Pirate Bay's anonymity service enters beta testing

By Liz Tay on Jul 23, 2009 10:31 AM
Filed under Telco/ISP

Filters powerless against IPREDator.

Virtual Private Network (VPN) service IPREDator has opened its doors to beta testers this week.

Operated by the developers of popular file sharing site The Pirate Bay, the service allows subscribers to access the Internet anonymously.

Web surfers typically connect to the Internet via an Internet Service Provider (ISP), which assigns each user a unique, identifying IP address.

The IP address is appended onto any network traffic to and from a user's computer. Online transactions including banking, e-mail and search engine queries may thus be traceable.

With the principle that "the network is under our control, not theirs", IPREDator grants online anonymity by substituting a user's IP address with a new address.

Once connected to IPREDator via a 128-bit encrypted VPN tunnel, users' network traffic is routed through the new address, so no further information is relayed to the ISP.

Besides providing anonymity, the new address also allows users to bypass ISP-defined limitations, which could include Senator Conroy's proposed ISP-level Internet filter.

Other services such as Torrent Freedom, Perfect Privacy and Witopia also offer personal VPNs for users who require privacy, want to access overseas content, or who need access to information within censored areas such as China's "Great Firewall".

However because IPREDator is incorporated in Sweden, it expects to provide greater security than its competitors. Swedish law does not require the company to surrender its users' information unless conviction is expected to result in at least two years imprisonment.

Furthermore, IPREDator claims to store no information about its subscribers' Internet activity, so it can only surrender information that users provide during subscription.

In an e-mail to pre-registered beta testers, the company claimed:

"IPREDator does not store any personal details about its clients.

"IPREDator does not store any traffic habits you might have. IPREDator is the key to a free internet in the renaissance of censorship!"

The service currently is only offered to IPREDator's 180,000 registered beta testers and costs 149 Swedish kronors (AUD$24) for a three-month subscription.

It is expected to accept new customers only when beta testing is completed but has not released information about when this is likely to happen.

Pirate Bay's anonymity service enters beta testing

9 comments in this discussion

"Thanks for the background data Fausty, gives us some basis to further research Ipredator. I think there will be a slather of "quasi VPN" services and opportunists spring up along with genuine ..."

By Maxxi

Tags

ipredator, pirate, bay, internet, filter, green, dam, torrent, freedom, perfect, privacy

