Indeed, While we are testing it is our hope that people can gain some sense of freedom of information without fear of data tracking or restriction.
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Thanks for this great write up, and I love seeing all of the engagement on here.
Can you share a little more about what separates this product from other privacy preserving web browsers? I’m having a hard time understanding what MASQ offers that others don’t already? Thanks in advance! @kaurihero_masq
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Thanks James for asking!
Yes we are grateful to have such an excitable community and support base with MASQ - its certainly help us trail-blaze all through our journey building MASQ.
You are right there are a number products out there in the privacy-focused browser space.
For a visual outline we have a comparison table on our website page
Here are a list of our differentiators and a few of the future experiences we are building into MASQ which make us unique positioned to capture a part of the private-browsing audience:
Differentiators with MASQ Browser:
- MASQ offers a unique “Spaces” user experience, that lets users customize their browsing workspace like a privacyOS desktop.
- “Spaces” offers quick access to favourite dApps and websites, all privacy routing settings and a community curated web3 dApp store! These spaces can be switched with a single click or mouse wheel scroll
- MASQ Premium system allows users to unlock various features by holding the $MASQ utility token, including premium ad-blocker, enhanced serving options, history destructor, and more
- MASQ privacy routing is provided with a few clicks - no extra setup installers or hardware needed. The MASQ privacy protocol routing is done fully peer to peer, so unlike browsers offering a “free VPN” where users have no idea what company or infra is providing this VPN service (and of course what is in it for them!?) the privacy routing is done fully encrypted and has no central logging or tracking
- natively resolves web3 URLs right from the address bar, including ENS, IPFS and Handshake (HNS) domains
- There are no software level trackers, or user analytics harvested in the browser and nothing is collected to pass on to third parties - this includes zero-knowledge to the MASQ team itself
- The browser offers unique partnerships a few clicks away for the “pillars of web3” - dStorage, dChat and dNetwork.
- Presearch is an official dSearch partner, offering decentralized private search aggregating so users won’t face censorship or mis/disinformation on search results no matter where they live
- All partner integrations are uniquely privacy-preserving options that users can opt-in or opt-out from
Future Integrations
- MASQ Node Hop selector, allowing users to change network hops performed to balance speed across privacy-level
- Exit Country selection, allowing users to choose available exit countries
- Loyalty partner programs for MASQ Browser user rewards
- Further web3 dApp store expansion with partner projects
- Natively encrypted wallet chat widget
- Native on-chain wallet notifications
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There have been some really great questions in the Octant and MASQ Discord servers!
To save the reading through the chats, here are the post links for the interactions, and a summary!
Encryption Questions, Tor and User Logging - question from @mat7ias
Answer in MASQ Discord:
What’s the difference between MASQs multihop > dVPN and regular onion routing?
- The main difference with Tor is that data used on the Tor network is identifiable as being from Tor nodes due to the way packets are constructed. On MASQ it appears as standard TCP packets to any observer
- Exit nodes for Tor are on a public list, and some regions and ISPs block these nodes so users are not able to get their data requests using the Tor network.
- MASQ Node preserves the TLS handshake between the client browser and the server, not between the exit Node and the server the way Tor does. This means that establishing TLS connections is slightly slower for Node than for Tor, but that:
A) Even an evil, compromised exit Node still can’t see your unencrypted data, while Tor exit nodes do handle unencrypted data
B) It’s much more difficult to hold you legally responsible for data that passes through your Node because you can prove its encrypted across the whole path
See our Encryption outline on these technologies (VPN, Tor and MASQ) here:
Encryption Methods | MASQ Network
The MASQ page mentions it’s “impossible to share logs of data”, but can’t individual nodes in the network create these logs for themselves? I think there has to be encryption there for it to be impossible to share logs of data, a bit like onion routing so that only the exit node knows the destination but they don’t know the source of the traffic (the user) since it’s hidden by the relays and onion-ing.
The TLS handshake is preserved from the browser client all the way to server, so the exit node isn’t having to be trusted to handle the traffic directly from the server (which occurs in Tor).
So yes the exit Node may be aware of the destination server since it does handle the initial DNS request and routes the encrypted traffic, but everything is encrypted via TLS for the client only. It wouldn’t know the origin or route prior to the hop that passed to it.
Or maybe it just means that it’s impossible for the MASQ team to share logs, that’d be true regardless.
