Security upgrade for ‘anonymity network’

A LACK of internet freedom in India, China and Thailand has sparked a revamp of an online anonymity network.

The Tor system masks a user’s IP address by routing data packets through three servers chosen at random from a dedicated group of 1000. Although the packets cannot be traced, governments can find the dedicated servers, since they are publicly listed on the internet, and shut them down.

At a hackers’ conference last week, Tor co-founder Roger Dingledine outlined software that can turn any home computer into a Tor server. Under the new set-up, data is routed through any three of these unlisted home computers, but officials looking online will only find the IP addresses of the three nearest them, making it near impossible to tell whose servers are routing the “dissident” data.