How effective are the anonymous secure surfing sites?

[aphex]

Just curious... Sites like <a target=_blank class=ftalternatingbarlinklarge href="https://www.secure-tunnel.com/">https://www.secure-tunnel.com/</a> that charge $10/mo to encrypt basically everything (web browsing, ftp, newsgroups, etc) though a secure "anonymous" tunnel...

#1 - Do they work well? What other options are out there?
#2 - Whats to stop another entity from subpoenaing their records just like your ISP?

Just curious...

 

[n0cmonkey]

#2: Nothing.

How much do you trust them? That's the real question you should be asking.

 

[Skeeedunt]

I thought those were mostly to encrypt your traffic over wifi (i.e. so you can surf at public hot spots with better protection). If they're based in the US I wouldn't count on them ignoring a subpoena. If you want anonymity I think you need to look at onion routing or something similar.

Example 3

You're a college student that likes to hang out online in your spare time and play video games. Unfortunately your school, "Buzkil University", restricts all the ports necessary to play your favorite online games.

Never fear, Secure-Tunnel to the rescue! By running your game through Secure Tunnel, your school will not only never know what you are up to online, but they will be unable to stop you, because all your video game traffic will pass through a single port that the university has to leave open. Ta Daaaaa!

Of course this one also makes you unstoppable, which might be worth $10/month.