Whereas typical web browsing can be easily tracked by Internet Service Providers or governments, TOR sends traffic through a random, encrypted mesh of routers so that data is very difficult to track. Until now, TOR has required some technical know-how to set up. However, a new web browser, Torpark, has made anonymous web browsing easy and transparent.
Torpark is a modified version of the excellent Firefox web browser. It has TOR technology built into it so all you have to do is use Torpark to browse the web and you will do so anonymously. Plus, Torpark doesn’t need to have components installed on a computer, so it can be stored and run from a USB key at public kiosks. Below is a screenshot of Torpark accessing the Hidden Wiki, a web page that can only be accessed through the TOR network. As of now, Torpark only runs on Windows.
