Spring 2009

Consumers who live in the UK but want to buy from American web sites are being wooed by a system called SurfSolo, which is said to allow people to surf anonymously. The idea is that if users can't be traced to a specific country by their IP (Internet Protocol) address, there is less likelihood that they will be presented with differential pricing, or denied access to certain products or web sites.

It works by changing the reported IP address of individual users, or assigning them a new address that can't be traced back to an original geographic location. The link from the proxy server is said to resemble a secure VPN (virtual private network), and uses AES 256 bit encryption.

The German company behind it, encryption specialist SecurStar, claims government agencies in the US and Singapore among customers for its range of security products.

UK consumers can already buy goods from American web sites and have them delivered to a domestic US location, then despatched to the UK by a separate carrier. Borderlinx specialises in such a service, working with carrier DHL, and Parcel2Go markets a service in which UK consumers can rent a US delivery address.

 

SurfSolo takes the concept a stage further, though without including the shipping capability.