# Incognito

> operating system

**Wikidata**: [Q4169849](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4169849)  
**Source**: https://4ort.xyz/entity/incognito

## Summary  
Incognito is a Linux-based operating system designed for privacy and anonymity, derived from Gentoo Linux. It was first published on January 26, 2008, and is distributed under the GNU General Public License. The system serves as the predecessor to Tails, another well-known privacy-focused OS.

## Key Facts  
- First released on January 26, 2008  
- Based on Gentoo Linux  
- Licensed under the GNU General Public License  
- Instance of both “operating system” and “Linux distribution”  
- Serves as the derivative work underlying Tails  
- Website archived at https://web.archive.org/web/20080512054152/http://anonymityanywhere.com/incognito/  
- Has sitelinks in five Wikipedia language editions: French, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Ukrainian  
- Copyrighted software  

## FAQs  
### Q: What is Incognito used for?  
A: Incognito is used to provide users with a secure and anonymous computing environment. It helps protect user privacy by routing traffic through anonymizing networks and leaving no trace on the host machine after use.

### Q: Is Incognito still maintained?  
A: There is no active development information available beyond its initial release in 2008. Its legacy continues through Tails, which evolved from it.

### Q: How does Incognito differ from regular Linux distributions?  
A: Unlike standard Linux systems, Incognito focuses specifically on privacy and anonymity features, including live-boot capabilities and network anonymization tools.

## Why It Matters  
Incognito played a foundational role in the evolution of privacy-centric operating systems. As one of the early live systems emphasizing anonymity, it laid conceptual and technical groundwork later adopted and expanded upon by projects like Tails. In an era where digital surveillance became increasingly prevalent, Incognito offered individuals a practical tool to reclaim online privacy. Though now largely historical, its influence persists in modern privacy tools and underscores the importance of open-source solutions for protecting civil liberties in digital spaces.

## Notable For  
- Being among the earliest privacy-focused live operating systems  
- Serving as the direct precursor to Tails, a widely recognized anonymity OS  
- Built using Gentoo Linux as its base, allowing high customization  
- Released under a free software license (GNU GPL) promoting reuse and modification  
- Designed to leave no persistent traces on the host system  

## Body  

### Overview  
Incognito is a Linux-based operating system developed with a focus on privacy and anonymity. It allows users to boot directly from removable media without installing anything on the host computer's hard drive, ensuring that no personal data remains behind after use.

### Development and Release  
The project was first made publicly available on **January 26, 2008**. It was built on top of **Gentoo Linux**, leveraging Gentoo’s flexibility and performance optimization capabilities. The official website, now archived, can be found at [http://anonymityanywhere.com/incognito/](http://anonymityanywhere.com/incognito/) with a snapshot saved by the Wayback Machine on May 12, 2008.

### Licensing and Legal Status  
Incognito is distributed under the terms of the **GNU General Public License (GPL)**, making it free software. Despite being freely redistributable, it retains full copyright protection.

### Relationship to Other Projects  
One of Incognito’s most significant contributions is its role as the **direct predecessor to Tails** (The Amnesic Incognito Live System). According to documentation cited by *Linux Journal*, Tails originated as a continuation and expansion of the original Incognito concept.

### Technical Classification  
Wikidata classifies Incognito as both an **operating system** and a **Linux distribution**, reflecting its dual nature as general-purpose system software rooted in the Linux kernel ecosystem.

### Availability and Reach  
While not actively updated today, Incognito has entries across multiple linguistic versions of Wikipedia, including articles in **French, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian**, indicating some international recognition during its active period.

## References

1. [Source](http://www.linuxjournal.com/content/tails-projects-amnesic-incognito-live-system-tails)