HOW TO surf anonymous

[KyonoRocks]

Can anyone help me? 2 posts up. I need to watch videos on YouTube and for some reason web proxies don't let me! I hate China arghh!

[plyn_]

Can anyone help me? 2 posts up. I need to watch videos on YouTube and for some reason web proxies don't let me! I hate China arghh!

gotomypc.com

If you can access a computer outside of the country, then you can open a browser and surf the net. Given that you know someone who would let you run this on their comp. Tried and tested from within China as of 7/09.

[brianmc]

This entire thread should be completely taken down and all links to it redirected to a well written tutorial on tor. The details may well have been correct several years ago, but not now, not in any clear and concise way, and not with notes of what tor should not be used for.

No, it is not for use with your precious p2p client. Look for another solution to that problem. There are people living under oppressive regimes need the bandwidth you'd suck up just to get the next episode of "Pets do The Funniest Things".

No it is not for hulu, spotify, youtube, or any damn ENTERTAINMENT site that your ISP or country blocks you from. First, for the same reasons as p2p is out. Second because these sites frequently use Flash and Java.

Flash has it's own in-built cookie mechanism. Changing your Firefox settings, or the Privoxy settings will not stop this. If you ever run flash from the same site both via tor, and direct, your identity is compromised.

Java, when run locally, can obtain sensitive information and pass it back to the web site you are looking at. ALWAYS disable Java when using Tor.

On Windows, there is the Vidalia package, this - in combination with Torbutton for Firefox - does things right. This is also the configuration best-tested by the Tor developers.

Torbutton for the standard version of Firefox shipped with 9.04 Jaunty is ... shite. It is unreliable in toggling between using and not using Tor, but at least it does deal with a lot of the important security issues like Flash, Java, and cookies. Yes, if cookie settings are wrong, or not stripped somewhere you're identity is revealed again.

The Vidalia 'manager' window would be nice to have - but does not work if you have tor set up as a service and launched fairly early on. With it you could easily manage the Tor setup, and at-will request a new circuit,

At the moment, if you want Tor you have to get it from the tor project's repository. Yet, EVERY SINGLE UBUNTU TUTORIAL HERE makes zero mention of actually checking the full fingerprint of the key used to sign packages. If you don't know why this is important, google for hash collisions before one has you as the bitch of some Chinese hacker.

Grumbling over, I'm off to see if I can put together a decent tutorial on this, one that's not "DO A,B,C,D" result: super-anonymous! Because that, quite simply, is not how these things work.

[MelDJ]

this tutorial is four years old. its better if you google a way to do it than read this

[brianmc]

this tutorial is four years old. its better if you google a way to do it than read this

Yes, but you're forgetting something. Virtually every other tutorial 'out there' is equally outdated. Google does take age into account in its algorithm, this is one of the first hits people will find - and get it disastrously wrong.

I at least have the advantage that I know who Peter Palfrader is, and have some background in the theory of secure communications over an insecure network. If I write a tutorial, I can at least get it sanity-checked before someone else who really needs Tor to work properly screws up and ends up consigned to an oubliette in some oppressive regime.

If you want to say, "move on, try somewhere else, pray you don't **** up", fine. It's the wrong attitude and reaction to this particular piece of incorrect (or, more charitably, outdated) information.

I'm going to do something about it, but in the meantime I would say that anyone who wants to access the web using strong anonymity (and doesn't have a fair to good understanding of cryptography, onion routing, and browser leakage) get the Vidalia bundle for Windows, yes, you heard, Windows. It has been extensively tested by people who know what they're doing, and what attacks using Tor can be subjected to. The sad fact is, their efforts are best invested there to provide the best protection to as many people as possible.

For those who still want to try and get Tor running with this - or any other tutorial - the following are important points.

• Tor will always mean access to the web - or any other service - is much slower. The encryption involved adds an overhead; but, more importantly, your traffic is probably going at least four times further between you and the sites you look at - versus the direct connection.
• Cookies, Flash, Java, and a variety of other helpful bits and pieces for your web browser can easily give away your identity and/or IP address.
• Many websites block Tor in some way or other; as do services like IRC servers. Anonymity turns people into ******** - and they've already spoiled things for a lot of people. Wikipedia is probably the prime example here. All Tor exit nodes are blocked from editing Wikipedia (with obscure ways for you to get an exception for a particular Wikipedia account).
• Never log on to a service like webmail or a bulletin board through Tor unless the service's web address starts https:// There are malicious Tor exit nodes out there; if your traffic via Tor isn't leaving the exit node encrypted (as it is with https://) then a malicious end node can get your username and password. They can also get absolutely any other personally identifying information you might send out.
• If you are having problems with search - such as Google.com redirecting you to the language site most appropriate for the location of the exit node, use a country-specific google address for the language you want. For example, http://google.com.au
• At all times keep your AFDB in place.

Later....

[Axess_Denied]

Bump

So what solutions exist for users to communicate via the internet with anonymity? A Google search for 'anonymizing proxy, ubuntu' yields this post.

I understand that a lot of undesirables (pedophiles, pirates and malicious users) use Tor. Is there a better solution?

I would like internet anonymity for several reasons other than pornography, piracy or hacking... keeping telecom companies out of my business is one.

[brianmc]

Bump

So what solutions exist for users to communicate via the internet with anonymity? A Google search for 'anonymizing proxy, ubuntu' yields this post.

I understand that a lot of undesirables (pedophiles, pirates and malicious users) use Tor. Is there a better solution?

I would like internet anonymity for several reasons other than pornography, piracy or hacking... keeping telecom companies out of my business is one.

Tor is your best solution; and you are painting its users with a broad and particularly negative brush.

An anonymising prixy is a bad idea; you don't know who set it up and what data they're capturing when you use it.

It is worth the effort to set up Tor, but it will be slow, and it isn't just download and install a package - unless the Firefox plugin has been properly fixed.

[manners2345]

Finally after much trying, I think I am closing in on getting tor to work

I am getting the following: 514 Authentication required, when tor button is enabled, trying to setup so censored users can reach Internet, not just as a relay


What does that mean in ENGLISH??

Thank you!!!!

[manners2345]

Also trying to run thru wine, Windows Firefox

[marklusty]

Hi guys,I have just been to the tor website,grabbed the linux bundle and have it running fine on my desktop.I have had 2 different ip`s on running the software bundle.