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Blog - Privacy

Jun 16, 2021

Introducing Orchid’s Privacy Guardians Program

Earn rewards for making Internet privacy more accessible than ever

Jun 7, 2021

Privacy

Rebecca Wexler on Leveraging Tech to Create Better Criminal Justice Systems

"Who gets access to information? Who gets to withhold it, and why, and how?" These questions are at the center of the work of Rebecca Wexler, an assistant professor of law at the University of California Berkeley.

Jun 1, 2021

The Localization Lab's Dragana Kaurin on Building Tech for Marginalized Populations

"To be able to meet people's needs, you need to ask the question: 'what do you need?'" said Dragana Kaurin, human rights researcher and founder of The Localization Lab. She was speaking to Derek Silva, the host of Orchid's Priv8 podcast.

May 26, 2021

Will quantum computing impact the blockchain space?

Quantum computing promises the ability to perform computations at speeds that are orders of magnitude beyond those of current computers. But what does quantum computing mean for the future of blockchain?

May 17, 2021

NYT’s Kara Swisher speaks with Audrey Tang on whether safety and privacy can co-exist

Kara Swisher has been described as Silicon Valley's "most powerful tech journalist.” Her opinion pieces appear regularly in The New York Times, and she is the host and co-host, respectively, of podcasts Sway and Pivot.

May 11, 2021

Anonymizers vs. VPNs: Everything You Need to Know

In the world of cybersecurity, people have seemingly infinite tools at their disposal – cybersecurity is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor.

May 6, 2021

Edward Snowden joins Priv8 to discuss causes and solutions for a broken Internet

“The Internet is broken because it reflects a broken society.”

May 3, 2021

What is split tunneling?

No one likes a traffic jam. Whether you are in Mumbai, Moscow, or Miami, the experience is universally frustrating. But traffic jams don’t just occur on busy roads...

Apr 28, 2021

Orchid CEO Dr. Steven Waterhouse Speaks at Collision 2021

On April 22, Orchid co-founder and CEO Dr. Steven Waterhouse spoke at Collision Conference, one of the largest tech conferences in the world.

Apr 22, 2021

Follow the White Rabbit is now the Priv8 Podcast

With new host Derek Silva, the podcast will continue to push the conversation when it comes to privacy

Apr 15, 2021

What does a VPN hide?

Many people use VPNs for Internet privacy. Do you know what they truly hide?

Apr 5, 2021

Tor Bair on Building a Better, Private Internet

Tor Bair is on a mission to make privacy an essential part of the Internet by promoting decentralized technologies that focus on keeping information private.

Mar 31, 2021

Highlights from Priv8, Orchid’s virtual privacy summit

Last Thursday marked the final day of the Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit. The first-of-its-kind event brought together experts, academics, and evangelists from around the world of privacy for an eye-opening week of panels, discussions, and sharing of insights.

Mar 29, 2021

Aibek Esengulov on Keeping Control of Your Money and the Power of Blockchain

Aibek Esengulov suffered the consequences of centralized financial systems – so he decided to fix the problem.

Mar 23, 2021

Final Speakers Announced for Orchid’s Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit

We are thrilled to announce that Fereshteh Forough of Code to Inspire, Jeff John Roberts and Adriana Hamacher of Decrypt, Anne Fauvre-Willis of Oasis Labs, Harry Halpin of Nym Technologies, Cade Diehm of The New Design Congress and EEQJ’s Jeffrey Paul will speak at Orchid’s Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit.

Mar 22, 2021

Kevin Werbach joins Priv8’s expanding roster of speakers

We are thrilled to announce that Kevin Werbach of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School will speak at Orchid’s Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit.

Mar 22, 2021

Marvin Tong on Battling the “Data Empire” with Privacy and Decentralization

Marvin Tong wants to revolutionize decentralized blockchain technologies by ensuring that user data is kept private on-chain.

Mar 18, 2021

Jen Zhu Scott joins Priv8’s expanding roster of speakers

We are thrilled to announce that Jen Zhu Scott of The Commons Project Foundation will speak at Orchid’s Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit.

Mar 17, 2021

FT Editor Izabella Kaminska will speak at Orchid’s Priv8

We are thrilled to announce two new speakers. Izabella Kaminska, editor of the Financial Times’s Alphaville blog, will speak at Orchid’s Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit.

