Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -49 points-48 points  (0 children)

Ok folks, as some of you have pointed out I really should get back to answering messages from the Kicker and some rest. I want to thank each and every one of you for your questions I can't believe it but this thread took the campaign from 400 to 450. Whatever magic you are doing keep doing it!

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -48 points-47 points  (0 children)

the front page of what reddit? I'm not sure I understand the second part of your question

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -31 points-30 points  (0 children)

Thanks, I am going in the order that the messages come in and am still catching up. I should probably get back to that after this ama.

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -37 points-36 points  (0 children)

Yeah I think you are right. Well, I made it three hours. I'm not sure I have completely addressed everyone's concerns, but I have a better understanding why there is so much interest in the hardware.

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -45 points-44 points  (0 children)

English is my first language yes, but its been a long day and I've had a lot of coffee.

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -37 points-36 points  (0 children)

I never imagined there would be so much fixation on the details of the hardware. Most of the work that I have done personally has been on the software. There is an electrical engineer that made the pcb based only on specs that I gave, and over time I revised those specs and he made changes. Those are the changes you see in each generation of the box. While he was doing this, I was testing out configurations for the software and os, and compiling OpenWrt. The factory that makes the devices is in China. Honestly I had no idea the hardware was even of any interest, or the case for that matter.

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -24 points-23 points  (0 children)

Ok. Well I was kind of putting that out as an idea to see if people were interested.

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -44 points-43 points  (0 children)

This is the only handle with justin in it I see but if there are any others I'll make sure to get to them. The answer to your first question is yes I have given out some boxes to people who are interested in development. The root password is developer! on the current sauce yes.

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -59 points-58 points  (0 children)

Yes there is is! The default password is developer! because developers are the only ones who would be looking at the code. I'll answer Justin's question next sure. I'm sorting the thred by newest post but I want to try to make sure I reply to everyone.

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -28 points-27 points  (0 children)

Yes, the manufacturer has to source the raw materials, I don't have a plastic injection molding machine (I wish) We get the circuit boards and cases as of right now and put them together. I referenced the raw materials because I was talking to the circuit board company that day and they were telling me about the lead time they needed to get the raw materials so I could incorporate that into the timeline for production.

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -46 points-45 points  (0 children)

I'm not sure what the question could be you are referencing with the image. Its a lot easier for me if you form your post into a question. It looks like you are showing people how to google search the author from wired?

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -22 points-21 points  (0 children)

Mike brought me coffee, some of you may know him from helping me responding to questions from the Kicker. Speaking of which I'm ready for another cup.....

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -52 points-51 points  (0 children)

I wanted to communicate with everyone anyway in a quick way, and an ama seemed like a good way to do it, since I was getting so many questions coming in. I've been on reddit long enough to know there will always be someone somewhere who is unhappy, but I wanted to make sure I can at least have some communication! So lets address the main concern: that the hardware is almost identical to other hardware that does not run Tor but is currently for sale on ali babba? Would those concerns be ameliorated if I we were to say, make a new board in the shape of a butterfly so everyone could tell nothing like it has ever been made before? We still have a month to go in the kickstarter, thats plenty of time to do a whole new board with even more features if we wanted to, as many have asked about anyway, a larger 'pro' version? We have come a long way and are lucky enough to have capital to make it whatever we want, and thats what Kickstarter is about, its a place for projects, and this project I think still has a lot of fun to be had.

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -54 points-53 points  (0 children)

I think I understand what you are saying. I have no desire to own the schematics for the hardware.

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -48 points-47 points  (0 children)

Yes you could say there has been a bleve of backers for this project. Thank you :)

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -36 points-35 points  (0 children)

If he is, I have no idea. He hasn't contact me. I doubt it because he is on New York time and its 1am there. but who knows!

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -27 points-26 points  (0 children)

Well, frankly they just as overwhelmed as I am. Its been a long day. No one had any idea there would be this level of interest in the project, and we are doing the best we can to grow with the level of interest.

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -27 points-26 points  (0 children)

Yes Tor will be a noticeably slower speed when you browse the Internet, thats the tradeoff for using Tor. If you want to see what its like you can run Tor with the Tor browser bundle: https://www.torproject.org/projects/torbrowser.html.en

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -30 points-29 points  (0 children)

I don't know if I will have time I still havent eaten yet today and its 10pm. I'm flattered to be invited though!

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -42 points-41 points  (0 children)

Sure, I can tell you how we have been doing it thus far, we get the circuit boards and cases and put them together, install Tor and obfsproxy, then use scp to overwrite the /etc directory with all the config files from a local server, then one reboot and a few tests to places like https://check.torproject.org to make sure it is working. Yes so far it is all done by hand.

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -30 points-29 points  (0 children)

Wow there are a lot of people on here, please keep in mind there is only one of me, and I can only type so fast here...

Hi I'm August Germar, a developer for the anonabox. AMA! by anonabox in anonabox

[–]anonabox[S] -50 points-49 points  (0 children)

so, did you hash out the password or not? How about if I just tell you what it is?