If you’re old enough to remember the early days of the internet, it was a much different world. You can be anyone you wanted to be and finding what you need required seeking things out a fair bit. Nowadays, every major platform knows who you are for the most part. So much so, that they can anticipate what you need and serve it on your feed without having to ask. Some people find this to be a better way of doing things. Others prefer the anonymity the old way of doing things afforded. If you’re among the latter, the Deeper Connect Pico offers a way to help you reclaim your privacy online.
Billed as a “secure gateway hardware,” it’s designed to serve as a secure layer that filters your internet experience to ensure your privacy is always protected, regardless of what online services you’re using. Yes, you can do it with a bunch of software, too, but with this hardware solution, you simply have to connect to the device to ensure a secure online experience, making it a whole lot simpler to use.
The Deeper Connect Pico consists of a bar-shaped security device, which contains a seven-layer enterprise grade firewall, access to a decentralized VPN, and an ad-blocker, all built into it, as well as an optional Wi-Fi adapter to give it wireless connectivity. For home use, you can hook it up between your modem and router, essentially filtering any web traffic that passes between the two to create a completely secure internet experience for every device in your home.
If the other folks at home don’t share your obsession with online privacy, you can also just connect the device directly to a laptop and use its wireless signal to hop on the router, so it can filter all your internet traffic. You can also do the same thing when using public networks while you’re out on the go.
The Deeper Connect Pico’s enterprise-grade firewall boasts deep packet inspection, anti-tracking, intrusion prevention, and virus/malware protection, complete with an informative interface that lets you see a visual representation of all activities happening on the network. The decentralized VPN (also called peer-to-peer VPN), on the other hand, uses multi-routing and smart routing algorithms to enable unrestricted access to content from any counter, similar to traditional VPNs. Unlike those, of course, it uses no centralized servers where your web traffic history is stored, ensuring ultimate control over your own data. They also boast over 20,000 nodes worldwide to ensure stable connections and faster speeds.
The built-in adblocker boasts the ability to block all ads, although we imagine it’s going to be like other adblockers out there that will require regular updates to properly screen out every imaginable advertising. Other features include parental controls (for those using this to filter all web traffic in their home), full plug-and-play operation, and no annual fees, so you only to buy the hardware to use it, so long as the network stays up.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the Deeper Connect Pico. You can reserve a unit (device plus Wi-Fi adapter) for pledges starting at $136.