Web-based Anonymizer Discontinued

RobertB-DC writes "With no fanfare, and apparently no outcry from the privacy community, Anonymizer Inc. discontinued its web-based Private Surfing service effective June 20, 2007. No reason was given, either on the Anonymizer web site or on founder Lance Cottrell's privacy blog. Private Surfing customers are now required to download a anonymizing client that handles all TCP traffic, but the program is Windows-only (with Vista support still a work-in-progress). And of course it's closed-source, which means it has few advantages over several other alternatives."

no loss

[batray]

I have blocked anoymizer access to my BBS for several years. It was only used by abusive posters to block their identity.

You have to wonder...

[NeverVotedBush]

With the other posts here about the FBI spyware, the possibility of government back doors in the various AV products, etc, maybe they decided to fold and close the doors instead of open mandated holes? Pure guessing but if the NSA/FBI/whoever went to them and said open this up for us, aplace like Anonymizer, founded on privacy, might not be able to be as morally flexible as the AV vendors who are looking for "viruses" and "spyware".

Re:Child Pornography and Terrorism

[sokoban]

it makes it harder for sickos to do what sickos do.

Doubtful. There are so many ways to surf and do whatever anonymously. I guess this just means they need to learn a little bit more about the internet before engaging in illegal acts.

Re:Child Pornography and Terrorism

[The Master Control P]

The Internet is a tool. Just like cars are tools, guns are tools, and Zyklon-B is a chemical tool. Tools have no moral status; They do neither right nor wrong. What people do with tools is what is right or wrong.

The solution to terrorists and pedophiles abusing the 'Net is to hunt down and kill the terrorists and pedophiles, not harm the 'Net.

never was the best solution

[delirium of disorder]

Anyone relying on a one hop proxy to be anonymous is fooling themselves. You need an anonymity network that doesn't rely on trusting any host and that cannot be blocked without finding out who every host is. What if everyone who used anonymity services also provided such service? Think of how much better the whole system would work if it were p2p! Please install your tor server [eff.org] today.

Re:Child Pornography and Terrorism

[Great_Geek]

You are exactly right! All those privacy nuts just don't understand that only terrorists and pedophiles hide behind anonymous comunications. In the name of "War on horror-de-jour", we must immediately ban all forms of anonyumous communication:

• before you can mail a letter, your identity must be authenticated by biometrics and the complete content of the letter entered into "The System" for later analysis

• all telephone calls will also require biometric authentication

• all walkie-talkies will have individual serial numbers, and the serial number must be transmitted every second. Since this is serious security, the serial number and the transmission hardware must be tamper-prove - expensive, but no amount of money is too much where security is concerned

• Since terrorists can use strings to connect tin cans to make communication devices, possession of any can means life imprisionment at Gitmo.

• Historically, many annonymous notes have been written on paper. We must institute a new system where paper is only available to authorised government agents; illegial possession of paper is also grounds for shippment to Gitmo.

Re:Really stupid question here...

[mikelieman]

YOU JUST WANT TO BE ANONYMOUS.

The flaw is that you're assuming that a desire to be anonymous means you have a REASON to be anonymous.

Re:no loss

[bcat24]

Freedom of speech only goes so far. You can say whatever you want on your own server, but I have no obligation to allow you to say it on *my* server.

when it comes to politics... (general thoughts)

[Anonymous Coward]

...all nations are restricted now, and all governments are in the big brother business. That's the overall general trend and it shows *no* signs of slowing down any.

If anyone doubts that, just think about a few things-are any nations going out of their way to pull monitoring cameras, or is the trend to keep installing more and more, even in the so called "free" nations? How about official eavesdropping and data retention laws for ISPs and so on? Are you feeling lucky with corporate data mining from anyplace, or are all of them complete fucktards about gobbling up all the data they can scrounge? And then "sharing" with the local regime/council/government/ruling class overlords? Are there any nations which haven't jumped on the "terrorism" bandwagon to excuse passing more restrictive laws and for increasing their so called "security" budgets?

The bottom line is, it doesn't matter where you live, if you aren't concerned over voicing your opinion, you aren't paying attention or you have a hidden suicidal death wish you are in psychological denial over or you have never read one history book.

  Sure, a lot of places you still can talk or write-within some restrictions, but eventually your words may come back to haunt you.

    You look back in history it's the same story over and over again, no matter how "cool" governments are, or started out as, no matter how "popular" with "the people", eventually ALL of them have gone through a dictatorial stage and either totally collapsed, or partially collapsed then went through a series of (usually worse) dictatorships. And, again speaking historically, events can change "your" local reality in the space of one day. One single day,. one event is all it takes to completely change things. Some archduke gets whacked. A big legislature building burns down, and a patsy is blamed for it. A very popular young president, then his brother, same thing, whacked, patsies picked up. Some planes hit some ships in a tropical island port. Some other planes hit some buildings. Some subway cars and buses explode. Some insane and too brave for reality idealist stands in front of a tank. A few colonels one night decide to "regime change" locally. A dictator gets sick, leaves the nation to get medical care, a firebrand cleric flies in and takes over. A ruler and his advisors decides to lie about attacks on destroyers, the big lie stands for fourty years.

