TOR - Anonymous browser, accessing the Deep Web

[FoxMammaWisdom]

Is anyone here familiar with this, how it works, its efficacy, etc?

https://www.torproject.org/projects/tor ... #downloads" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rensai]

Yes. It can help anonymize you from most people, ISP's, etc. It will not help with the NSA though. In fact using TOR will likely increase their interest in your traffic. It also allows the exit node to snoop. Bottom line, there is no true anonymity, but it might help in some cases. It just depends who you want to hide from.

[Joel]

I been using Tor off and on for about a year or so, Comcast will fine you or cancel your service if you use it.

[uglypitbull]

the NSA can read TOR mail using its Xkeyscore program. The whole concept of onion routing was developed by DARPA in 1997...that should tell you all you need to know about how secure it is (/sarcasm) TOR was partially funded by the US Govt.

http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis ... 26898.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mes5464]

the NSA can read TOR mail using its Xkeyscore program. The whole concept of onion routing was developed by DARPA in 1997...that should tell you all you need to know about how secure it is (/sarcasm) TOR was partially funded by the US Govt.

http://tech.firstpost.com/news-analysis ... 26898.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

As an IT professional, I can confirm what UPB said.
I am the second witness.

[Elias Returns]

I use this on my cell phone. I was introduced to this by a Hebrew friend that has many ties within certain Jewish Intell. groups. He told me this is what they, his friends use in their communications.

[samizdat]

Tor is translated as goal or gateway in German. In this context, gateway.

Not a good idea to use it. Because the gateway advertised as secret has to open up every now and then.

[FoxMammaWisdom]

Forgive my ignorance here - and I appreciate all the info so far, but if the NSA and gov can watch what you're doing through portals to the Deep Web like Tor, then how can people sell bodies and hire hit men and openly deal truckloads of crack there - on venues like a Deep Web Craigslist, and not be caught?

[azalea.rubicon]

If anyone is interested, ProtonMail is out there. Just google it. The wait is a few months but I finally have an account.

[FoxMammaWisdom]

If anyone is interested, ProtonMail is out there. Just google it. The wait is a few months but I finally have an account.

What is that?

[azalea.rubicon]

If anyone is interested, ProtonMail is out there. Just google it. The wait is a few months but I finally have an account.

What is that?

A secure email provider that won't give you up to the NSA.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/23/proton ... o-the-nsa/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[uglypitbull]

If anyone is interested, ProtonMail is out there. Just google it. The wait is a few months but I finally have an account.

What is that?

A secure email provider that won't give you up to the NSA.

http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/23/proton ... o-the-nsa/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not quite....

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/07 ... avascript/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Rensai]

Forgive my ignorance here - and I appreciate all the info so far, but if the NSA and gov can watch what you're doing through portals to the Deep Web like Tor, then how can people sell bodies and hire hit men and openly deal truckloads of crack there - on venues like a Deep Web Craigslist, and not be caught?

Simple answer, because the government allows those things to happen in order to hide their own activities in TOR as well.

http://www.networkworld.com/article/222 ... pying.html

The discussion started on tor-talk about Iran cracking down on "web dissident technology." The question was raised about why the government would create and continue to fund a technology like Tor that could be used against them. It was then answered that people should take a common sense approach, instead of a conspiracy theory, to realize the most effective way for the government to anonymize its Net communications is to make Tor available to anyone and everyone. An anonymity network used only the government would not work.

When Michael Reed, one of the original developers of the onion routing program, responded to the thread, he wrote:

BINGO, we have a winner! The original *QUESTION* posed that led to the invention of Onion Routing was, "Can we build a system that allows for bi-directional communications over the Internet where the source and destination cannot be determined by a mid-point?" The *PURPOSE* was for DoD / Intelligence usage (open source intelligence gathering, covering of forward deployed assets, whatever). Not helping dissidents in repressive countries. Not assisting criminals in covering their electronic tracks. Not helping bit-torrent users avoid MPAA/RIAA prosecution. Not giving a 10 year old a way to bypass an anti-porn filter. Of course, we knew those would be other unavoidable uses for the technology, but that was immaterial to the problem at hand we were trying to solve (and if those uses were going to give us more cover traffic to better hide what we wanted to use the network for, all the better...I once told a flag officer that much to his chagrin).

[uglypitbull]

Simple answer, because the government allows those things to happen in order to hide their own activities in TOR as well.

Agreed....also, you will NOT find a secure method of Internet privacy from any product that is commercially available.

[Rensai]

http://techcrunch.com/2014/06/23/proton ... o-the-nsa/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Not quite....

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/07 ... avascript/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No email is completely secure, but ProtonMail is doing better than most.

Another good option might be https://mykolab.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Its not free, but the software running it is now open source, which is a great bonus for security. It was originally written for Germany's office of information security, so it was designed to be secure, and it has all the features everyone likes such as calendars, mobile phone apps, etc. Like ProtonMail, this service is hosted in Switzerland.