Kickstarter Freezes Anonabox Privacy Router Project for Misleading Funders

Victorious Secret · October 17, 2014

You know what, I don't disagree with the backlash this guy got and the freezing of his Kickstarter. Not only does it not really jive with what KS should be, but he basically fudged and lied about what he "created" and misrepresented the entire project; that stuff doesn't sit well with me and with most investors I suspect.

Then again, capitalizing on the "hit thing" isn't new to the market, and its not surprising the amount of money he raised in such a short time over such a product. Still, shady way to do it and the irony is that this was such a good idea that had he invented and made something properly he wouldn't be so screwed.

All August Germar asked for was $7,500 to fund his privacy-focused router project. But as the attention and controversy around his Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign snowballed over the last five days, he found himself at one point with 82 times that amount—and now with nothing.

On Friday afternoon Kickstarter suspended the crowdfunding campaign for Anonabox, an initiative to sell a tiny, $45 router that would run all the user’s online traffic over the anonymity network Tor. The idea tapped into an explosive demand for simple privacy technology, and earned more than 10 times its modest goal in hours. But as funders shoveled more than half a million dollars into the project, they also began to pick apart Anonabox’s claims of creating custom hardware, as well as the promised security of its software. Soon, many were calling for the project to be cancelled, and asked others to report its shortfalls to Kickstarter staff, who now say they’ll return all the investors’ funds.

In an email to the project’s investors, Kickstarter told backers only that “a review of the project uncovered evidence that it broke Kickstarter’s rules.” Those rules, the email continued, prohibit “offering purchased items and claiming to have made them yourself,” “presenting someone else’s work as your own” and “misrepresenting or failing to disclose relevant facts about the project or its creator.”

The backlash against Anonabox began Tuesday evening, as users pointed out that the router’s hardware, which Anonabox creator Germar had claimed was custom-designed, could be found for sale from Chinese suppliers on sites like the business e-commerce platform Alibaba. In fact, Germar soon clarified to WIRED that the Anonabox prototype was built from an off-the-shelf case and a nearly stock board tweaked to add more flash memory storage, both sourced from the Chinese manufacturer Gainstrong. That was a reversal of some claims he had made to WIRED before our initial story on Anonabox, which we corrected Wednesday; Germar had said, for instance, that the case was created with a custom injection mold that Anonabox had paid to have its supplier create.

http://www.wired.com/2014/10/kickstarter-suspends-anonabox/

Snickerzz · October 17, 2014

#JustNightThemeProbs

Shalashaska · October 17, 2014

So if he had just made a custom case he'd probably have got away with this for longer...

BTW your post is a formatting disaster.

d3sl91 · October 17, 2014

-snip-

Would have liked something like this as well. Back to my atom-based router project

Dietrichw · October 17, 2014

If he made the firmware or programming for it and used modified hardware I don't see the issue. But if it was a simple rebrand then yeah it should be removed

LAwLz · October 17, 2014

If he made the firmware or programming for it and used modified hardware I don't see the issue. But if it was a simple rebrand then yeah it should be removed

Well he did lie about other parts such as the case and custom hardware. I mean, if you make a kickstarted where you sell special made desktops to people then I don't think anyone would shut you down. If you claim that the Intel processor and AMD graphics card were custom made as well then you will probably be in trouble.