THERO: A Physical Device for Internet Privacy Control

Privacy and security on the Internet is a hotly debated topic. On the one hand, there’s a possible need to be able to track and find people…

Jeremy Cook
7 years ago

Privacy and security on the Internet is a hotly debated topic. On the one hand, there’s a possible need to be able to track and find people that would like to to others harm. On the other, there’s the idea that it’s no one else’s business what you search for, or what websites you visit. Still another faction would simply like to sell and use this data for profit in exchange for the use of their services. All of these issues come together to make security choices complicated for computer-savvy individuals, and likely nearly impossible for those that aren’t.

To address this issue, Roman Torre and Angeles Angulo have come up with a Raspberry Pi 3-based physical device called THERO that lets you manage security settings with the turn of a dial. This interesting geometric shape can choose between four privacy settings: mostly open Internet access, Tor-based encryption, encryption that also blocks social media sites, and a setting where one can only browse via an internal web server.

Though details on how this object works electronics-wise are slim, the physical build looks very good in the demo seen directly below. The build process, seen in the second video is pretty entertaining on its own. Certainly this kind of control object, especially the concrete version, would look great on many desks while taking care of its privacy function.

[H/T: Co.Design via Creative Applications]

Jeremy Cook
Engineer, maker of random contraptions, love learning about tech. Write for various publications, including Hackster!
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