Anonymous web surfing with Android

The Cambridge University's Digital Technology Group (DTG) has released an application for the Android platform that allows users of this platform to surf the net anonymously using The Onion Router, often referred to simply as TOR. This is a free program designed to provide users with anonymous surfing capabilities. This program works on the basis of peer2peer technology, which means that using a connection through a distributed network of servers supported by enthusiasts from all over the world prevents the site from identifying the user's physical position.

This program - the result of the summer DTG project - consists of two parts: TorProxy and Shadow. TorProxy is a Tor client that can be used by various Android applications to connect to a TOR network. Since the built-in Android browser cannot be directly configured to use TorProxy, Shadow is just for this purpose, allowing users to surf the Web anonymously using a mobile device.

More details about the program, including download links and installation information, are available on the DTG TorProxy and Shadow page. TorProxy and Shadow are released under the GPLv2 license.

Jacob Appelbaum, one of Tor’s active contributors, said he doubts TorProxy’s reliability and believes the programs are “not yet ready for full use.” The Onion Coffee Project, which Appelbaum said formed the basis of the TorProxy code, was a research project and was not supported for some time. He believes that the most significant errors Onion Coffee adopted TorProxy.

This situation is not very easy to fix. Appelbaum says: “Writing a secure Tor client is a pretty daring challenge.” He also considers this state of affairs a threat to anonymity and suggests that using a direct port with C looks like a more promising project.

PS This is a translation of my friend who needs an invite to Habr. To whom this translation was interesting, you can read others on his personalblog post