Re: Example hidden service issue

[Karsten Loesing <karsten.loesing@xxxxxxx>]

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Hi Mike,

> In the documentation it tells you to set up an example hidden service
> pointing at google.com, eg:
> 
> HiddenServicePort 80 www.google.com:80
> 
> I've just started looking at hidden services so I'm not exactly sure how
> they work yet, but if I'm correct, by setting that up and testing it
> surely you'll be connecting to www.google.com on port 80 from the server
> with your hidden service and doing a:
> 
> GET / HTTP/1.1
> Host: youronionaddress
> 
> Wont that give google a map of Real IP -> Hidden service name?

In fact, that is not the information you want to hide. The server that
is to be hidden may know which Tor node is actually hiding it. Hidden
services are meant to hide the locations of the servers (here: Google)
from others.

Perhaps it's better if you think of another server than Google which you
would like to hide. I mean, for me, "Google" means the opposite of
"anonymity"---apart from Google summer of code supporting Tor which is a
step into the right direction. ;)

If you set up a hidden service, you provide access to a service in the
non-Tor network to a client connecting to you over the Tor network
(simplified picture):

client -- Tor proxy -- some Tor routers -- Tor proxy (YOU) -- Google

You advertise the server to the Tor network using an onion address. As
soon as you receive a request to the hidden service from a client, you
connect to Google with your own IP, perform the request, and respond to
the client over Tor.

I hope that this makes it a little clearer to you.

Karsten
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