Mar 16, 2021

Yele Bademosi joins Priv8’s expanding roster of speakers

We are thrilled to announce that Yele Bademosi, CEO of Bundle Africa, will speak at Orchid’s Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit.

Mar 15, 2021

Gregory Landua on Avoiding ‘Mad-Max’ and Totalitarian Futures by Incentivizing Healthy Agriculture

Gregory Landua wants to save civilization from disintegrating. How? By aligning short-term economic incentives with long-term ecological health.

Mar 11, 2021

NYT’s Kara Swisher will speak at Priv8

We are thrilled to announce that Kara Swisher of The New York Times will speak at Orchid’s Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit.

Mar 8, 2021

Orchid CEO Dr. Steven Waterhouse answers users’ questions in Hillrise Capital AMA

Last month Orchid’s co-founder and CEO Dr. Steven Waterhouse (Seven) answered questions in a Telegram AMA with Hillrise Capital.

Mar 4, 2021

Jorge Rios will discuss the future of the Internet at Priv8

We are thrilled to announce that Jorge Rios of Bridgefy will speak at Orchid’s Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit.

Mar 2, 2021

Peter Van Valkenburgh joins Priv8’s expanding roster of speakers

We are thrilled to announce that Peter Van Valkenburgh of Coin Center will speak at Orchid’s Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit.

Mar 1, 2021

David Henkel-Wallace on Open Source and Human Motivation

David “Gumby” Henkel-Wallace recalls how on multiple occasions he was called an idiot to his face because of his pioneering work on open-source only to be given a purchase order by the same people.

Feb 25, 2021

Ryan Selkis joins Priv8 to explore the pandemic’s implications for privacy

We are thrilled to announce that Messari's Ryan Selkis will speak at Orchid's Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit.

Feb 24, 2021

What happens when a VPN gets hacked?

VPNs can keep us safe from surveillance and data theft when we use the Internet. But what if the VPN itself is compromised?

Feb 24, 2021

Gate.io lists OXT

OXT, the Orchid digital asset, is now listed on gate.io, a digital asset exchange that supports BTC, LTC, Ethereum, Qtum and more. Gate.io currently serves millions of users from over 130 countries around the world.

Feb 23, 2021

Zooko Wilcox will speak at Orchid’s Priv8 Summit

We are thrilled to announce that Zooko Wilcox, Founder and CEO of the Electric Coin Company that leads the development of Zcash, will speak at Orchid’s Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit.

Feb 23, 2021

Orchid answers the community’s questions in Binance Español AMA

Orchid’s Derek Silva recently answered questions from Binance Español in a Telegram AMA. The questions touched on Orchid’s backstory and mission, as well as recent improvements that make the app available to millions more people around the world and our plans for the coming year. For those who weren’t able to make it, here are some highlights from the event.

Feb 22, 2021

Orchid expands in Korea as OXT is listed on Bithumb

OXT, the Orchid digital asset, is now listed on Bithumb, a global digital asset exchange founded in South Korea, as Orchid expands to reach more users around the globe.

Feb 22, 2021

Lance Vick on Security Vulnerabilities and the Need for Privacy

Lance Vick has been fixing digital security risks since the age of 14. “At the time, I was just a teenager, and I didn’t have any experience,” Lance said on the latest Follow the White Rabbit podcast recounting his early exploration of program vulnerabilities.

Feb 18, 2021

Ken Liu joins Priv8’s expanding roster of speakers

We are excited to announce that award-winning author Ken Liu will speak at Orchid’s Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit. Priv8 is a first-of-its-kind event focused on digital privacy.

Feb 15, 2021

Leigh Honeywell on Online Harassment and How to Protect Yourself

Leigh Honeywell wants to curb online harassment by helping companies protect their employees in a balancing act at the nexus of privacy and security.

Feb 11, 2021

Sheila Warren joins Priv8’s expanding roster of speakers

We are thrilled to announce that Sheila Warren of the World Economic Forum will speak at Orchid’s Priv8 Virtual Privacy Summit.

Feb 11, 2021

Orchid learns three new languages

Orchid is now available to the more than 750 million people around the world who speak Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish.

Feb 10, 2021

Should you leave your VPN on all the time?

