Introducing the Librem Tunnel

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Purism

Beautiful, Secure, Privacy-Respecting Laptops, Tablets, PCs, and Phones

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Hello, it’s so nice to have you back. What will you be having today?

Since you’re here, let us tell you about the new Librem Tunnel, the encrypted tunnel based on industry-grade technology.

You probably know by now that the Librem Tunnel is part of Librem One, a suite of privacy-protecting, no-tracking apps and services created by our team at Purism, which also includes Librem Mail, Librem Chat and Librem Social.

Librem Tunnel offers an encrypted, no-logging, virtual private network tunnel, making sure all your network traffic is secure and your privacy fully protected. This means you can safely and conveniently use any public hotspot and not have to worry about how private your connection really is, using standards-based OpenVPN with any compatible client. You are not the product in Librem Tunnel: you will not be tracked, we do not sell your data, and we don’t advertise.

Imagine you’re at a coffee shop, at a work seminar or on campus. Or maybe you work remotely, or you’re traveling, or your kids want to go to the park and the nice little cafe you’re having ice cream at happens to, conveniently, have free WiFi. You know you need to use HTTPS to get the little green lock, but you can’t be expected to review the network security of every WiFi access point you use. Do you really want the cafe owner to know the names of the web sites you visit, what IP addresses you interact with, what protocols you use? Why not use a secure tunnel you can trust?

You may be wondering why we are more trustworthy than an arbitrary access point. Well, we guarantee that we don’t ever monitor or log your connection. We also recommend HTTPS Everywhere to make sure you’re using HTTPS whenever possible. And for even more, extra safety, use Tor Browser.

You’re probably thinking: well, why not just use Tor Browser, without the tunnel? The answer is, because it would only secure your web connection, and your device makes other connections too. Additionally, if you make an unencrypted connection over Tor, you are again relying on an arbitrary endpoint. Trust us instead.

Want to stop your coffee shop recognizing your device every time you come in? We’ll cover that in a separate guide soon.

And here are a couple of bonus tips for PureOS users interested in defense-in-depth at the connection layer:

• You’ll probably be happy to know that HTTPS Everywhere is included by default in PureBrowser.
• Finally, we have instructions for installing Tor Browser, for that extra layer of protection.

These tips are broadly applicable to other systems too, we hope they help. That’s all for now, we’ll be back soon with a short introduction to Librem Social, so stay tuned!

Purism offers high-quality privacy, security, and freedom-focused computers, phones, and software. Our platform is meant to empower everyone. We believe people should have secure devices and services that protect them rather than exploit them, and we provide everything you need in a convenient product bundle.

We like to give back. Librem Tunnel is built with free software, created by security and privacy experts. Learn more about how Purism contributes to its community.