So how is MASQ different from Tor?

There's been a huge influx of questions about MASQ and Tor (and it's derivatives) Here 's what you need to know & why MASQ can uniquely capture a massive market in the browser privacy space Grab your cuppa anon, it's time for a thread: #MASQ #Tor #Privacy #Freedom #DYOR

1/ Tor is the OG of peer network privacy routing - they invented Onion Routing back in the 90s. We graciously tip our hats to the founders, team and volunteers that fight for digital freedom - it's sparked the vision for MASQ and many projects before us, and continues to inspire!

2/ IMPORTANT - We want to foster Tor users & ensure that their use-case remains strong - this info and discussion highlights use-cases for our differing technology, so users can have choices of their privacy tools and experience unique features for their daily browsing needs

3/ MASQ is not reliant on Tor as a protocol - the encrypted peer mesh network (dMeshVPN) has been built from ground up and is open-sourced. It combines traditional VPN and Tor concepts to produce what is called CORES routing Check out more of the tech ⬇️ docs.masq.ai

4/ We have built a MASQ Core software for the routing protocol and packaged it in a beautiful web3 privacy browser app, which works on Windows, macOS and Linux - try it out here at masqbrowser.com

5/ Most of the questions pointed at MASQ with A TOR comparison ask about: 🏎️Speed 🛣️Routing 🤝Incentivization 👥Broad Use Case Key points below around each item, and a long-form deep dive blog is coming soon for those wanting more info

6/ *Speed* MASQ stands to be faster than Tor since MASQ puts bandwidth requirements for serving. This means users have better route options with less latency & more reliability. OTOH Tor can be slow & unpredictable due to its volunteer-based network. Tor can improve this ofc

7/ As Tor user network expands, they may have faster speeds, but one aspect that challenges them is public exit nodes are known by IP and often suffer DDoS challenges. Again this can be improved over time by their very active dev community.

8/ *Routing* MASQ encrypts your packets ALL THE WAY THROUGH to the server - this means there is a lower trust factor required in exit nodes, since they cannot view the data responses from the server. For technical people - TLS handshake is preserved from client to server

9/ With Tor, the exit node must be trusted not to inspect, modify or log the data responses being fielded for the user from the server - these requests are technically unencrypted from the exit node, although HTTPS requests are relatively safe from attackers.

10/ MASQ packet design has very few distinguishing features to commonly identify it as from MASQ network. It uses TCP with fixed packet size between hops. OTOH, Tor uses a fixed format that can be detected and blocked by some firewalls, ISPs and websites.

11/ MASQ ensures that a 3+ hop route enforces zero knowledge of whole route by any single Node - this means no node has knowledge of the data path, only the previous & next destination. This means bad actors cannot reveal the true origin *and* destination of data.

12/ Uniquely with MASQ, users who serve the network can choose their DNS servers, which can provide a filter to avoid their Node being used for malware or illegal content - our favorite at moment is @Cloudflare family 1.1.1.3 [img:dOl3k7HlF]

13/ *Incentives* Tor's mission to uphold a free and non-profit public good is amazing! - this use-case fuels awareness of privacy rights & is a tool for everyone. Node operators run it out of love OTOH, MASQ provides incentives for user to provide faster speeds & better service.

14/ By having enhanced privacy, serving filters by DNS and encryption for MASQ serving nodes, the protocol aims to bring confidence to node operators that want to provide digital freedom to the censored world, and earn from peers using the network.

15/ Incentivization mechanism is an EVM utility token that is strictly peer to peer - no central entity is rewarding users. MASQ users providing services to the network are rewarded & get penalized for misbehavior. This is done trustlessly via local reconciliation not-centralized

16/ MASQ is less vulnerable to bot attack vectors because there is a cost to data consumption on the network. Malicious actors are limited in flooding the network with fake or spam traffic without paying a price, mitigating DDoS and Bot swarms

17/ *Broad Use Case* To achieve the wider vision for MASQ Network, and stand as a gateway to onboard the next generation into a privacy conscious [img:OeIEO4-hL] web3, this technology has been packaged into a Chromium based browser, receiving upstream security updates directly from source.

18/ This decision was made by the core team to put the power of MASQ in the hands of the user in the easiest way possible - a browser which every person on this planet uses every day! ❗ No hardware, no techie config ⏰ 2 min setup! 🔥

19/ MASQ is the only known browser that is focused on innovating in the web3 space & creating a unique OS-like User Experience that is striving for interoperability with web3 infra partners, offering decentralized file storage, app store, messaging, and more. [img:UUscRspoB]

20/ As you can see, MASQ stands alone uniquely with key benefits to users who value their online privacy. MASQ is built to be faster, more secure, more pseudo anonymous and more versatile than Tor. Try Beta today: masqbrowser.com Chat with us: discord.gg/masq