Using the Internet is never completely without risk, but some functions are more sensitive than others

Feb 8, 2021

Joe Toscano on Fighting Big Tech Bias With Data Science

Joe Toscano turned the adage "if you can't beat them, join them" on its head and decided to leave his work as a Google consultant and take the fight over data privacy to Big Tech.

Feb 4, 2021

Meet Orchid (virtually) at ETHDenver 2021

The event, which takes place virtually for the first time, will feature a talk by Co-founder and CEO Dr. Steven Waterhouse

Feb 3, 2021

Announcing Priv8, Orchid’s digital privacy summit, featuring Edward Snowden

The famed whistleblower will be joined by global privacy advocates, government leaders, academics and technologists

Feb 1, 2021

John Redgrave on Building Iron Man Suits for the Janitors of the Internet

John Redgrave made a decision that he didn’t want his kids growing up in a digitally native society where online abuse was prevalent. So he set out to create the tools for content moderators to battle abusive online voices while balancing the principles of privacy.

Jan 27, 2021

How to completely clear your web browsing history

Even if you delete history and cookies, your Internet activity leaves other footprints. Here’s how to remove them.

Jan 25, 2021

Nathan Wilcox on How Privacy is Essential For Economic Freedom

Nathan Wilcox is at the center of the struggle between the opportunities and risks of technology, striving to provide economic freedom to people everywhere with privacy and decentralization.

Jan 20, 2021

How we built Orchid.com without cookies or other tracking tools

With a few key steps, it’s possible to build a website that doesn’t rely on user tracking and data harvesting.

Jan 19, 2021

Pioneer Filmmaker Jamie King on Disinformation and “Reality Wars”

Jamie King’s filmmaking career crosses the arc from his pioneering distribution of the documentary “Steal This Film” to his latest project that analyzes mass manipulation around false memes such as “Stop the Steal.”

Jan 13, 2021

Orchid Integrates with WalletConnect

Orchid now supports WalletConnect, a popular open source protocol for connecting decentralised applications to mobile wallets with QR code scanning or deep linking.

Jan 11, 2021

Franck Nouyrigat on the Future of Democracy and Decentralized Elections

Franck Nouyrigat literally used to spend his weekends helping startups launch. The non-profit he helped found more than a decade ago -- Startup Weekend -- eventually established a presence in more countries than Starbucks and helped build startup communities over weekend-long events.

Jan 5, 2021

Yaniv Tal on Organizing Data To Unlock the Potential of Decentralization

Yaniv Tal first understood how decentralization could help solve the world's economic problems, especially resource allocation, during the 2008-2009 financial crisis when many of his talented graduate peers felt like giving up on even searching for a job and being forced to let their potential go to waste.

Dec 17, 2020

Andreas Antonopoulos on Privacy, Society and “Special” Ethereum

Andreas Antonopoulos has one word of advice for anyone working in blockchain -- privacy.

Dec 14, 2020

Kurt Rohloff on 9/11 Inspiring a Path to Privacy, Encryption and Military Intelligence

Kurt Rohloff was at engineering grad school during the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington in 2001 and quickly decided he wanted to play his “small part” in helping national security. It was not long before Kurt was working on projects to support the mission of DARPA, (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and leading teams in the first implementation of a new concept in encryption.

Dec 10, 2020

Orchid’s top privacy tips of 2020

Since Orchid launched in December 2019, concerns about privacy have come to the fore. A global pandemic has upended the way people around the world live, work, learn, and more. In this unprecedented year, the surge in remote work and schooling have heightened awareness of online privacy risks and driven more people than ever to seek out solutions such as VPNs.

Dec 7, 2020

Anne Ahola Ward on SEO, Privacy and a Vindicated Science Project

Anne Ahola Ward may have received a C grade for a school science project when she sewed a watch onto a T-shirt but the CEO of CircleClick Media was vindicated years later when wearables entered the mainstream and boomed.

Nov 18, 2020

"Data Creep" and the ever-expanding universe of targeted ads

You’re not imagining it. Advertisers can now show us what we want before we know we want it.

Nov 16, 2020

Orchid’s “Follow the White Rabbit” Podcast is Hopping Onto Audius

We are thrilled that Audius, the decentralized, community-owned streaming platform, will start this month to carry our very own Follow the White Rabbit podcast.

