Plans for Kickstarter Anonymising Router Were Canceled

We reported last week how James B. Comey FBI Director has criticized encryption and believes that U.S. citizens should let the government spy on them for their own safety. Today, we’re going to take a look at some more news about privacy and encryptions. It appears that plans for the making of a Kickstarter anonymising router were canceled.

Kickstarter Cancels Its Plan to Build Anonymising Router

Right now if you want to move anonymously on the web you need to do so with the help of software, or join the Tor network, but a small company who has put its project on Kickstarter was planning to do it through hardware. The Anonabox is a router that anonymizes its user. Now the plans for the Kickstarter anonymising router were canceled after questions were raised about the project’s authenticity.

The router’s inventor, August Germar, sought for $7,500 on Kickstarter to get the project started, but received instead $585,000 within the first week. This says a lot about the world’s desire to remain anonymous online and how many people are bothered by constant online monitoring.

But, the plans for the Kickstarter anonymising router were cancelled after it was discovered that there were such routers already available in China. The Anonabox prototype looked very similar to some devices from a Chinese electronics firm. Also, some security faults were discovered with the Anonabox that could have made it easier for hackers to compromise the device.

All this trouble led Kickstarter to cancel the project and ensure that all the people who gave money for Anonabox were given back their dollars. Kickstarter’s decision led many to believe that there may be more behind the cancelation of Anonabox, such as external pressure from the U.S. government.

Germar issued a statement in which he said that the Chinese devices were generic knockoffs, and that he only wanted as many people as possible to have the Anonabox. Of course, this doesn’t help the Anonabox case too much. The company is planning to continue development on the anonymising router and sell it directly.