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canopic jug [soylentnews.org] writes:

The Tor Project and Mullvad VPN have both announced collaboration on a privacy-oriented web browser. The joint browser, which is based on Firefox, has the features of the Tor Browser but operates over the Mullvad Virtual Private Network rather than Tor's onion routers. The collaboration has helped polish interface improvements and address several long standing issues.

Mullvad and the Tor Project have been part of the same community that is dedicated to developing technology that prioritizes protecting people's right to privacy for many years now. Mullvad contributes to the Tor Project at the highest level of membership, Shallot, and were a founding member of the Tor Project's Membership Program. They approached us to help them develop their browser because they wanted to leverage our expertise to create a product that is built on the same principles and with similar safety levels as the Tor Browser -- but that works independently of the Tor network. The result is the Mullvad Browser, a free, privacy-preserving web browser to challenge the all-too-prevalent business model of exploiting people's data for profit.

-- We've Teamed Up With Mullvad VPN to Launch the Mullvad Browser [torproject.org]

and

“The mass surveillance of today is absurd. Both from commercial actors like big tech companies and from governments,” says Jan Jonsson, CEO at Mullvad VPN. “We want to free the internet from mass surveillance and a VPN alone is not enough to achieve privacy. From our perspective there has been a gap in the market for those who want to run a privacy-focused browser as good as the Tor Project’s but with a VPN instead of the Tor Network.”

-- Mullvad VPN and the Tor Project Team up to Release the Mullvad Browser [mullvad.net]

Mullvad has been an active member of the Tor project for years.

Oh, and one more thing, speaking of VPNs, buried in the actual text of Senate Bill S.686 - RESTRICT Act 118th Congress (2023-2024) [congress.gov], hidden behind rhetoric about ByteDance and Tiktok is a ban on VPN usage [soylentnews.org].

Previously:
(2023) The 'Insanely Broad' RESTRICT Act Could Ban VPNs in the USA [soylentnews.org]
(2022) Are Virtual Private Networks Actually Private? [soylentnews.org]
(2022) VPN Providers Remove Servers From India in Wake of New Data Collection Laws [soylentnews.org]
(2022) Tor Project Upgrades Network Speed Performance with New System [soylentnews.org]
(2014) VPN Providers Response to Heartbleed [soylentnews.org]

Original Submission