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Deluge Anonymizing Browser Now Includes Bittorrent
markybob writes "An open-source bittorrent client, Deluge, now provides an internal, anonymizing browser to protect its users from overzealous ISPs. The client runs on Windows, Linux and OS X. From the site: "Everyone knows that it is common practice for ISPs to do their best to either block or throttle bittorrent users. We believe that this is wrong and unethical, as there are many legal uses for bittorrent. If an ISP is throttling or blocking bittorrent traffic, you can pretty much bet that they're tracking which users visit bittorrent-related sites so that they can better block or throttle those users." Their forum has more info"
"Deluge BitTorrent Client Now Includes Anonymizing Browser"
And to be exact, this is Deluge 0.5.8RC1
Small correction: The Mac OS X version uses X11, not Cocoa.
CDE open sourced! https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdesktopenv/
In related news, semantically reversed article headlines now include slashdot!
Also, the summary is highly misleading. This is not a bittorrent-based replacement for TOR as one might conclude from the summary. The browser is merely designed to conceal the IPs of people surfing websites hosting torrents by going through a proxy. You also see ads while using the service. I wonder how long it will take ISPs with an anti-bittorrent agenda to block their proxies... Quoting TFA's FAQ:
BitTorrent works just fine behind a typical "firewall." It is not necessary to accept incoming connections, especially with a well seeded legitimate torrent. If you can't download with BitTorrent at all then you have a problem with your firewalls policy not the firewall per se.
It's not a horrible method of distribution. Its an excellent method of distribution, especially for free software. Thats why it is being used for such distribution.
Why the hell are comments like this marked insightful?
*waaa* I can't download via p2p, all the free stuff I want, at work
Either go home and do it, or work with your IT. If you have a business need to download linux distros, it's up to your ork IT to provide that to you. If you don't, well, go suck at Microsoft's teat.
I used to run a firewall, and I allow out what is business appropriate. If that includes bit-torrent, so be it.
Sorry, but did you even read the paragraph you cited? The guy is funding the service out of his own pocket. He needs to have some way to make back at least most of the money he's spending.
This on top of the fact that he's already dedicating his time to writing the software... Geez.
It's worth pointing out that the ads aren't showing up in the actual program. If you don't want to see them, don't use the anonymous browsing service.
Let's put it another way: there are some firewall administrators who aren't BitTorrent friendly. If you work in a company that has such a firewall and you have a problem with BitTorrent, you should take it to the IT administration. Oh, wait, perhaps your problem is that the IT people in your company aren't Linux-friendly? Then download at home and bring a CD or DVD to work.
The one big advantage BitTorrent has is that it avoids slashdotting the server. Traffic doesn't concentrate, it has a much gentler effect both on the servers themselves and on the internet backbone as a whole, because you end downloading more from those peers that have more bandwidth.
Picture if you will a pasty-white geek who has written some software. "The service my software provides puts people who use it at risk," he muses, "How might I protect those who may not know how to protect themselves?"
Suddenly, a light goes off. Or on. I think it goes on. Anyway, he thinks, "I could integrate a browser that accesses a limited number of related services in such a way as to provide a safety net for the non-nerds whom I appreciate so well!"
Time passes. "Oh, fuck. This is going to cost me money," the nerd thinks, "How can I provide this service when it costs me money, and I need to buy Ramen?"
Another lightbulb does its thing. "Advertisement!"
There you have it. If you don't like it, cut pasty-dude a check.
Please stop stalking me, bro.
The best solution, ofcourse, is to switch to a less zealous ISP. But that is not always possible: I, for example, find myself subletting an
apartment that comes with horrible, horrible Comcast DSL (who actively reset with your TCP connections).
In these cases say Aye, matey and hook up to the swedish Pirate Party's Relakks VPN service (as seen on Slashdot)
to get past your pesky ISPs rules. It's also be very useful if you use coffeeshop wireless a lot and your email provider still requires plain-text passwords.
Arrr, we be lootin' again!
I call bullshit, Tony Hoyle has no idea what he is talking about or he is just trolling.
Do you think FTP can saturate your 10 mbit link when its downloading from my FTP server sitting on a 384 kbit up DSL line?
The headline was obviously written in Soviet Russia.
After all, I am strangely colored.
We don't single out users, we monitor nodes, which many customers are attached to. If a node is exceeding healthy levels (different nodes have different max levels, there's no one set "healthy" level) then that node is shaped until the traffic goes down.
My comments here are my own; I do not speak for my employer.
To give you those "free roads" you drive on, the government charges you taxes. To give out free services, charities accept contributions.
I doubt many of the gimme,gimme, free software takers actually develop anything substantial or contribute anything, apart from annoyance.
Perhaps with time people will mature in their outlook and freely contribute better than they do now: "Hey I like service x or software y. Here's $20 to say thanks!". This is not yet happening but perhaps it will one day.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
According to a quick search (so may not be accurate) current "semi-official" block size is 16KB which easily fits into a single datagram packet (allowing for IP Fragmentation). Or if you are determined to keep your datagrams under the Ethernet MTU then you could employ some form of erasure coding to the data (at the expense of CPU cycles) and then if a few packets get lost then not to worry or you could advertise a 1k block transfer size at the expense of great application level overhead. Any system would rely on the client knowing the available bandwidth and only scheduling to receive a volume of packets it could.
There was once talk of using the Vivaldi round trip estimation which has been in Azureus for no particular reason to select peers closer to the client, and some research was done into using it for estimating the bandwidth of a pipe to allow for UDP data connections not needing feedback.
In BitTorrent the sending side never needs to know that a block arrived at the client so in some circumstance UDP could be better due to less connection overhead. Also most home NATs have better support for UDP hole punching than for TCP allowing for greater possibility that two incorrectly set up peers could talk to each other.
Most important, copyright and "intellectual property" is no longer necessary for those who are doing the making. I have first-hand experience with the transformation from the creative equivalent of an indentured servant into an artist that has control over my own product and income. Step one was examining just how corrupt and useless the current system has become. Step two was learning about Creative Commons, direct to public domain and other innovative approaches to distributing work and getting paid for it. Step three, at least in my case, was "profit!!" (of course).
The experience has also radicalized me in terms of how I see not only the way artists support themselves, but also how I view the entirety of economic life in these United States (and beyond). Reading Adam Smith and Milton Friedman and comparing their words with the actuality of 21st century life, has convinced me that the entire system of "free markets" "supply and demand" and "the unseen hand" are all so much baloney. It's all been a dodge to keep those of us who work for a living from noticing that we're getting less for working more while our bosses are gaining wealth and producing less.
Notice how the the bosses (executive vice-presidents) at Circuit City have been forced to accept mere 1 million dollar bonuses (called "retention awards") this year because their company has performed so poorly. If any of us were to perform so poorly, we'd get pink slips instead of six-figure Christmas presents. To complete the picture, notice how Circuit City has unceremoniously fired their most experience sales staff, who were earning as much as $14.00 per hour, and then offered them their jobs back a $9 per hour and no benefits! The French Revolution was not so long ago that these "executive vice-presidents" can't learn a few lessons regarding what happens to people who oppress a working class. Hell, some of them must have seen V for Vendetta.
You are welcome on my lawn.