Pirate Browser

Combine the Tor client with a portable version of Mozilla Firefox and you get PirateBrowser, an efficient solution if you are looking for the means to browse the Internet and visit restricted websites.

Pirate Browser is not a TOR browser, thus it does not grant you anonymity while on the Internet. It does, however, make it possible to override censorship set in countries like North Korea, United Kingdom, Iran, Belgium, and Denmark.

There is no complex installation process to go through. PirateBrowser is ready to run immediately after its files are extracted.

Interface-wise, PirateBrowser is a portable version of Firefox. Down to the last GUI square centimeter, it’s the same. The only difference between the two browsers is that when you start PirateBrowser you have the Bookmarks toolbar full of torrent sites. If those work without any restrictions, it’s safe to say that PirateBrowser does its job. But you do have to actually test it to see for yourself.

PirateBrowser also comes with the FoxyProxy extension installed. It will automatically switch an Internet connection across a multitude of proxy servers using URL patterns. This makes it possible to route around the blocked websites.

A tool that PirateBrowser is dependent on is Vidalia, a cross-platform GUI for Tor. It adds a system tray icon that you can use to access all its features and run the Tor service, views a bandwidth graph and create a new browsing identity.

Since PirateBrowser makes no modifications to Mozilla FIrefox’s core, the browsing experience is equally good. Given you have a good Internet connection, the pages load instantly.

Though proving easy access to torrent portals is a questionable matter, PirateBrowser also offers you with the possibility to enjoy browsing the Internet as it is intended, without content restriction.