[Author Prev][Author Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Author Index][Thread Index]

RE: Not so fast torpark doesnt have privoxy? Re: Torpark if firefox already on computer

i was going to make a post in exactly the vein of this one - privoxy is still needed. I have become very used to not ever seeing ads and knowing that advertising is gaining absolutely zero information from their advertising, and webservers are getting nothing potentially identifying from the http headers.

My only gripe at this point with all of this is the DNS issue. Could it not be resolved permanently by adding a dns proxy into tor so that if a program does not use the proxied resolve it is diverted through tor anyway? If this were done there would be no more issues with the completeness of the defense against traffic analysis.

I have given up using firefox in disgust in part because of compilation issues and stability and memory consumption and security problems in favour of opera, and i am reticent about switching back because the combination of a hierarchic notepad, email client, irc client and the neat (could be better but is the best i've used) configurable paned interface is extremely hard to beat. (i could ask for more but being that i'm an imcompetent coder, at this point there is little i can really do about it)

From: tor <tor@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Reply-To: or-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
To: or-talk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Not so fast torpark doesnt have privoxy? Re: Torpark if firefox already on computer
Date: Fri, 04 Nov 2005 10:47:04 -0800

Arrakistor wrote:

Torpark  is  great  on the DNS issue. This was one of the main reasons
for creating it.

Torpark has incorporated versions of Firefox which have internal SOCKS
proxies,  and are capable of remote dns functions, so there is no need
for privoxy. Essentially the browser can loopback all the data through


hmm I think we need to take a step back here and look at what privoxy does to the datastream that
the browser doesnt do or does incorrectly. Privoxy actively modifies the bitstream to keep ads ,
window opens and other things you may not want happening in your browser.. not simply http
to SOCKS4a or 5. It strips these before the more complex and vunerable browser ever sees them.
It also strips browser identifying information from the outgoing bitstream. I am sure other here could give
more complete synopsis of privoxy and its effects on the http1.1 protocol but as far as I know getting rid of privoxy
is not a gain its a loss of anonymity and privacy.

you may want to think about this quite carefully before running torpark in the configuration discussed here
or compare results when using a site like this:

http://www.anonymizer.com click on the Free Privacy test link and see what both systems report

keep in mind that privoxy strips advertisements and can be configured to lie to the inquiring website about
all sorts of details.

Privoxy is the "/Privacy Enhancing Proxy/".  from the privoxyFAQ

   *

     Web page content filtering (removes banners based on size,
     invisible "web-bugs", JavaScript and HTML annoyances, pop-up
     windows, etc.)

   *

     Modularized configuration that allows for standard settings and
     user settings to reside in separate files, so that installing
     updated actions files won't overwrite individual user settings.

   *

     Support for Perl Compatible Regular Expressions in the
     configuration files, and generally a more sophisticated and
     flexible configuration syntax over previous versions.

   *

     Improved cookie management features (e.g. session based cookies).

   *

     GIF de-animation.

   *

     Bypass many click-tracking scripts (avoids script redirection).

   *

     Multi-threaded (POSIX and native threads).

   *

     User-customizable HTML templates for all proxy-generated pages
     (e.g. "blocked" page).

   *

     Every feature now controllable on a per-site or per-location basis.




     regards
     A tor operator

_________________________________________________________________
FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar - get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/