Ever since the turn of the millennium, technology has become more and more integrated within our daily lives. Things we used to do by hand, are now being done autonomously, without the need for our intervention. Snail mail turned to email, social gatherings became social media, theatres turning into Netflix and Hulu, etc. Without a doubt our lives have been improved by the advent of the internet and all that it encompasses.
Of course, as with everything great, there are problems. One of these is our privacy. Although it us (mostly) illegal for our governments to spy on us, they do it nevertheless. Wiretapping now not only means our phone calls being recorded, but sophisticated malware, interception technology and an array of other methods, are used to track and observe everything we do online.
Here I will show you a few ways you can surf the web anonymously and away from the prying eyes of your ISP and Governments.
This list is in no particular order and contains some other security/privacy based services that may be of interest, such as trustless instant messaging, peer-to-peer file sharing, peer-to-peer email and social networks.
- Paid VPNs – A VPN (Virtual Private Network) is a method of anonymization that tunnels your own connection through another network, effectively hiding your own IP address from the sites you visit and from your own ISP. Usually VPN providers have their own software that they distribute with a subscription to their services, but sometimes they will just rely on OpenVPN. When using a VPN service, always make sure you check out their privacy policy, terms of service, and make sure they don’t keep logs. It is also a good idea to check out reviews on reddit or a similar site to see if there have been any issues with them in the past. I can personally highly recommend 2 paid ones with great service. The first is PrivateInternetAccess and the second is Mullvad. Both accept Bitcoin, and both have exceptional service.
- TOR Browser Bundle – Tor is free portable software with an open network. It helps you defend against network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis. Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of relays run by volunteers all around the world: it prevents somebody watching your Internet connection from learning what sites you visit, and it prevents the sites you visit from learning your physical location.
- I2P Network – I2P is an anonymizing network, offering a simple layer that identity-sensitive applications can use to securely communicate. All data is wrapped with several layers of encryption, and the network is both distributed and dynamic, with no trusted parties. Many applications are available that interface with I2P, including mail, file sharing, IRC chat and others.
- Freenet – Freenet is free software which lets you anonymously share files, browse and publish “freesites” (web sites accessible only through Freenet) and chat on forums, without fear of censorship. Freenet is decentralized to make it less vulnerable to attack, and if used in “darknet” mode, where users only connect to their friends, is very difficult to detect. Warning: Due to the way this specific network is set up, it is very possible to come across offensive, cruel and abhorrent material. While it is great for anonymity, I find it a very crude and vile system. Use with discretion.
- ZeroNet – ZeroNet uses cryptography (Bitcoin library) and BitTorrent DHT to build a distributed censorship-resistant network. Users can publish static or dynamic sites / applications into ZeroNet and visitors can choose to also serve the application/site. All traffic can also be routed through TOR.
- OpenNIC DNS Services – OpenNIC is an alternative DNS provider that is open and democratic, with a focus on security and freedom. OpenNIC allows access to an expanding range of new TLDs for you to visit and register as well as all the ones you already do, for free. That means free domain names folks!
- Demonsaw – Demonsaw is a new type of information sharing application that is designed to protect your anonymity and hide what you’re sharing. Your IP address is never revealed to the world. Share whatever you want, with whomever you want, without fear. It takes the best features from centralized storage, like Dropbox, and decentralized applications, like BitTorrent, and merges them into a hybrid information sharing application.
- qTox – qTox is easy-to-use software that connects you with friends and family without anyone else listening in. It is like p2p jabber or skype on steroids.
- Bitmessage – Bitmessage is a P2P communications protocol used to send encrypted messages to another person or to many subscribers. It is decentralized and trustless, meaning that you need-not inherently trust any entities like root certificate authorities. It uses strong authentication which means that the sender of a message cannot be spoofed, and it aims to hide “non-content” data, like the sender and receiver of messages, from passive eavesdroppers like those running warrantless wiretapping programs.
- Lantern – Allows you to give or get access to the internet through other users around the world connected by a trust-based peer-to-peer network.
- VPNgate – A free worldwide peer-based VPN provider and client
- ProtonMail – Privacy-based email provider. Free and includes a nice amount of free storage for email, unlike many other providers.
- RetroShare – An open source, private and secure decentralized communication system. It lets you to securely chat, share photos, videos, and more, using OpenPGP to authenticate peers and OpenSSL to encrypt all communication.
- OnionCat – OnionCat creates a transparent IPv6 layer on top of TOR and i2p’s hidden services. It allows users to anonymously access Internet services. It transmits any kind of IPv6-based data transparently through the networks on a location hidden basis.
So there you have it! This list will get updated as I find/discover more. Every person has the right to privacy and freedom in life and on the web. If you know of any that should be listed here, please feel free to comment!