How to use a Raspberry Pi to browse anonymously

If you find this tutorial too cumbersome or want to set up something for a non-technical friend or relative, there are several ready-made hardware solutions that can anonymise all their web traffic in a similar fashion.

There's the OnionPi Pack from AdaFruit, which includes a Raspberry Pi B+ and a compatible USB Wi-Fi adaptor along with a case for the Raspberry Pi, cables, SD card and everything else you need to set up your Tor-ified Wi-Fi hitspot. The bundle costs $80. However, you'll still have to follow the instructions and set it yourself.

If you'd rather have something more plug-and-play, there's the SafePlug from the guys who bought us PogoPlug. It's a $49 device that plugs into your wireless router and once activated routes all traffic over the Tor network. A neater and smaller alternative is the Anonabox. This is a router that you can directly connect to via Wi-Fi or Ethernet.

Another router-based option is Portal, which stands for Personal Onion Router To Assure Liberty. The project produces a pre-built software image for several TP-Link routers. You can simply flash the Portal firmware image onto these routers following the instructions on the project's website.