Tor (The Onion Router): Difference between revisions
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'''Tor''' is a free open source project providing people with a [[proxy]] to make your computer IP anonymous when surfing the Internet. | '''Tor''' is a free open source project providing people with a [[proxy]] to make your computer IP anonymous when surfing the Internet. | ||
Normal proxies | Normal proxies forward your data using a single server, they hide your computer IP from websites you visit by placing themselves in the middle of the data transfer, your privacy could still be compromised by the owner of that single proxy or by a hostile party monitoring the proxy server. The tor network uses onion layer routing, called that way because it resembles the way onions are peeled, instead of data being routed through a single proxy everything will be send encrypted using a multiple chain of proxies, with a minimum of three servers located in different countries. If a tor server administrator has followed the instructions, it will have been set not to keep logs making it impossible to compromise people's security even if the server is seized, the proxy chain is also set up to keep changing servers every few minutes, for a major spy agency to be able to spy on the tor network they would have to control all of the servers in the tor network, controlling just a couple of servers would not be enough to track down a user. The tor network is known to be slow and not recommended to download files, the speed it provides is normally enough to anonymously browse websites that are not too heavy on photos or videos, it can cause buffering streaming video. | ||
To access the tor network the end user runs a program called a tor client on his computer, this comes with an extra filtering program (like [[Privoxy]]) between the tor client and the Internet browser on the local computer due to the risk of applications like Java revealing user information. Any tor user with sufficient bandwidth can also choose to run a proxy allowing other tor users route traffic through his computer, one has to be very careful when running an end tor node, the one which IP is visible on the Internet, as of April 2013 there has never been a single tor user ever tracked down and taken to court for any controversial activity he might have carried out using tor, but the police has arrested exit tor node operators in the past attempting to hold them responsible for what other users post using their server IPs. | |||
The tor technology is attractive to [[boylover]]s because of the [[anonymity]] offered by the proxy network, the tor network also hosts hidden sites that can not be taken offline because it is not possible to work out which server is hosting them, however these sites, with the extension ''.onion'', are only accessible if you run tor software in your computer. | The tor technology is attractive to [[boylover]]s because of the [[anonymity]] offered by the proxy network, the tor network also hosts hidden sites that can not be taken offline because it is not possible to work out which server is hosting them, however these sites, with the extension ''.onion'', are only accessible if you run tor software in your computer. | ||
Revision as of 02:16, 19 April 2013
Tor is a free open source project providing people with a proxy to make your computer IP anonymous when surfing the Internet.
Normal proxies forward your data using a single server, they hide your computer IP from websites you visit by placing themselves in the middle of the data transfer, your privacy could still be compromised by the owner of that single proxy or by a hostile party monitoring the proxy server. The tor network uses onion layer routing, called that way because it resembles the way onions are peeled, instead of data being routed through a single proxy everything will be send encrypted using a multiple chain of proxies, with a minimum of three servers located in different countries. If a tor server administrator has followed the instructions, it will have been set not to keep logs making it impossible to compromise people's security even if the server is seized, the proxy chain is also set up to keep changing servers every few minutes, for a major spy agency to be able to spy on the tor network they would have to control all of the servers in the tor network, controlling just a couple of servers would not be enough to track down a user. The tor network is known to be slow and not recommended to download files, the speed it provides is normally enough to anonymously browse websites that are not too heavy on photos or videos, it can cause buffering streaming video.
To access the tor network the end user runs a program called a tor client on his computer, this comes with an extra filtering program (like Privoxy) between the tor client and the Internet browser on the local computer due to the risk of applications like Java revealing user information. Any tor user with sufficient bandwidth can also choose to run a proxy allowing other tor users route traffic through his computer, one has to be very careful when running an end tor node, the one which IP is visible on the Internet, as of April 2013 there has never been a single tor user ever tracked down and taken to court for any controversial activity he might have carried out using tor, but the police has arrested exit tor node operators in the past attempting to hold them responsible for what other users post using their server IPs.
The tor technology is attractive to boylovers because of the anonymity offered by the proxy network, the tor network also hosts hidden sites that can not be taken offline because it is not possible to work out which server is hosting them, however these sites, with the extension .onion, are only accessible if you run tor software in your computer.
Tor and live CD
Even when you use tor it could still be possible for someone to steal your computer hard drive and look at the contents, websites you have visited using tor proxy can be found out in the Internet browser cache. Using a live CD to browse the Internet will avoid leaving tracks in your hard drive, after you have finished using a live CD all of the data held in volatile RAM memory will be gone and recovery will not be possible, A live CD (i.e. Tails) with tor is one of the most powerful anonymity tools that exist.
