Hello Censorship in America readers!
I’m Brandon from Bypass-Censorship.org. I’ve had lots of experience with Tor. I use Tor regularly and I even run a relay!
This purpose of this post is to expand everybody’s knowledge of Tor. I’ll try to touch (almost) all aspects regarding Tor.
What is Tor?
Tor is a software and a network, both of which has the purpose of giving the user privacy. It was
Tor Browser
Tor Browser is a tweaked Firefox browsers tweaked with lots of privacy features. Most plugins are disabled because they are known to reveal the user’s IP Address and other information.
Tor Browser also contains two main addons.
- NoScript – Disables JavaScript and does other stuff. JavaScript is still enabled by default.
- TorButton – An addon that was created for Tor Browser. You can still install it on most FireFox browsers.
Tor Network
This is where all your traffic goes when using Tor. Instead of using a VPN or proxy and having your traffic go through one centralized server, your traffic goes through 3 nodes, which include a bridge, relay, and exit relay.
The only way for your anonymity to be compromised is if the attacker (which may be a government, hacker, or even a private investigator) has access to the bridge and exit relay; however, that’s an unlikely situation because all relays and bridges are randomly chosen.
Who uses Tor?
Tor is used by a variety of users. Here are the basic types of Tor users:
- People who want to access a site that has been blocked (E.g. a blog about gay rights that’s being wrongly filtered as pornographic).
- Privacy geeks like Roger Dingledine, who is one of the original founders of Tor Project.
- People who do not want companies to track their Internet usage (goes along with #2).
- Government agencies (many people who work for the FBI and other government agencies use Tor) for network security.
- Journalists, activists, and whistle-blowers who do not want to get killed or detained by their corrupt government (E.g. USA, China, Iran, et cetera).
Tor Hidden Services
The onion network consists of hidden services. Hidden services are anonymous websites published within the Tor, and only accessible through Tor (or a Tor proxy). They end in a .onion address.
Here are some examples of some hidden services:
http://kpvz7ki2v5agwt35.onion/wiki/index.php/Main_Page – The Hidden Wiki (more info on How to Access The Hidden Wiki).
http://eqt5g4fuenphqinx.onion – Core.Onion
http://proxynu2atmb4fcb.onion – ProxyNU (more info on ProxyNU).
The Flaws of Tor
There are several flaws in Tor:
- Tor cannot encrypt the traffic between your exit relay and the final destination. You must use SSL (HTTPS) if you want to prevent the exit relay from seeing your traffic.
- Also, Tor is pretty slow. It can take from 7 seconds to over 60 seconds to download a webpage (depending on the size).
- Plugins like Flash Player are disabled.
- And finally, many websites block traffic from exit nodes due to abuse.
2 Ways for Extra Anonymity in Tor
If you want Tor to be even more secure, you can use Tails and bridges.
Tails
Tails, the Amnesic Incognito Live System, is a debian-based Linux operating system that is designed for anonymity and Tor use.
Bridges
If you want your traffic to go through more than 3 nodes, you can choose to use bridges. Bridges offer extra privacy, and will unblock Tor in many places.
You can obtain bridges at bridges.torproject.org, or you can email them through a Gmail or Yahoo email account to have them automatically send you a few bridges based on your location. Here’s how to do that:
- Send an email to bridges@bridges.torproject.org.
- Have the phrase “get bridges” in the body of the email.
- They will send an email back with the bridges.
Creative Commons image found here.
Censorship in America 
[…] Make sure you you select port forwarding under the basic tab, before moving on and setting your bandwidth limits. After you set your limits, you can set your exit policies which lets the Network know what you will accept through your relay. After all your settings are done, go back to the basic tab and hit test. Once you hit test go back to the Vidalia control panel and open up your log, the log will let you know if the network test was successful or not. Tor is a great service for staying anonymous but you need to know how to use it correctly. If you want to learn a little bit more about Tor, check out this guide. […]