This article in Wired talks about a new method for masking online identities to provide ultra-anonymous Internet access. It was developed by Hacktivismo, an offshoot of the hacker collective Cult of the Dead Cow (cDc), and is called "Six/Four", named after the June 4, 1989 massacre in Beijing's Tiananmen Square. Six/Four combines peer-to-peer technologies with Virtual Private Networking (VPN) and "open proxy" connections, which allow one computer to establish direct, secure communications with another over the Internet. Traditional VPNs take the information along a single path from Point A to Point B. Six/Four's route is more circuitous, sending its tunnel through a series of computers on its peer-to-peer network before heading to the public Internet. Data goes from Point A to Point K to Point Z to Point G, only eventually winding up at Point B. Each link in the chain only knows the link immediately before, not the final destination. Since every server along the way requires separate search warrant in order to view that computer's logs (if they even still exist) to get your IP address, the approach adds layer after layer of anonymity between client and server. One developer says "It's like a highway that's redesigned for every Brinks truck that rides on it."

Labels: Public Policy, Tech