Current Event 5
http://www.newsfactor.com/news/New-Browser-Lets-Web-Surfers-Hide/story.xhtml?story_id=11200AAJH5J4
September 21, 2006
by Jay Wrolstad
A new browser called Torpark allows users to browse the internet without being traced. The group Hacktivismo has modified Mozilla's Firefox browser to run through a network called TOR (The Onion Network). The browser is free and can be stored and/or run from a USB memory stick. According to Hacktivismo, "Torpark uses a series of servers in the Onion Router network to change an IP address seen by the Web site every few minutes to prevent "eavesdropping" and hide the source of an Internet request." For example, someone on the Web from a home PC in Ghana may appear to be using a university computer in Germany.
This affects anyone who downloads the Torpark browser. It also affects the government because it makes it even harder to track people if they don't know their IP address.
The ethical issue addressed is whether or not surfing the Web without being traced should be allowed, and whether or not a "fake" address should be created when someone tries to view your IP address.
The impact to society is people can now do what they want to on the Internet without someone tracing every page they view.
This can be a good thing and a bad thing. It is good for people who just want to keep their life private. It is bad because people who are doing illegal things online (such as child pornography) can now do what they want without being traced. The authorities will have to find another way to track those people other than by using their IP address.
September 21, 2006
by Jay Wrolstad
A new browser called Torpark allows users to browse the internet without being traced. The group Hacktivismo has modified Mozilla's Firefox browser to run through a network called TOR (The Onion Network). The browser is free and can be stored and/or run from a USB memory stick. According to Hacktivismo, "Torpark uses a series of servers in the Onion Router network to change an IP address seen by the Web site every few minutes to prevent "eavesdropping" and hide the source of an Internet request." For example, someone on the Web from a home PC in Ghana may appear to be using a university computer in Germany.
This affects anyone who downloads the Torpark browser. It also affects the government because it makes it even harder to track people if they don't know their IP address.
The ethical issue addressed is whether or not surfing the Web without being traced should be allowed, and whether or not a "fake" address should be created when someone tries to view your IP address.
The impact to society is people can now do what they want to on the Internet without someone tracing every page they view.
This can be a good thing and a bad thing. It is good for people who just want to keep their life private. It is bad because people who are doing illegal things online (such as child pornography) can now do what they want without being traced. The authorities will have to find another way to track those people other than by using their IP address.
posted by Emily @ 3:21 PM
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