KickstarterForum.org

[sunsj]

In the arms race against dragnet surveillance of Internet users , startups are mobilizing to build tools to help users combat overreaching governments and overly invasive advertising practices. Tools such as the Blackphone smartphone built by Silent Circle and Geeksphone, which promotes encrypted services for calls, messaging, browsing and cloud storage.

Well here’s another pro-privacy tool in the making: Anonabox is an open source plug and play hardware router designed to encrypt and route all the users’ web traffic via theToranonymizing network, so their browsing and location remains private. No additional software is required for the device to function.

Of course it’s not necessary to have a hardware box to use Tor — the network can be access by downloading the Tor software – but the idea here is to use a dedicated Tor router to simplify the process of anonymizing all your Internet traffic.

Anonabox’s makers say using their dedicated hardware also means it’s more straightforward to run specific applications over Tor which did not support it or required complex configurations to run, such as Skype or Safari.

The project is currently blowing up on Kickstarter — with more than $200,000 $210,000 raised at the time of writing, a day after launch. They were only aiming to pull in $7,500 to help with batch manufacturing costs but evidently underestimated the appetite for the “anti-censorship box” they’ve built.

The Anonabox can be plugged into your existing router via Ethernet and then connects to your computer wirelessly or via another Ethernet cable. Once connected it pushes all web traffic via the Tor network so it’s encrypted and anonymized, without the user having to download and configure any software. (Although it’s worth remembering that Tor itself has had some issues, includingwith its encryptionand with anonymity being compromised .)

Anonabox follows in the footsteps of the iCloak Stik , another pro-privacy Kickstarter project we covered earlier this year . That USB device took an even more scorched earth privacy approach of loading a clean instal every time it’s used — sandboxing all web activity away from the standard OS and harddisk byusing a security hardened OS that boots into RAM and exists only for the duration of the session — as well as routing traffic via Tor (or the I2P anonymizing network).

We also saw a hardware hack back at Disrupt New York to create a Tor-powered Linux box , albeit that was using off the shelf components bought from Radio Shack. Anonabox’s makers started out with off the shelf components for their first gen prototype four years ago but have since moved on to designing their own hardware. The current Kickstarted prototype is the fourth generation of the product.

Anonabox pricing started at $45 to early bird Kickstarter backers. It’s now stepped up to $51 or more. Its makers are aiming to ship to backers in January.

[tristannyc]

Seems like a linux install off a USB key. Interesting to say the least, although I have to admit I don;t believe anything plugged into an internet connection can be safe