There are lots of reasons folks have for wanting to surf anonymously, ranging from simple paranoia to possibly being murdered by a malevolent foreign government. Whatever the reasons, commercial services that offer anonymity are doing real well. However, one of the best services, JAP is totally free. In fact, JAP is perhaps a little too good. That's why the German Police insisted, in 2004, that a backdoor be put into the product to allow interception of child pornographers. This was done, but subsequently removed as a result of court action by JAP.
An alternative to JAP is a system called Tor. It not only allows anonymous browsing but also anonymous P2P, email, IM, and IRC chat as well. Given the US Navy origin of Tor, the suspicion arises that this system may indeed have a permanent backdoor. However, the source code is now publicly available so that suspicion can perhaps be set aside. More worrying was a raid by German police in September 2006 involving the seizing of some Tor servers in that country. Again, pedophiles were the supposed target, but who really knows.
Whatever the case, both JAP and Tor offer a level of secrecy that is better than many commercial systems, though they are not watertight. Do expect your surfing to slow down because you'll be relayed through a chain of servers, particularly with Tor, which has been ground to a near standstill by BitTorrent users seeking to hide from the RIAA. Note: the latest V5 release of JAP now allows Tor users to use JAP as a software access point.
A recent development is the release of the XeroBank Browser (previously called TorPark), a special version of the Firefox browser configured to work with the free Tor anonymizing service and run directly from a USB flash drive. It's a neat idea; just plug your USB stick into any PC with a USB port, and Firefox V2, set up for secure and private surfing, is automatically launched. While the XeroBank browser is free to use, the XeroBank web site also promotes the use of a subscription based account which allows faster acces speeds a customized version of the software, and possibly also through dedicated servers (still to be verified.) Warning! Some antivirus scanners detect trojan infected code in the XeroBank download. Use jotti.org to verify all downloads, and use with caution.
The most obvious application is internet cafes, public terminals or, indeed, any PC including your own, where you don't want to leave any trace of your private surfing activities. However, what attracts me is not so much the privacy side as the security potential. That's because TorPark creates a secure encrypted connection between the PC you are using and the first Tor server. This allows you to safely transmit information without fear of local interception, which makes it ideal for surfing on open Wi-Fi networks. Previously, secure surfing on such networks required the use of private VPN networks, an option only available to corporates, the well-heeled and the technically savvy. Now, using XeroBank Browser, any surfer can reap the same security benefits for their browsing.
An alternative to XeroBank is OperaTor, which is a portable version of Opera with Tor built in. It's smaller and faster than XeroBank, though Firefox users will feel more comfortable with XeroBank.
Product Details
JAP
Website: http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/index_en.html
Download Link: http://anon.inf.tu-dresden.de/download_en.html
Author: JAP is a software development within the Project Anonymity in the Internet sponsored by the German Research Foundation and the Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology. The Project works closely with the Independent Center for Data Privacy Schleswig-Holstein.
Current version: 00.09.010
Version date: -n/a-
License: Freeware
Download File size: 15,623,168 Bytes
Operating Systems Supported: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista,
Macintosh, Os/2, Linux/Unix
Additional Software Required: Java (downloadable from http://sun.java.com)
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable Version Available: No
Non-English languages supported: German
Other relevant information: None
Tor
Website: http://tor.eff.org/
Download Link: http://www.torproject.org/download.html.en
Author: Tor Project
Current version: 0.1.2.19
Version date: -n/a-
License: BSD Freeware (information on website)
Download file size: 6.38 MB
Operating Systems Supported: Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP/2003 Server/Vista,
Mac OS, Linux/Unix
Additional Software Required: None
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable Version Available: No
Non-English languages supported: None
XeroBank Browser
Website: http://www.xerobank.com/xB_browser.html
Download Link: http://update.xerobank.com/distro/XeroBank/xB-Browser_latest.exe
Author: XeroBank
Current version: 2.0.0.12b
Version date: 03/04/2008
License: Freeware
Download file size: 10.4 MB
Operating Systems Supported: Windows NT and Later
Additional Software Required: None
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable Version Available: Yes
Non-English languages supported: None
OperaTor
Website: http://archetwist.com/en/opera/operator
Download Link: http://archetwist.com/en/opera/operator - direct links are best avoided as new versions make old links redndant.
Author: Arche Twist
Current version: 2.6b
Version date: 05/16/2008
License: Freeware
Download file size: 6.3 MB
Operating Systems Supported: All Windows
Additional Software Required: None, Privoxy and others are included in the zip file and integrated into OperaTor
64 Bit Capable: No
Portable Version Available: Yes, download the zip file and unpack it.
Non-English languages supported: Yes, many