Nov 10, 2020

What’s the best VPN for crypto users?

VPNs were developed to address users' innate desire for privacy -- and therefore, personal autonomy. And though it serves a different use case, cryptocurrency appeals to this same core need.

Nov 2, 2020

Latin America Looks to Blockchain to Improve Human Rights, Reporter Says

Felipe Erazo is an investigative journalist who researched the disappearance of 65,000 people during decades of civil war in his home country of Colombia.

Oct 26, 2020

Indian Crypto Exchange Founder on Financial Censorship

Neeraj Khandelwal co-founded CoinDCX, India's largest cryptocurrency exchange, in response to his own liquidity-starved trading challenges.

Oct 22, 2020

State of privacy: a deep dive into U.S. data protection laws

While the U.S. as a whole lacks a unifying set of rules around online privacy, states and localities have begun to enact numerous, varied approaches with the potential for wildly differing outcomes.

Oct 20, 2020

David Pan on China’s Impact on Blockchain and Human rights

David Pan is originally from China and moved to the United States three years ago for a masters degree in business journalism. That propelled him to becoming an international business reporter at the largest blockchain and cryptocurrency media publication, Coindesk.

Oct 14, 2020

How to make sure your VPN is working properly

VPN leaks can jeopardize users’ privacy. Here’s how to find them and fix them.

Oct 13, 2020

Orchid finishes Q3 with strong momentum and a growing global presence

The past few months have seen major disruption in nearly every sector of the global economy -- and privacy has been particularly prominent. At times it can seem like every policy and business question, from contact tracing to TikTok, touches on privacy.

Oct 13, 2020

Zero Knowledge Pioneer on Mass Adoption of Blockchain and Financial Freedom

Alex Gluchowski grew up in Ukraine where he suffered first hand the blight of hyperinflation as a whole population lost its savings and families were left scrambling to put food on the table. That experience inspired Alex to search for alternatives to the traditional financial system and led him decades later to found Matter Labs, a research and development company pioneering blockchain scalability and privacy solutions.

Oct 6, 2020

Can you protect your privacy by using a VPN to access TikTok or WeChat?

VPNs can allow people to access banned apps -- but they won’t protect you from those apps’ mass data collection

Oct 5, 2020

Oasis Labs CEO Dawn Song on Building the Responsible Data Economy

Dawn Song is ranked as the most cited scholar on computer security. So when the UC Berkeley Professor of Computer Science and CEO of Oasis Labs says she is helping to build a new data privacy paradigm, people pay attention.

Oct 1, 2020

It’s easy for enterprises to get started with Orchid

How to get your whole team set up to use the Internet in privacy with Orchid.

Sep 29, 2020

Ex-FDIC Regulator On Trust And the Battle of the Social Media Videos

When Jason Brett first arrived at the FDIC, he was greeted with the joke that he should have brought a pillow to work at the sleepy agency. Little did he know that, within a week in that summer of 2008, he would have a front-row seat to what was the largest bank collapse in U.S. history.

Sep 24, 2020

How to protect your privacy on a mobile phone

Digital privacy is elusive unless it extends to the most common gateway to the Internet: mobile devices

Sep 22, 2020

Can Technology Be Compassionate? Developer Val Mack Explains How

Val Mack, a Software Architect at Quant Five, and founder of Festival Labs, believes cryptography and blockchain have the power to do social good by protecting privacy and allowing autonomy in what she calls “compassionate technology.”

Sep 15, 2020

Open Source Elections Pioneer on Helping Voters With Technology

Dr. Juan E. Gilbert, a professor at the University of Florida, can recall the disputed U.S. presidential election 20 years ago when fiascos over counting ballots in the Sunshine State left the country in limbo.

Sep 11, 2020

How to protect students’ privacy online, from VR to VPNs

Widespread remote learning has introduced new opportunities as well as new dangers

Sep 8, 2020

Pioneer Programmer Brian J. Fox on Championing Open Source

When Brian J. Fox, Co-founder of Orchid and the original author of the GNU Bash shell, started out as a pioneer programmer, it was the free exchange of creative ideas that drove advances in computer science.

