Re: [tor-talk] Orbot

[Nathan Freitas <nathan@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Mar 22, 2016, at 01:10 PM, libertyinperil@xxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> Guardian Project does not seem to be supporting Orbot.  Sent two emails 
> to Support which were ignored.

I'm sorry your emails were lost in the mix. You sent them when we were
all at the last Tor Developer meeting, and then I (who respond to most
of the Orbot support emails), got quite sick for the next week.

Otherwise, making statements like "does not seem to be supporting Orbot"
are never really helpful. Regardless, I will do what I can to help you
here.

>  After several factory resets, however, 
> was finally able to download Orbot from the Guardian Project to the RCA 
> tablet via direct download.  When you click on Browser, a window appears 
> instructing the user Orfox is not installed and would the user wish to 
> install it?  If you click No, the Tor page comes up saying âThis is not 
> Torâ and the IP is not changeable.  If you click Yes, Orfox does not 
> download.  Nothing happens.

It seems like your RCA tablet has general issues with installing
software. I am not sure what the factory resets were for, or why you are
downloading the APKs directly, but I assume you don't have Google Play
installed or are not using it? 

That's fine, but at least you should use F-Droid, a free decentralized
open-source app store system, which will help you get the right
software. You can get it here https://f-droid.org/ and if you open the
menu, you will see a repositories menu where you can enable the Guardian
Project official releases repo. Refresh the apps, and you can find Orbot
and Orfox in there.

Otherwise, direct download is fine, but then you have to remember to
upgrade the apps manually yourself. You can find the APK here:
https://guardianproject.info/fdroid/repo/fennec-38.0.en-US.android-arm.apk
or 

> If you click VPN, Tor does properly start.  If you swipe the onion, the 
> IP changes.  When you check the IP, the Tor page comes up with 
> contradictory messages.  On the top of the page it says, 
> âCongratulations.  This browser is configured to use Tor.â  On the 
> bottom of the very same page it says, âHowever, it does not appear to be 
> Tor Browser.â

Right. Your traffic is routing through the Tor network, but you are
using it with the standard browser on your Android device. They are not
contradictory statements. Your IP is being protected at the network
level, but the browser could be exploited through Javascript, plugins or
other attacks if someone was targeting you. 

We offer the VPN mode for enabling apps that don't know about Tor to be
able to get through firewalls and filters on the network.

If you want to browse the web through Tor, please use Orfox.

 
> generic browser on the droid actually doing the browsing and then 
> calling home to Google?  -- You cannot uninstall the generic browser.  
> Just disable it.  You can uninstall Chrome and I have done so.

The answer is use Orfox. Don't use the system browser. 

> Have subsequently uninstalled as many of the droid apps as the machine 
> would allow.  Since the droid does provide a guest user function, 
> however, how can I be sure that even with all the apps uninstalled 
> and/or disabled on owner mode of operation, the tablet is still not 
> âcalling home?â  

This is an issue beyond what we can offer. What we support here is using
Tor on Android, not securing the entire operating system.

>Does Orfox need to be installed and operational for 
> Orbot to properly work?  If so, how do I get the droid tablet to 
> properly download it instead of ignoring the request when the Yes icon 
> is clicked?

I think I have covered this above.

You can also install apps like DuckDuckGo, Courier, ChatSecure,
Lightning Browser and many others that support the use of Orbot or other
proxy servers directly as part of their options.

> So far, this tablet is no more than a paper weight.  Cannot be trusted 
> for anything other than downloads of news sites and other URLs that do 
> not require log in.  None of the droid user groups seems to be current.  
> Are several years old and not currently operational.  Worse, have not 
> been able to find any truly comprehensive guide online regarding the 
> droid operating system.  Intend to continue working on these issues.  
> Thanks for taking the time to read this.  Libertyinperil.

To be honest, you seem to have bought a tablet that is cheap but not
very popular. 

If you want to run a device with a more secure version of Android, then
you should either get a Nexus 7 and follow this post:
https://blog.torproject.org/blog/mission-impossible-hardening-android-security-and-privacy

or get a Nexus 5, 5x or 6P and install Copperhead on it:
https://copperhead.co/android/

The Nexus devices are easy to modify and widely used.

For further questions on Orbot, Orfox and other Tor on Mobile issues,
please email support@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx and we'll work to answer your
questions as best as we can.

Best,
  Nathan



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