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Comments: 9

iprental Jul 24, 2009 5:32 AM	IPRental.com has been providing a 256bit tunnel for some time, using all residential USA IP addresses, no limitations on bandwidth.
Fausty Jul 24, 2009 6:42 AM	With all due respect, there's a couple of massive problems with the so-called "Ipredator" VPN service: 1. It is just a rebranded version of Relakks, which has not been improved or updated since 2006 - and which shut down for weeks last fall with no explanation whatsoever. Why is TPB not being honest about what "Ipredator" is? Detailed confirmation available here: http://www.cultureghost.org/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=2699 2. Relakks uses 128 bit pptp - which is both woefully inadequate keylength (and was cracked with a home PC years ago), and a proprietary "encryption" framework that is closed and impossible to verify as free of backdoors. The pptp framework also 'leaks' DNS information during connections, and has severe speed/throughput constraints. 3. Ipredator/Relakks has already been caught red-handed lying about their policies regarding "retaining" customer information. They have refused, thus far, to explain the discrepancy - preferring apparently to hide behind their "press representatives" instead of speaking honestly to the community. Details here: http://www.cultureghost.org/viewtopic.php?p=5497#p5497 4. Ipredator claims to be "more secure" because they are located in cosy Sweden - however Sweden just convicted TPB in a shoddy criminal trial using very thin evidence against them. Many legitimate privacy companies are based in the EU, which has well-established legislative framework protecting customer privacy. For those of us who actually don't keep reverse-matchable customer usage records, the question of being "forced to turn over records" is entirely moot in any case - making it baffling why Ipredator/Relakks brags about this "feature" of Swedish law in the first place. 5. Ipredator/Relakks has never clarified who owns, runs, and is responsible for this "privacy network" they run. Without knowing this, how can anyone make an informed judgment on whether they are reliable? All we have to go on is the words they put in their cute press releases - and even those words have been shown to be riddled with untruths. There is simply no way to "trust" a network security company that has already been caught lying about their technology, lying about their records retention procedures, and lying about the "safety" of their jurisdiction of incorporation. Even without referencing the sad circus which as resulted from the announced TPB "sale" (which is in fact a reverse merger) and subsequent shady stock market manipulation, there is just no way to take this "Ipredator" seriously. As someone who has invested years of time, with a great team of network engineers, to develop and support a REAL privacy network, I find it deeply insulting for TPB to apply their newfound, smirky, chuckling attitude to a business that requires real expertise, real commitment, and a real ability to operate in the real world. Our company is certainly not the only good VPN service - several of the others you mention are also strong competitors, and it's great to see a vibrant market develop like this - but this "Ipredator" (i.e. rebranded Relakks) walks like a fraud, talks like a fraud, lies like a fraud, and smells like a fraud. Why not call it what it is: A fraud. It is a shame that the press has been rather too trusting in reprinting the press releases TPB sends out, minus the usual fact checking beforehand. I have been kicked around for "speaking bad" about the TPB heroes, but facts are facts and no amount of past good deeds make up for their current penchant for lying and outright fraud. It is time to hold them to the SAME standard we use for any security service: a high one. Test it, explore it, review the crypto behind it - only THEN can it be described as a "privacy network." Right now, it's no better than a score of Russian-created fake "VPN networks" that simply harvest credit card numbers to be resold on the black market - no network, no privacy, no business. Fausty \| www.torrentfreedom.net
Comic Book Guy Jul 24, 2009 3:27 PM	Fausty, You just proved you are biased against IPREDator, because you run TF, therefore I really don't think anyone is going to take anything you say at face value!
Fausty Jul 24, 2009 5:54 PM	Also, another news site has been reporting quite accurately on this rather sad chapter in the downfall of TPB. Full story, courtesy p2pnet.net, is available here: http://www.p2pnet.net/story/24418 In re my esteemed colleague "Comic Book Guy," please feel free to refute anything I've said - facts are preferred. I've been 100% clear on who I am and not hidden behind a fake trolling name to toss rumors about. All of my words are here for anyone to see, judge, or correct. I doubt the fact that I run a real security service - and have done so for years - "disqualifies" me from making objective comments about this Ipredator fiasco. Indeed, had someone from inside the industry not "outed" their lame attempt to pass of Relakks as a hot, new "VPN service," it's unlikely any "journalists" would have noticed. I just blew the whistle; now it's up to the real investigative reporters to get to the bottom of the rest of the story. I don't have those skills, never claimed I did - heck I've got enough hats to wear already, thanks. :-) In fact, come to think of it, if the smirking Swedes of TPB want to actually refute any of the facts I've posted, they're of course welcome to do so - here, on their own site, anywhere. So far nothing but trolls attacking anyone who dares to point out they're off the deep end on this latest fiasco. What's wrong, is being "famous" not so fun for them now that they've sold out, got caught retreading an old VPN service, and lost a court battle due to crap legal representation? Those of us who were in the public spotlight when those guys were still in high school might empathize with how tough this transition is for them, but that doesn't absolve them of the responsibility to remain honest - above all else. For guys who are always going on about how "open" they are and so supportive of the "community," how come they get so quiet when they are caught fibbing about their (latest) get-rich-quick scheme? In any case, facts are facts. The five facts I post above are FACTS - not based on "faith," nor on "trusting" me. All can be easily confirmed, independently, by anyone who chooses to check. This is how adults run real businesses, particular security-centric businesses: facts, not just cute press releases and "trust me" as an "answer." So, by all means, please show where I've gone wrong in my analysis - and I will accept your corrections with gratitude. In the meantime, I'll continue signing my posts with my name (well, my nickname - which is really better-known than my boring "real life" name anyway; anyone who wants more background info about me than any sane person could possibly desire can find it all at cultureghost.org, plain as day) - and I will continue to stand behind my comments and critique, like an adult, rather than hiding or using anonymous trollposts to try to cover over failures and flaws. Fausty \| www.torrentfreedom.net CTO & co-founder (just to be 100% clear)
Slatts Jul 25, 2009 12:49 PM	A fact, my old dad assured me, is a little creature that swims around the bottom of the ocean collecting fish farts for spirit levels. I've never been given reason to doubt his word so take that to be a fact. Having got that off my chest, thanks Fausty for an informative post. I was quite ready to take the story at face value but now have reason to think twice and do a lot of research before signing up to an anonymity service.
Fausty Jul 25, 2009 2:36 PM	The whole situation is disappointing, and nobody is "winning" unfortunately - except the censors and NSA eavesdroppers. When TPB first said they were going to do a VPN service, we (like most everyone in the industry) were 100% gung-ho for them to do a great job, grow awareness of these tools, and add some new energy to the market. Most everyone in the "privacy service" business is really committed to the philosophical side of personal autonomy and we regularly help each other out and work to benefit the market overall - no surprise, this is hardly a "get rich quick" market sector and those of us who are successful tend to receive pressure from all sides as a part of our daily life. The one thing I didn't expect is a slapdash entry by TPB. Indeed, the one thing that could HURT the awareness of real privacy services and privacy technologies overall would be a sloppy, dishonest, half-serious attempt by TPB to provide a service like this - which is exactly what's happening. I'd like nothing better than to be sitting back and watching them kick ass with a great network - there's far, far more demand for such services than companies to competently supply them at present. Instead, they played right into the hands of observers who want nothing better than to have "privacy technology" seem like a silly, pointless, ineffectual concept - so that mass surveillance and mass censorship online remains trivially easy for them to continue. Hell, I'd gladly provide TPB with a copy of every line of our OpenVPN Java "wrapper" to help them do a REAL implementation - no strings attached, no licensing, no cost to them. Unfortunately, they seem too busy giving press interviews and patting themselves on the back to do anything as boring as sit down and actually develop a robust privacy service - and that's just a shame, for everyone involved. Fausty \| www.cultureghost.org
Tenoq Jul 27, 2009 10:54 AM	Fausty, perhaps you could clarify how your service differs from TPB's offering: particularly given it looks like it's three times the price?
ZF Jul 30, 2009 2:00 PM	Fausty, What stopping the big-guys suing your company and the others providing same service, for the copywight infringements as was done to TPB? After all, it will be your service' IP signature on all this copyrighted material download traffic. How can your business survive, when TPB didn't?
Maxxi Jul 31, 2009 9:16 AM	Thanks for the background data Fausty, gives us some basis to further research Ipredator. I think there will be a slather of "quasi VPN" services and opportunists spring up along with genuine operators in the current environment.