Sep 3, 2020

Privacy trends in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic

As the world continues to deal with the effects of the pandemic, combining good privacy habits with the right digital tools is the best way to preserve privacy

Sep 1, 2020

Beanstalk Ventures Managing Partner Ken Seiff on the dark side of the Internet

With a special guest appearance by Orchid CEO Dr. Steven Waterhouse on this week's episode of Follow the White Rabbit

Aug 31, 2020

What the global VPN market’s explosive growth means for Orchid

Orchid’s decentralized marketplace is positioned to meet surging demand for online privacy.

Aug 27, 2020

How to start using Orchid’s crypto VPN in seconds

Orchid’s unique VPN marketplace lets people reclaim the Internet as a place of freedom and curiosity with the highest level of online privacy. And now it’s easier than ever to get started with Orchid using in-app purchases.

Aug 24, 2020

Richard Muirhead on Blockchain and the New Decentralized Economy

Richard Muirhead has been a Bitcoin believer since as early as 2013. That has provided the partner of Fabric Ventures with a valuable perspective on blockchain and digital assets.

Aug 17, 2020

Berkeley City Council Member Ben Bartlett on civil rights and defending democracy

This week on Follow the White Rabbit, Ben speaks with Orchid’s Alex Kehaya on the fight for freedom and civil rights in the context of his own personal journey.

Aug 10, 2020

Crypto pioneer David Chaum on election security and the decline of democracy

This week on Follow the White Rabbit, Orchid’s Alex Kehaya speaks with David about the future of digital currency, and why he believes democracy is on the decline.

Aug 3, 2020

Cindy Cohn speaks with Orchid about online privacy and the Fourth Amendment

Orchid’s Alex Kehaya had a wide-ranging conversation with the online privacy advocate covering little-known laws, past victories for privacy, the future of encryption, and more.

Jul 28, 2020

How people are reclaiming Internet freedom with Orchid, from Dubai to Ukraine to Venezuela

Jun 10, 2020

Tracking pixels, building blocks of Internet surveillance, explained

The Internet has changed life in ways so profound that it's easy to lose sight of their full extent.

Jun 8, 2020

Follow the White Rabbit: Orchid’s privacy podcast

Through weekly interviews, we’re opening up a space for discussion and debate on issues related to privacy

May 26, 2020

DNS-over-https is long overdue -- but people still need Internet privacy tools

News that Chrome and Firefox will adopt default encryption of DNS requests is a step forward for privacy -- but not a panacea

May 1, 2020

Defending freedom in the time of coronavirus

The world is in the grip of a pandemic. Governments are reacting in different ways, but a common thread that’s emerging is a trend toward greater surveillance and restrictions on movement.

Apr 29, 2020

Can you be tracked using a VPN?

How Orchid can help users avoid online surveillance

Apr 28, 2020

Why Internet privacy matters more than ever

How Orchid is working to restore online privacy for people and businesses

Apr 8, 2020

How Orchid improves privacy using a public blockchain

Orchid is an incentivized privacy network, Open Source project, and consumer VPN service aimed to deliver new levels of privacy. But what does privacy mean? How private is Orchid, which relies on pseudo-anonymous payments on Ethereum?

Mar 30, 2020

Orchid's tips for protecting your privacy while working from home

Privacy is like hygiene: establishing good habits and using the right products can help keep you safe while working from home

Jan 28, 2020

It’s #DataPrivacyDay. Ethereal and Orchid are committed to realizing its promise.

As we recognize Data Privacy Day this year, we’re excited to announce that we’ve joined forces with Ethereal as their official privacy partner.

Jan 21, 2020

Get hopping faster: Making privacy easier with QR codes

At Orchid, we’re committed to growing the privacy network so anyone, anywhere can access the Orchid VPN. That’s why we’re excited to announce an improvement to our user interface that simplifies our users’ first steps to get Orchid up and running.

Dec 16, 2019

Orchid’s Privacy Network Launches

Start using the decentralized VPN at Orchid.com

Nov 10, 2019

Why Ordinary People Are Turning to VPNs

As governments and corporations around the world move to control our online experiences, VPN usage worldwide is growing at an astronomical pace. But along with this growth, misconceptions about what type of—and why—people are using the technology still abound.