While many of users' online activities have shifted towards social media, the web browsing competition is as fierce as ever.
Especially when it comes to privacy. Since big tech players aren't really privacy advocates, smaller players flourish in the niche, and started growing their own audience of privacy-centric users. From the not-so-many choices people can choose from, there is another new kid on the block, and its name is the 'Mullvad Browser'.
This web browser is created from the collaboration between Mullvad and the Tor Project.
With the goal "to minimize tracking and fingerprinting," its mission is to "free the internet from mass surveillance."
Mullvad VPN and the Tor Project today present the release of the Mullvad Browser.
A privacy-focused web browser designed to be used with a trustworthy VPN instead of the Tor Network.
Read the full story and download the browser here.https://t.co/PpO9v2bpAC— Mullvad.net (@mullvadnet) April 3, 2023
According to Mullvad on a website post:
"It’s designed to minimize tracking and fingerprinting. You could say it’s a Tor Browser to use without the Tor Network. Instead, you can use it with a trustworthy VPN. The idea is to provide one more alternative – beside the Tor Network – to browse the internet with more privacy. To get as many people as possible to fight the big data gathering of today. To free the internet from mass surveillance."
In other words, Mullvad Browser is like a Tor Browser, but without the Tor Network.
Instead of the Tor Network, Mullvad Browser benefits from Mullvad VPN.
But Mullvad admits that "using a VPN alone is not enough to achieve perfect privacy," saying that "there’s simply too much data being extracted through most browsers."
"Big tech, authorities, and data brokers can use your IP address, cookies, scripts, and browser fingerprints to identify and track you online," Mullvad added.
Because of this, Mullvad markets Mullvad Browser as a "a web browser with the privacy quality of the Tor Browser, to be used with a trustworthy VPN."
Today we announced the Mullvad Browser - built by the Tor Project. A browser allowing anyone to take advantage of the privacy protections of Tor Browser without Tor.
Learn more here: https://t.co/TW9MfXFrK5— The Tor Project (@torproject) April 3, 2023
Mullvad does this using the Tor Project's anti-fingerprinting mechanism.
As the creator of the Tor Browser, the popular web browser for anonymity and browsing the underbelly of the web called the "dark web," the Tor Project has a proven track record of building a privacy-focused browser. And here, the Mullvad Browser uses the same fingerprinting protection as the Tor Browser.
What this means, all users of the Mullvad Browser share similar fingerprints, preventing third-parties from identifying them as individuals.
"The Mullvad Browser is, just like the Tor Browser, developed with the purpose and ambition for all its users to appear as one," the post explained.
The browser also preserves users' privacy by removing all telemetry, which means that no unique user data is being collected. The browser also blocks third party trackers by default using uBlock Origin, and initiates private browsing by default.
Mullvad stressed that creating the browser is not commercial. The team said that their business model is earning money from Mullvad VPN, not from the browser.
"Our only ambition with the Mullvad Browser is to provide the best privacy-focused browser possible to Mullvad’s VPN users – and to everyone else, for that matter."
Read: Staying Anonymous: Proxy, VPN Or Tor?
As for the Tor Project, the team said that they and the people at Mullvad "have been part of the same community that is dedicated to developing technology that prioritizes protecting people's right to privacy for many years now."
In fact, Mullvad is a contributor to the Tor Project "at the highest level of membership," and is also the founding member of the Tor Project's Membership Program.
"They approached us to help them develop their browser because they wanted to leverage our expertise to create a product that is built on the same principles and with similar safety levels as the Tor Browser -- but that works independently of the Tor network. The result is the Mullvad Browser, a free, privacy-preserving web browser to challenge the all-too-prevalent business model of exploiting people's data for profit," the Tor Project explained in its own website post.
Echoing Mullvad, the post explained that the Mullvad Browser, which is essentially a Tor Browser without the Tor Network, is "a browser that allows anyone to take advantage of all the browser privacy features the Tor Project has created."
"Our goal was to give users the privacy protections of Tor Browser without Tor."
The Tor Project wants to collaborate with the project because it's already its mission to "to advance human rights by building technology that protects people's privacy, provides anonymity and helps them bypass censorship."
"That is why we jumped at the opportunity to help Mullvad with their browser. We agree with them that demand for a browser that is built to the same standards as Tor Browser exists."
In return, Mullvad also helped the Tor Project to address some of its legacy issues, allowing to fix some vulnerabilities in the Tor Browser.
Despite now having two browsers, the Tor Project clarifies that its Tor Browser "is here to stay."
After all, the Tor Browser remains one of the most popular ways for users to connect to the Tor Network "to safely connect to the internet, to browse anonymously online and to circumvent censorship."