The MASQ web3 browser has been released on a Public Testnet and is now available for everyone to download and try, so we just did that. We have introduced the MASQ project to you last year, but it has taken quite some time for it to move from private to public beta, though that has finally happened. The main purpose of the MASQ browser is to safeguard your privacy while you are online, giving you features like no history and adblocking built-in, encrypted 3-hop routing in across other countries to provide censorship-resistance, the ability to interact with web3 services using official Metamask and Frame browser extensions, an in-built web3 dApp store and the ability to earn passive crypto by sharing your bandwidth with other users across the MASQ Network. Do note that since this is a beta version on a testnet, you are utilizing tMASQ and tMATIC tokens and not the actual tokens that will be used just for testing…
Now, our initial experience after downloading the MASQ Beta was a bit mixed as Windows Defender immediately gave a warning that we are trying to run an unrecognized app and prevented us from doing so. So, going to More Info and Run away has easily solved that on the annoying blue window we got as a warning… it is for your safety and privacy not to install privacy browsers… right… just kidding. The more serious issue came right after we finished the installation and started the MASQ browser for the first time – a “Daemon is not running” error that kind of puzzled us. After heading out to the Troubleshooting part of the Official Documentation of the MASQ Network to look for answers there were some ideas to try such as firewall or antivirus or reinstalling the app, though none of these did work out. Going for the MASQ Node executable and trying to run it manually immediately revealed what the issue was, a missing library that is a part of the latest Visual Studio Redistributable. So, downloading and installing the 64-bit version of the Latest Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable did immediately resolve the Daemon is not running error message and we were able to continue with the setup procedure.
As already mentioned, the Public Beta version of the MASQ browser is running on the Polygon Testnet and does not utilize the actual MASQ tokens that are already in circulation and can be purchased of an exchange, these tokens are just for testing the browsers functionality for now. The next step is to setup a new wallet if you do not already have one or import an existing wallet. Generating a new wallet will give you 12-word recovery phrase that you need to write down and confirm in the next step by properly ordering the words. After your new wallet is generated you will get some test tokens (tMASQ and tMATIC) available in it, so that you can test the functionality of the browser using them. Then there is a quick internet speed test performed in order to confirm that you meet the requirements to be used as a node to serve data to other users passing through you.
Now, the functionality to “Serve Data” using the MASQ browser is what allows you to earn MASQ tokens in return for helping other users be anonymous. This is you becoming a node in the mesh network of users that passes the encrypted user data around, so that the important privacy functionality can be achieved and you are incentivised to do it by getting MASQ tokens in return (test tokens in the Beta). You can decide not to Serve Data and you should still be able to use the MASQ browser, though you will not be earning the tokens this way and you can apparently decide to change your opinion later on and switch on/off. What caught our eye here in that setup page was that “By choosing to serve you accept legal responsibility of doing so”! This is important to note as serving other users data, even though encrypted and not in your control, you should still be somewhat legally responsible for that should someone utilize MASQ for illegal purposes.
A quick test of opening google.com and apparently going out through a user in Netherlands we get Google NL greeting us in Dutch. Speed wise it works quite well going through 3 hops apparently based on our first impressions. Unfortunately for the moment you are unable to choose an “exit” country to get your traffic through and that is a bit of a bummer as sometimes you need to use exact country for a website or service that has limited functionality for certain regions. That functionality should be becoming available though, remember that MASQ is still in beta. You can choose from direct to up to 3 Node hops varying your speed and privacy levels, though apparently up to 5 Node Hops would be available in the near future for additional privacy.
Here is how the Web3 Store with the Dapps looks like, some you probably are familiar with, others you might need to look up. They are categorized and you might want to look around, not that much are available for the moment, but the number should increase in the future. In general things are looking good and work quite well in the current MASQ Public Beta in our own opinion, though there are still some hiccups and things that might be polished a bit. Still, you can already get a good glimpse into how the final version will work and it does look promising as yet another privacy layer that will be available to you keeping you safer online with the added benefit of getting rewarded MASQ crypto tokens for sharing your bandwidth with other users of the network.
You can also already purchase MASQ tokens (non testnet ones) ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum through Uniswap, SushiSwap, Quickswap and they are also listed on the Probit Global exchange, however our advice is to avoid that exchange as it has a really slow support should you encounter an issue there. Resolving a simple problem that could’ve been done for a couple of days with time difference and delay and work hours etc has taken something like 3 months for Probit and it was really awful experience, so do avoid that exchange at all costs!
– To Download the MASQ Web3 Privacy Browser Public Beta and give it a try…
