Hactivismo Protects Internet Privacy with Torpark Browser
LOS ANGELES, September 21, 2006 (PodTech News) — A group of hackers, human rights workers, lawyers and artists today launched a new web browser to protect computer users from hostile governments who would seek to identify them. Called “Torpark,” the program changes the unique numbers used by websites to identify individual computers online every few minutes. It was created by Hactivismo, a consortium that evolved from the Texas-based hacker organization “Cult of the Dead Cow.” In related news, the U.S. House Judiciary Committee passed the Electronic Modernization Surveillance Act (pdf here) Wednesday by a vote of 20-16 (the full House is expected to vote on it later this month). The bill broadens the U.S. government’s ability to conduct electronic surveillance on U.S. residents and clarifies that it can seek wiretaps on any type of electronic communication — not just telephone or radio-spectrum-based communication. PodTech’s Matt Kelly spoke with Torpark’s writer and designer Steve Topletz about the announcement.
Reporter Notes: The website to download Torpark is http://torpark.nfshost.com. Find out more about Hactivisimo here. Wikipedia has an interesting entry on Hactivism. And for more on the Electronic Modernization Surveillance Act passed by the House Judiciary Committee, check out the InfoWorld article.
— Matt Kelly
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