You can now test Firefox Private Network

The Firefox Private Network (beta) is an extension which provides a secure, encrypted path to the web to protect your connection and your personal information anywhere and everywhere you use your Firefox browser.

There are many ways that your personal information and data are exposed: online threats are everywhere, whether it’s through phishing emails or data breaches. You may often find yourself taking advantage of the free WiFi at the doctor’s office, airport or a cafe. There can be dozens of people using the same network — casually checking the web and getting social media updates.

This leaves your personal information vulnerable to those who may be lurking, waiting to take advantage of this situation to gain access to your personal info. Using the Firefox Private Network helps protect you from hackers lurking in plain sight on public connections.

Start testing the Firefox Private Network today, it’s currently available in the US on the Firefox desktop browser. A Firefox account allows you to be one of the first to test potential new products and services, you can sign up directly from the extension.

Key features of Firefox Private Network are:

• Protection when in public WiFi access points – Whether you are waiting at your doctor’s office, the airport or working from your favorite coffee shop, your connection to the internet is protected when you use the Firefox browser thanks to a secure tunnel to the web, protecting all your sensitive information like the web addresses you visit, personal and financial information.
• Internet Protocol (IP) addresses are hidden so it’s harder to track you – Your IP address is like a home address for your computer. One of the reasons why you may want to keep it hidden is to keep advertising networks from tracking your browsing history. Firefox Private Network will mask your IP address providing protection from third party trackers around the web.
• Toggle the switch on at any time. By clicking in the browser extension, you will find an on/off toggle that shows you whether you are currently protected, which you can turn on at anytime if you’d like additional privacy protection, or off if not needed at that moment.

The FireFox documentation for this says “This iterative process will give us much-needed feedback to explore technical and possible pricing options for the different online needs that the Firefox Private Network meets”. So it looks like the Firefox Private Network will be an add on that you may have to pay for in the end. At the moment during testing, this is free.