You are right though, that phrase “impossible to share logs” is largely about the MASQ Team and protocol itself as there is no centralized service or logging to be aware of what the users are doing. An exit node could note domains being requested, but it would not be useful since there is no end client or originating IP address to link up who the traffic is from 
The ultimate goal is for MASQ traffic to be clandestine and routed as if it was traffic from a game, VoIP, Telnet or something else. to make it undetectable. you would have to shut down the internet to block MASQed traffic!
Thats a big part of where any grant funding goes in the future, alongside our development of an Extension/thin client for MASQ
sorry for the long response, just wanted to cover your question here in case those reading aren’t in MASQ Discord!
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Kauri does do long responses. If you get him talking he’d take you so far into the tech that even Galdalf could not save you. It does have it’s benefits at times like this. NGL
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It seems ask and you shall receive…Kauri - Always on the case.
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Masq core community is the most kind people i have met and i know it’s been a goal right from the beginning,
because we knew what we have set us up build would take a long time,
Especially without selling out to "Big Money "
MASQ from the Community
To the world 
Ps. Trust is build over time!
In MASQ you can trust.
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No VC Means things take longer, the plus side is we continue to build something WE want to use, rather than the “Big Money” who want to geoblock users and/or collect copious amounts of data.
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Greetings Octant community and the wider Golem ecosystem!
KauriHero here, co-founder and Project Lead of MASQ Network.
Here is an update on our progress, as there has been a lot of positive momentum behind the team since the last submission for Epoch 4!
MASQ applied to be included in Epoch 4 and made it through the submission process to the Snapshot Vote. Unfortunately, we didn’t quite make the top 30 projects but had a great experience with getting involved and also learning from the very engaged Octant council team facilitating the platform!
It was quite humbling seeing such amazing and diverse public goods out there working alongside MASQ in the space.
We would be grateful to be considered in Epoch 5 as an eligible project once again.
Below is a detailed update on our progress across the MASQ web3 Browser app (our flagship product), the MASQ Core node software that powers everything, and our new browser Extension app we began developing which is a major milestone/focal point for our application for grant support.
I truly hope the Octant community can appreciate our tireless work building our public good technology with features not present in most, if any, other privacy tools. All in the mission to provide borderless and privatized browsing to the world through our open source MASQ Protocol.
A friendly reminder that we aren’t sitting in a pure concept stage or closed alpha!
We have our live products operating for free on testnet right now freeing digital users from restricted access like X across places like Russia, India, Turkey and more (active target audiences in our community), and offer numerous scaling and ecosystem integration aspects that are unique to MASQ that elevate other public goods and web3 as a whole.
Importantly we are chain-agnostic as well (currently supporting Ethereum and Polygon, soon another chain)
Short Term Update June & July 2024
- Octant grant received - NA, did not make it through Snapshot vote for Epoch 4
- Other grants received - None
Milestone - MASQ web3 Browser updates
The MASQ web3 browser is our flagship app for a wide audience of users desiring a web3-enabled browser with baked-in privacy by default.
We released 2 new versions in June and July, which included a Hop Count selector so users can adjust their browsing privacy and speed levels while browsing, and refined onboarding to be sub-1minute for a new user!
Most importantly we completed an overarching UI component of the control panel which is the core piece the Extension app is built around which is our next major app we aim to release publicly.
Public Benefits to Users:
- Users can quickly change their MASQ hop count so can increase speed, or increase privacy, providing options for users to adjust their browsing experience depending on their immediate needs.
- Onboarding a new user only takes 45-60 seconds (about 30% time reduction)
- All MASQ onboarding and settings are in a single UI component for cleaner interaction and more intuitive for user
- Social and Network widgets now sit on the main desktop Space for MASQ browser which showcase the activity stats and let users engage on X to participate in building brand awareness and expand our user base.
In-Progress → Country Selection feature
As with many privacy tools, the full desires of a user to browse without borders is complete when they can select the content they wish from the region they want!
This feature puts that front and centre, making MASQ equally competitive with traditional VPN and dVPN products out there now in web2 and web3.
Significant progress was made for the tech requirements:
- Populate all country codes so MASQ Core can efficient reference them based on user location
- Locally verify a Node’s geolocation by IP, and adding country-code into updated Gossip communication to the greater network. This ensures no personal information besides country code (eg UK, AU, BR etc) is shared with extended peers
- Architecture design is nearly completed in the way the country code is stored and looked-up in the routing engine which builds the routes across the mesh network locally from known peers in the Neighbourhood (area of the MASQ Network your Node is running).
