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Beyond Privacy to Dollars and Cents #CES2017

It has been well reported that the offers one receives online is dependent upon many factors, such as her IP address, browsing history and even the type of computer she uses.  In the above video, Christian Bennefeld, CEO of eBlocker, provides an example of how he received two different prices for the same search by creating two different profiles that were presented to the travel website.

To show these different profiles, Bennefeld’s used the eBlocker, which is a hardware-device that attaches to a home network via Ethernet and does deep packet inspection on the traffic in the network. Bennefeld emphasizes that with this approach, the user profiles and history stays on the device and is not transmitted to the cloud, ensuring privacy.

The eBlocker toolbar extension allows one to set up a profile that they want to present to websites (e.g. mobile, PC, OS, etc). There are three different levels of product, (eBlocker.Base, eBlocker.Pro and eBlocker.Family). All models anonymize IP addresses, which eBlocker indicates will block spying from ISPs, as well as bypassing censorship of country-specific content.

The .Pro model adds features such as malware and phishing protection, blocking of ad trackers, device cloaking and support of mobile devices (e.g. the mobile devices tunnel into the home network).  As would be expected, the .Family version adds things such as parental controls and Internet time allowances to limit children (or spouse’s) time on the web. For the DIY crowd, eBlocker provides software that may be added to a Raspberry Pi or Banana Pi, allowing a homegrown hardware solution as well.

Pricing ranges from $119 to $279, depending upon the model. The .Pro and .Family models have software license fees with either annual or lifetime options. Of course, one online purchase with a cloaked profile might result in enough savings to effectively pay for this unit.

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