Just signing on poses risks to your privacy, whether you want to share information about a shady company practice anonymously or you just want to check the weather.
Two prominent heavyweights in the internet privacy space teamed together this week to launch a super-private browser that would, in their words, “make life harder for those who collect data from you.”
The Tor Project, founded in the 1990s with a commitment to the straightforward principle that “Internet users should have private access to an uncensored web,” collaborated with Mullvad VPN, a highly regarded service based in Sweden where providers are legally protected from being required to collect traffic-related data. The result is the Mullvad browser, which is free and available for download right away.
“Today’s mass surveillance is absurd,” stated Jan Jonsson, CEO of Mullvad VPN, in a statement posted Monday. “We want to free the internet from mass surveillance.”
According to Jonsson, merely using any virtual private network will not be enough. Users require a reliable VPN in addition to “a privacy-focused browser” that is at least as excellent as the Tor Project.
Most browsers allow for the mining of enormous volumes of data. The Tor browser “is the best in the field of privacy-focused browsers,” Mullvad VPN claimed in a press release this week. “That’s why we got in touch with them,”
Tor has long been the standard method for anonymous online browsing. Although Tor has a reputation for hosting unsavory and criminal activity, such as the distribution of child pornography and financial scams, it also serves an invaluable role as a refuge for dissidents, activists, journalists, whistleblowers, and crime victims who require a strong veil of privacy for extremely sensitive online communications.
However, even though Tor is deemed safe and secure, data must still transit via public relays. Data would remain safe, but the user’s ISP may identify Tor access, which, rightly or unfairly, might raise concerns about suspected illegal activities.
Speed, the ability to impersonate a location and escape political censorship or geographical content banning, and the protection of public wifi connections are advantages of VPNs over Tor. But in contrast to Tor, which is very safe because to its decentralized structure, VPNs depend on the reliability of the VPN provider for maximum security.
The most advantageous Tor capabilities and reliable VPNs will be used by the Mullvad browser.
By default, it runs in private mode. Cache and history are not monitored, and no cookies are retained. Strong protection against fingerprinting is offered. In other words, it lessens the quantity of computer-identifying features that aid trackers in identifying users. Data that might ordinarily expose identifying characteristics, such as the kind of browser, installed extensions or apps, and connected devices, is concealed by Mullvad.
Although the Tor browser occasionally suffers from poor connection rates, Mullvad ought to function at a satisfactory rate.
The company’s VPN may be utilized without the Mullvad browser. Users are recommended to investigate the reliability of potential VPNs.
“Creating this browser with Mullvad is about giving people more privacy options for everyday browsing and challenging the current business model of exploitation of people’s behavioral data,” stated Isabela Fernandes, executive director of The Tor Project.
“When we collaborate, we want to drive change and raise people’s awareness of the fact that digital rights are human rights,” she explained.
