Can it be true?

[GreyGeek]

https://www.tracefree.com/

The FIRST virtual private browser that provides complete online anon is

Cookie Free
Virus Free
History Free
FAST, ANONYMOUS

VPN vs TraceFree

A VPN hides your IP address. TraceFree hides EVERYTHING

Access sites blocked by admin or ISP

Hide IP address from websites

Hide device from websites

Hide browser from websites

Hide true location from websites

Unthrottled bandwidth

Virus free surfing

No browsing history on device

I can guarantee that the price won't be invisible!

[TWPonKubuntu]

Hmmmm... No price specified. They are using Kickstarter for funding. I've asked for a price quote. Will report if/when I get it.

[GreyGeek]

Here's a FAQ
https://www.tracefree.com/f-a-q

How is it so fast?

With TraceFree, you are browsing in the cloud NOT on your device. You are getting the speed of a major cloud provider, NOT the speed your local provider gives. You are actually, as we say, “browsing very close to the broadband pipe”.

How can TraceFree claim that you cannot get a virus?

The TraceFree browser runs in the cloud, and NOT on your device. Malicious code NEVER SEES or TOUCHES your device, and keystrokes are always invisible. Your device never touches the website. There are no cookies, viruses and browsing history to delete.

[TWPonKubuntu]

Seems like their servers will need to be very... robust. If they have any size user base at all, the bandwidth could be very large.

I'm comparing this to TOR, which uses a chain of three computers to attempt to keep the user anonymous. That causes TOR's speed to be low...

How many server sites would Tracefree need before it becomes useful? One server site would simply be overwhelmed by traffic demand.

[GreyGeek]

And, is TraceFree honest? Or, are they a honey pot?

[TWPonKubuntu]

And, is TraceFree honest? Or, are they a honey pot?

Time will tell... I'm not a fan of Kickstarter, even if some good things have come out of it. It is investment gambling and the principals generally don't have any history of success.

Something to keep an eye on though.

[Goeroeboeroe]

At the moment I'm not impressed. Maybe they've written it a bit unclear. but as someone already said: time will tell.

* From their site: Websites can only see what you share on their site. They CANNOT see what's on your device or your browsing history.
Maybe I missed something the last 20 year or so, but a website can see what's on my device? Except cookies and some information the browser sends, no website can 'see on my device' (except security bugs of course). And a website can see my browsing history? That's new too for me. Till a few years ago sites could see some sites I had visited, but that was only a small selection. And that's repaired years ago. (Had to do with :visited).

* From their site: How is it so fast?
With TraceFree, you are browsing in the cloud NOT on your device. You are getting the speed of a major cloud provider, NOT the speed your local provider gives. You are actually, as we say, “browsing very close to the broadband pipe”.
One way or the other their super speed has to use my local provider to reach me. How fast their connection is, it still has to go through the cables from my locall provider.
I mean: if I can download a movie 'in the cloud' with 100 Mb, my local provider still gives no more then 8 Mb. So unless I'm going to be an angel (or devil) and fly to the famous cloud with a bucket to get my movie, I don't see how they can avoid this limit.

[whatthefunk]

I love how their own site uses cookies...

[TWPonKubuntu]

This is their reply to my request "What is the price?"

Thank you for your interest in the TraceFree browser.

We hope to launch Mid Summer but if you want earlier access and a discounted rate, explore our Kickstarter campaign (ending June 7).

All Annual backers on Kickstarter will get access to TraceFree as soon as the campaign is over (within 2 weeks of campaign completion).

Sorry, but I asked (I assume) for a quote on price. The fact that they did not offer that information makes me twice as leery...

[GreyGeek]

Goeroeboeroe, that's one of the reasons why I think this is a honey pot.

However, assume that TraceFree is an application and is not a browser but a decryption/encryption & decompression program. It connects you to their "cloud", encrypting and compressing your link, and assigns one of their "cloud browsers" to your connection. As you "browse" on your PC it uses its own browser at supposedly "trunk line speed" to visit the websites you indicate that you want to see. They take the content you want to look at and compress & encrypt it before sending it to your TraceFree "browser" running on your PC. On your PC the information is displayed as an HTML page. The application behaves as if it were a browser, as far as your eyes are concerned. The entire transaction is compressed and encrypted both ways. At the cloud level their "browser" could very well be at GB speeds, or even at TB speeds.

