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The Electronic Frontier Foundation's release of Torpark, a modified version of the Firefox browser that surfs the Internet in a secure and portable way.
It is secure because Torpark encrypts traffic between the Tor routers operated by the EFF and the browser, and portable due to the small footprint of the utility allowing it to be placed on a USB flash drive.
Torpark became newsworthy after US Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told the Senate Banking Committee that ISPs need to be required to retain data about their customers' online activities for two years.
Gonzales invoked the need to combat child pornography, and the FBI also wants this information to uncover terrorist plots.
The Torpark browser creates a connection between the PC it is plugged into and a group of routers that comprise the Tor network.
To a destination website, the IP address appears to come from Tor and not the user's PC. That IP address changes from time to time to further frustrate efforts to track the user.
BBC News carried a statement from the group behind Torpark about the technology, including a significant caveat:
"We live in a time where acquisition technologies are cherry picking and collating every aspect of our online lives," said Oxblood Ruffin, one of the founders of Hacktivismo, in a statement announcing Torpark.
Mr Ruffin was at pains to point out that the anonymising abilities of Torpark had its limitations. Data travelling between the websites people look at and the Tor network is unencrypted and it could be possible to identify users if they visit sites that do not encrypt login sessions.
Plenty of legitimate needs for online privacy exist. People who are in countries where accessing information about democracy and human rights is forbidden wish to avoid persecution.
Others may wish to research medical conditions without being attached to and possibly stigmatized by being associated with those conditions.
Or they may simply want to explore information through a computer the same way they would read a book: without someone standing over their shoulder, taking copious notes on what they read.
Despite Torpark's tradeoff of speed for anonymity, it may find a new wave of fans now.
About
the Author:
David Utter is a business and technology writer with WebProNews.
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