A new Anonimizing tool for News/Email/IRC/ICQ/FTP

I have been waiting for a long time for that to come out and here it is!

Here is what they boast in the email :

As it turned out, the project was more difficult and took much more
time than we had planned, and the final product is not the same as we
had initially thought it would. Instead of a separate anonymizing
program for each protocol (News/Email/IRC/ICQ), there is only one
program, which supports all of them. We have also found a way to
anonymize FTP, so it was added to the program's features.

For spam concerns, we decided to remove the initially announced
support for sending anonymous email; SMTP protocol, which is used to
send email, is NOT supported in the final product.

I have not tried it yet as I just checked my email and need to get back to work...
If any of you care to try it and post your impressions here, I guess many would be interested to read it!

I will be back tonight with my first impression of Antifirewall 1.0 (http://www.antifirewall.com/)

laterz

Anonymous ICQ? Weird.

Ok, the IRC works... I didn't test the other protocols but configuration is a swift!
It uses http proxies so that makes the anonymizing process very easy since they are the most current proxies...

Here is an excerpt from the read me file :

AntiFirewall does two things:

1. AntiFirewall allows you to overcome firewall restrictions

If you are behind a corporate firewall which blocks
access to News, FTP, IRC, ICQ and other types of
software which you would like to use, but the firewall
does allow you to surf the Web, then AntiFirewall will
likely help you to use those programs too. All you will
need to do is configure you favorite newsreader or chat
program so that it connects to AntiFirewall, and
AntiFirewall will then connect it to the Internet
resource blocked by your firewall. The following
communication software is supported by AntiFirewall:

* FTP (you can browse FTP archives and download/upload files
even if FTP is blocked by your firewall);
* IRC (you can chat with your friends even if the access to
the IRC protocol is blocked by your firewall);
* ICQ (AntiFirewall helps you to keep in touch, even from
behind a firewall)
* Usenet News (read and post to newsgroups even if the news
access protocol, NNTP, is blocked by your firewall);
* POP3/IMAP (read email from your personal account when you
are at work)


2. AntiFirewall anonymizes your communication

AntiFirewall not only brings the firewall on its knees,
but it also makes all the above communications ANONYMOUS.
All data travel through anonymous public proxy servers,
so the recepients of your messages will not see your IP address
(or the one of your company); instead, they will see the IP of
the proxy server. In other words, AntiFirewall is an effective
anonymizer for all programs/protocols listed above

Now the catch... You need to pay for a 100% working version...
I guess easy anonymity has a price...

Have fun :)

i guess your gonna need the money to pay the team of lawers you'll need when the police start knocking down your door for aiding 'terrorist' cyber-criminals (hackers), contributing to the delinquency of the morels of minors. (school kids downloading porn) etc.

Aiding people use a proxy or bypass a firewall isn't illegal, it's what you do with it that is...

If there was a program that had 'FBI monitors sales of this program as well as all downloads', this would be the one. Anything that sounds that good and foolproof, you can guarantee they knew about it before it was made into a web page. I'll stay legit, thanks. Besides, if you decide to break corporate rules on surfing porn and whatnot at work, then you'll be fired. Plain and simple.

And the 'aiding people to use a proxy to bypass a firewall isn't illegal..it's what you do with it that is' is ignorant bliss and won't save you either. That's like saying 'Oh well, I didn't know those kids were going to kill people with those loaded shotguns I gave them today! I didn't have anything to do with it!'....riiiiiiight.

Wait a minute there, I think that tool can be useful to people that are not script kiddies!
I agree kiddies will mostly use it for obscure or innapropriate use but will you stop selling firearms cause they can actually kill people??? And what about kids that buy a car and drive it recklessly?

I for one like to be anonymous, does it hurt anybody? Let's say you go on an IRC channel and don't trust that the Ops will not try to gather info on you or even try to hack you... And what about hacking sites? I think that if you need to understand how to protect yourself from hackers, you need to surf those sites and probably even download those Skiddies hacking tool (via FTP) I think that tool serves you right in those occasions.

Anything that can protect my privacy is a good tool for me. I sure don't advocate the use of it for illegal or obscure use but IT is a GOOD TOOL. And btw, I doubt script kiddies will pay a dime for it, so anyway they are illegal in the first place. I don't think suing that company will change the fact that it's the PARENTS job to check what their kids are doing, not people that try to devellop useful tools for legit users!

anyway, it's the old fight between control and freedom... I pick freedom anytime! Put me in jail if I broke any law otherwise leave me ALONE is my motto...

Sincerely,

Since you guys had opinions on that tool that did not fit with the opinions of the creator of Antifirewall, I decided to write to INet Privacy to get their opinion on this thread, here is what Serguei answered :

---
Hello,

Thanks for the link. I think we'll make a page on our site discussing
why it may be important to anonymize your communications. It has
nothing to do with any kind of illegal activity, it is rather like
having a good lock in your door. You don't give the keys to your home
to everybody, do you? The IP address of your computer (i.e., the thing
that AntiFirewall hides when properly configured) gives any hacker the
starting point to try and get into your computer. If you participate
in various discussions on the Internet, in newsgroups, irc, etc, then
quite a lot can be learned from analyzing them, and even if you use
different nicknames, the IP address will be the same everywhere
(provided that you use a broadband connection; if you use a modem, the
IP will be different every time you connect, so the problem won't be
so serious).

As for the idea that the program somehow might help the "dark forces",
you know, those forces have much more sophisticated programs, and have
had them since the very first days of the Internet technology. A
consumer product helping people to have a little bit more protection
for themselves on the Internet will interest neither hackers, nor law
enforcement agencies. They are all operating on a very different
level.

Actually, all network administrators know that. Frankly, I doubt that
the people who made those strange comments on the board have anything
to do with network administration or understand how the program works
and what it does.

Anyway, you brought out an important thing we'll need to clarify on
our website.

Thanks again,

Sergei
iNetPrivacy Software
AntiFirewall/Anonymizer for News, FTP, IRC, ICQ, Email
http://www.antifirewall.com
---

I hope this shows this is not a script kiddie tool in the mind of the creators and that it has uses that are relevent to legit internet users.

Sincerely,