So, your ISP would have no idea and could not learn what websites you were connected to, or any other information that a regular browser would carry or pass along in the HTML code that flew back and forth. Could tracking cookies make it from the "cloud" to your PC? If TraceFree didn't block them or strip them from the HTML code, probably.

The big hole in this pie is TraceFree itself. Who are they? Where will their servers located, and what archival storage are they using that any LEO with a warrant, or the FBI, CIA or NSA without a warrant, could demand access with threats of punishment to the company officials? That's why I think it is a honey pot. Would the PTB even allow such an app and a website that they could not monitor or control by legal or physical threats and extortion?

Those fearful of legal repercussions would be most willing to hide in this environment. Chinese, Russian, EU, Turkey, Iraq, Egypt, FB, Twitter, Google, YT, MNM, i.e., all the folks who prefer to censor what you can & can't see to control your world view. What better way for them to "turn themselves in" than to get them to sign up to this service and expose themselves, revealing their name, address, billing info, etc... On the other hand, people using this service probably wouldn't be browsing those censorious sites. What would be the point? It would be like posting on a website from a Tor browser.

[kenj70]

Have you looked at the Brave browser lately?

-=Ken=-

[GreyGeek]

Downloaded it about an hour ago and have been playing with it.
I'll have to play with it more ... download files and videos, various speed tests, check login capabilities, etc... So far, even though it remembers name and password it won't automatically log into a site like KFN.

Editing and saving here on KFN doesn't seem to be faster than Chromium or FireFox.

[Goeroeboeroe]

@GreyGeek:
About the speed: almost every site today already uses compression. Even if you use a highly sophisticated compression method, I think there's hardly any difference in speed.
There are two things taking the most time.
The amount of calls to the server: for every image, script, stylesheet, etc. In theory you could possibly save some time. You could for example combine all images in one big image and save some calls. But then you run into problems if you want to change font-size or zoom. (And with http2 the amount of calls isn't important anymore, but most of the servers don't yet use that.)
But most of the time the browser needs is for combining html, css, images, scripts, ... into the page. I don't see how you can save time on that. In theory again you could put the page together in a very fast application and sent less scripts, css, etc. But than you don't get the original page, so that can give problems too.
I really can't think of a way saving time with a cloud.

And they don't explain how they think to do that.

I installed the Chrome extension to try it out. From their site:
TraceFree IS the browser. Use TraceFree as your full time browser OR you can use it WITH Google’s Chrome. The “Send to TraceFree” Chrome extension (link) lets you open any link with complete privacy and security while you are using Chrome. Never be afraid to open a link again!

That's funny: I have to give permission to the extension to read my browser history. Why do they need that? Anyway, I installed it (since I use Google Chrome only for testing, the history is completely irrelevant).
But the extension does nothing at all There appears a button, but if I click on that I get another button 'Sent current page to Tracefree' (or something like that, I removed it already). Clicking on it doesn't do a thing. So the only thing this extension does is asking for my browsing history. A bit, let's be friendly, apart for a privacy firm...
I can also right-click on a link and choose 'Send to Tracefree'. Doesn't do a thing.

From the extension in Google Store:
"No problem. When you send to TraceFree your device is never compromised. Cookies and viruses cannot see or touch your device. It is better than an antivirus program because the link is NEVER opened on your device but opened on our secure servers. Only the screen is transmitted to your device. "

Only the screen is transmitted. What does that mean? No idea. I guess they don't send the postman with a glass screen. Anyway, nothing happened, the extension simply didn't work.

Ah, idea. Maybe the extension only works after I install their not yet published app. But that's nowhere said. Besides, it looks a bit strange to publish an extension before the app you need with it.

They also somewhere on their site write an incognito session leaves cookies behind. That's simply not true. Cookies can be used (some sites simply won't work without cookies), but they are removed after closing the incognito session.
If a business needs to tell things that are simply not true (also about sites able to read you history etc.), they don't get my trust. Either they don't know what they're talking about, or they scare people to they buy their program.

[GreyGeek]

Then that leaves only the honey pot, and their fees for using TraceFree when/if they get out of kickstarter, which is probably the real driving force behind it.

[GreyGeek]

After playing with the Brave browser for several hours it appears to me to be the fastest of all the browsers, even faster than Chromium and FireFox 60.x. However, it misses two essential abilities that I need: an email icon that allows me to send a link with the article title in the subject line, and, the ability to down load videos.

I will probably keep it around and use it to watch videos and live video events, like the SpaceX launches, but I'll be using FF for everything else. And, I can uninstall Chromium and QupZillia.