Public Benefits to Users:
- users can choose what country they desire content from
- users can observe what countries are in range of them within the MASQ Network
Plans for Next Epoch
Browser Extension app
The launch of a MASQ browser Extension app will put MASQ right into the everyday browsers that users already are committed too. Upon initial release, a Chrome based Extension app will enable billions of users to access MASQ Network and give welcome brand awareness from the Chrome Web Store and wider audience.
Importantly, we completed the UI panel of the extension (and future mobile app) as a singular component in the Browser, so the bulk of design around UX and user flow is already finished.
Our team will continue consistent progress on this extension app through Q3.
Mainnet Launch Preparations
A well-awaited milestone by our community (and team of course!), our preparation for Mainnet continues with a few key elements being finalized to secure the best possible Go-To-Market impact. Two major business aspects in motion are integrating credit card onramp providers (for those users wanting a quick and easy way to purchase $MASQ tokens for using the network) and finalizing marketing funnels and strategic plan for launch.
There is an additional aspect of scoping the work for another chain to support, which will be a huge source of new user growth.
Continue Country Selection feature work
As described above, work continues on this feature - this is a critical feature to complete before Mainnet launch.
Karma GAP
We intend to proactively create our Karma GAP profile, and ensure we expand our updates across all areas for communities to track and encourage our resilient builders!
We hope you can look further into our exciting developments and go ahead and try our MASQ browser today!
It’s available for free in testnet Polygon Amoy - onboarding in under 60 seconds and test tokens magically appear in your testing wallet - no special setup needed!
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The best privacy project in the space!
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MASQ is a remarkable testament to the transformative power of cryptocurrency and the strength of community-driven initiatives. Unlike many projects in the tech and crypto space, MASQ proudly stands apart with roots starting in community funding rather than with venture capital or corporate backing. This decision underscores its commitment to maintaining decentralization, ensuring that the project’s development and direction remain firmly in the hands of its community.
MASQ operates as a community project, fueled by the passion, dedication, and contributions of individuals who believe in the project’s mission and potential. This grassroots approach not only fosters a sense of ownership among its members but also ensures that the project’s values align closely with those of its community, rather than the interests of profit-driven external investors.
By leveraging the power of cryptocurrency, MASQ exemplifies how decentralized finance can be harnessed to support and sustain community-led projects. It showcases the potential of crypto to empower individuals, enabling them to collaborate and innovate without the constraints typically imposed by traditional funding mechanisms. This approach not only democratizes access to technology but also serves as a powerful model for future projects aiming to prioritize community and decentralization over corporate interests.
MASQ’s journey is a compelling narrative of how crypto can indeed be a powerful tool for community projects, highlighting the potential for decentralized, community-funded initiatives to thrive and make a significant impact.
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Thanks for sharing @kaurihero_masq
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I am so impressed by your update on the MASQ Browser project. The progress you have made is amazing. You are doing a great job building a tool that helps people browse the web freely and privately.
The new features, like the hop count selector and quick onboarding, are very user-friendly. It’s clear you understand what users need. I love that MASQ is not just an idea but a real tool that people can use today. You are making a big difference for users in places like Russia, India, and Turkey.
Your focus on privacy and open access sets MASQ apart from other tools. The new browser extension and mainnet launch sound exciting. They will help more people discover and use MASQ. The country selection feature is also a great addition, making MASQ as good as traditional VPNs while staying decentralized.
I hope the Octant community sees the value of your work. Supporting MASQ in Epoch 5 would be a wise choice. Your project offers true public benefits. Keep up the great work, and I look forward to seeing MASQ continue to grow and help more people around the world.
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I love your enthusiasm @stephan8325 & @Galactic!!! I’m quite curious to see how well MASQ does in this next round ! I’m curious, have you joined the discord yet?
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joined the discord just now.
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Thanks James
Really appreciate how supportive and engaging you and Mat are across the Octant community!
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Yeah I love the energy this group is bringing!!
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Great update! With current uprising of censorship these last couple of weeks, it is clear that building of new tools is needed. The next wave of restrictions is already starting with and uptick in blocking of vpn access and vpn protocol blockades. Tools that used to work against censorship can not be used anymore and we are in urgent need of solutions that can adapt to this new reality. The web must stay open, there must be privacy and we need to keep control over our own data. MASQ has definitely build such a solution and deserves our support to roll it out in the most accesible way possible
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