And so on. Stuff happens. Politics is always chancy. And no, anyone "you", you don't live in a "free" country, although you might not live in one of the more restricted at this point in time countries. The *scale* is the only variable, and history shows us that variables are just that and can and often do change with no notice to you.

    What you thought was safe and free political speech yesterday is now "terrorist hate speech" or some other boggey man phrase they come up with, and you're on the shitlist record for it. Several years ago did you donate some spare change, a few bucks, to some charity? Whoops, now you are on some watch list and could be arrested for aiding the enemy, whoops, merely "detained"...........

Reality is, politics and smugness shouldn't go together.

Re:Child Pornography and Terrorism

[evought]

Some "tools" are inherently immoral. Chemical weapons such as nerve agents strke me as a unambigious example since there is no legitimate use of these kind of weapons. A weapons grade ebola virus would be another example. If you can't do anything "right" with a so-called "tool" then the creation, use and even the existance of said "tool" are all "wrong".

Nerve agents? I have several cans under my sink. Organic phosphates (cholinesterase inhibitors) were invented to kill people. They are now, quite legitimately, used to kill bugs. I tend to use them as a tool of last resort (preferring Taro powder, et al), but they are certainly tools. There a number of chemical weapons in this category. Dynamite was *not* invented to kill people, but look where it has gotten us.

The problem is while agreeing wholly with your sentiment, in practice drawing the line is very hard. Weaponized forms of super-bugs I think is an unambiguous no-no, but *research* along that line is quite necessary, at the least so that someone has a chance of countering a bio-weapon when one is let loose. How do you loosen the cork without letting the genie out? Even relatively small labs now have the potential ability to create their own customized bugs and knowledge is in general circulation, so it is already too late to entirely prevent a future problem. Only mitigation is left.

It is unfortunate because, in many cases, I think we do need to put the breaks on a bit. Our track record with many kinds of meddling is poor, and we are doing so at an increasing rate; so quickly we cannot adequately measure effects to better target our meddling. In practice, however, stopping the train is not easy.

Re:Really stupid question here...

[magores]

I live in China. I can't see bbc, wikipedia, or blogspot without proxies.

Why anonymous? See the first sentence of my post.

/my reasons good enough for you?

Re:Really stupid question here...

[lena_10326]

It's too bad you were modded down, as you have a really good question. "Why do we need privacy?" is worth asking.

I just think it's a question people ought to think about instead of bitch about. I also wanted to fish for some unique answers.

I don't have to worry about whether someone in IT noticed that Google search for "guns" the other day, or if they're going to take it the wrong way.

I think that's unique enough. Heh. I think your other question touches something more abstract about human nature. People tend to assume Y if you searched on X, but your reason may have been Z, so by keeping your search private you avoid the problem entirely. Ex: you surfed for machine guns, so your boss thinks you're going to shootup the office, but you're actually writing a gun smuggling novel in your spare time.

You also could cause yourself to fall under moral discrimination if your boss knew your interests without your providing them. Boss = anti-abortion, You = pro-abortion, and after searching for an abortion clinic, your progress reports mysteriously tank and you have no idea why. You could also run into problems if your boss knew you were searching Monster for "unix+system+administrator", which coincidently is your job title.

Don't Believe It

[Anonymous Coward]

I live in China. I can't see bbc, wikipedia, or blogspot without proxies.

Why anonymous? See the first sentence of my post. /my reasons good enough for you?

So, what do you want, a fucking medal? Aren't you just the saviour putting their head above the parapet. Look, buddy. I don't care. There's plenty of shit on this side of the fence, I assure you. Most of what you see is commercial bullshit. For all the wealth and freedom there's plenty of people living in poverty and suffering from bad government. The West just hides it better. It's what some people call a con.

Read the Tao, marry a girl and have your one child family, and kiss Chairman Moa's ass and thank the Communist party for keeping you free of swindlers and liars. You think you're fucking special? You're not. Things are as they are. It could be no other way. You want more? You want freedom? Or is it that you're just another whiny selfish bastard who can't deal with reality? No, don't tell me. I already know the answer to that one.

Re:never was the best solution

[mollymoo]

The vast majority of so called "child porn" consists of pictures taken by teens of either themselves or their partners. Pictures take consensually. Pictures taken by minors, not creepy old people.

What is the source for that assertion?

If you want to crack down on rape, go ahead, but stop suppressing the free speech rights of young people!

Children are (rightly) considered to be unable to make informed choices due to their lack of knowledge and experience about the world and are thus not considered to be fully responsible for their actions. I'm sure you'd agree that's true of a 5 year old and also agree that a (mentally competent) 30 year old should be held responsible for their actions. Rights without responsibility would be a recipe for disaster, so those with limited responsibility get limited rights. Feel free to debate where the line between child and adult should be, but there really does need to be a line. If you think that line is set too high, don't forget that the people drawing that line all have first-hand experience of being teenagers; they know how much they thought they knew and how little they really knew about life back then.