Re: [tor-talk] Inquiry about Vidalia/Tor bundle

[mirimir <mirimir@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On 08/26/2013 11:08 PM, Roger Dingledine wrote:

> On Mon, Aug 26, 2013 at 05:58:22PM -0500, Missouri Anglers wrote:
>> I downloaded and installed "PirateBrowser" which is a Firefox
>> browser configured to use vidalia/tor.
> 
> Not quite -- it is a bundle that includes a variety of software 
> including Firefox, Vidalia, and Tor, configured in the way they
> wanted to configure it.
> 
> Specifically, don't be confused into thinking this is a Tor product, 
> or that it will keep you safe in some particular way.
> 
> In fact, they even have a disclaimer saying that it's not an
> anonymity tool. And in this case that's not just a disclaimer, it's
> an accurate statement.

That's true, but their disclaimer
<http://piratebrowser.ca/faq_piratebrowser.html> is still extremely
misleading:

> Does it make me surf the net anonymously?
> 
> No, Pirate Browser is not intended to be a TOR Browser, while it uses
> the Tor network, which is designed for anonymous surfing, this
> browser is ONLY intended to circumvent censorship. The Tor network is
> used to help route around the censoring / blocking of websites your
> government doesn't want you to know about.
> 
> If you are looking for something more secure you may want to try a
> VPN like PrivacyIO.

They could have at least pointed people at TBB!

>> I assume this is simply just a browser set up to use an anonymous
>> proxy?
> 
> From what I heard (it's Windows-only so I haven't tried running it
> or decompiling it to find out what it is really), it includes
> Foxyproxy, configured to only go through Tor for a select set of
> sites that are commonly censored. The rest of the sites bypass Tor.

That should be clearly stated in the summary under "Search" at the top
of <http://piratebrowser.ca/>. What they're doing is totally reckless.

>> I am not exactly a beginner when it comes to using anonymous
>> proxies. I have been gathering proxy lists, scanning them with
>> software to see if they are valid/anonymous and configuring my
>> browser to use them for years. However I am no expert.
>> 
>> This Vidalia/Tor has me confused.
> 
> Again, please remember this is somebody else's program, called
> Pirate Browser, and not anything made by Tor. Though it does include
> tools written by Tor, but tools-written-by-Tor only perform the way
> Tor had in mind if you configure them that way.
> 
>> The program loads, connects to the Tor network and everything looks
>> and acts well. However when I check my stats at various websites
>> that I use such as (http://www.lagado.com/proxy-test) my IP address
>> is revealed along with my ISP amd other accurate information.
>> 
>> I also checked https://check.torproject.org/ and it says that it is
>> not working.
> 
> That sounds compatible with my Foxyproxy theory above.
> 
> Hope that helps, --Roger
> 

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