Re: [tor-talk] Tor and Anonymous browsing etc.

[Notenlightened <tribulationus@xxxxxxxxx>]

Thank you so much Derric. You explained very well. I have Tor Browser
and The Onion program.  Anything i need to do to the settings on
either of those?? Do i need anything else? Final question, what do you
recommend for downloading movies,music etc?? I download alot lol. I
like sites with lots of options. Fast, secure, etc..

On 11/7/14, Derric Atzrott <datzrott@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>> hi derric.  Im wanting to download(torrents and programs) and browse
>> whatever i want Annonymously. I have Tor Browsr but all the
>> intructions lead me to download after download. I realize its
>> important but its so confusing. Codes, tails, onions lol, blockers,
>> HTTL, IP addresses, bandwidth, open this before u open this, keep
>> refreshing this and that. Whew! Its a headache. Im mid level computer
>> lit. Lol.
>
> Notenlightened,
>
> You've already completed the first step, which is downloading the Tor
> Browsing Bundle.  Tor hides your IP address (and therefore your
>
> I'll give you a quick and oversimplified explanation of how Tor
> works, which should help you understand what you should and shouldn't
> do in order to protect your privacy.  Usually when you connect to a
> website your computer connects directly to that website, and unless
> you are using HTTPS it does so in an unencrypted, easy to eavesdrop
> on fashion.  When you use Tor, your connection first bounces through
> three Tor relays (which are Tor servers run by volunteers around the
> world).  These Tor relays only know about the hop before them and
> the hop after them, this is to say, Relay 1 knows about you and
> Relay 2, Relay 2 knows about Relay 1 and Relay 3, and Relay 3 knows
> about Relay 2 and your destination website.
>
> The website you are trying to reach only knows about Relay 3 and
> that you are using Tor, not necessarily who you are or where you are.
>
> The first relay of course knows who you are and that you are using
> Tor, but not what for.
>
> By limiting the knowledge that each person has in each step you
> protect your privacy.  The Electronic Frontier Foundation produced
> a page that explains it a whole lot better than I can though.
>
> https://www.eff.org/pages/tor-and-https
>
> Tor hides your IP address, which is one of the primary ways that
> people identify you online, but there are other ways as well.  The
> Tor browser bundle is designed so that every copy of it looks the
> same as every other copy of it that is browsing the Web.  This
> makes it hard to distinguish two Tor users the same way that it
> would be hard to distinguish two cars if every car was a white
> Mazda.  You can run other software through Tor, and therefore
> hide your IP address, but if you want the most protection you
> should only use Tor with the Tor Browser Bundle and other software
> designed to be used with Tor.
>
> Your online habits also can give away your identity, just like
> even if everyone was driving the same car you could follow a car
> for a while until you figured out who it was.  If you are going
> to do anything with the Tor Browser Bundle that might reveal
> who you are you should click the Onion icon and then click
> New Identity both before and after the activity.  This clears
> all saved information out of the Tor Browser Bundle and selects
> new relays to route your connection through.
>
> Tor is not a magic bullet, it takes work to make it work.
>
> A couple other things to note about making Tor work for you:
>   * Do not torrent over Tor.  Most torrent clients won't use
>     Tor anyways, and the ones that do put a considerable strain
>     on the network.  As a courtesy and for your own protection,
>     please do not Torrent over the Tor network.
>   * Use HTTPS version of websites.  Tor Browser Bundle should do
>     this automatically for most well-known websites, but for any
>     that it doesn't you should use HTTPS where possible.  If you
>     do not use HTTPS the last Tor relay can read and modify the
>     data you are sending to the website if it wants to.
>   * Don't open documents downloaded through Tor while online!
>     Many types of documents will do things on the Internet when
>     they are opened.  Word files, for example, might try to download
>     a picture.  Since programs other than the Tor Browser Bundle will
>     not, by default, be routed through Tor it is possible that opening
>     a document will give away your identity!
>
>
> I hope that helps answer your questions about what Tor is, what it
> does, and how to use it.  Let me see if I can help you understand
> some of the terms that you mentioned in your email that you
> sounded confused about.
>
> Tails: Tails is an entire operating system that is run through Tor.
>       It is one of the most secure ways to use Tor, but a little bit
>       more difficult to get set up than the Tor Browser Bundle.  If
>       you are interested, I'd be happy to point you in the right
>       direction for getting it set up.
> Onion Routing: This is the type of routing that Tor uses to proect your
>       privacy.  Tor actually used to stand for The Onion Router.
>       It's called onion routing because each relay acts like a
>       layer of an onion peeling off a bit of the message.
> Blockers: Not sure if you are referring to blockers in code or folks
>       blocking Internet connections? Some clarification would
>       be nice.
> IP Addresses: These are addresses used to identify computers online.
>       They are sort of akin to postal addresses.  You could compare
>       most Internet traffic to sending letters in the mail.  Most
>       residential connections change your IP address every few days.
>       Tor hides your IP address from websites you are visiting by
>       routing your traffic through a series of Tor relays.
> Bandwidth: This is the measure of how much stuff you can push through
>       your Internet connection.  Tor is fast enough for regular
>       web browsing, but using software that requires a high amount of
>       bandwidth (like video conferencing) might not work very well
>       through Tor.
>
> If you have any questions or need something explained better please
> feel free to ask.  Anyone else on the list, please point out to me
> all of the mistakes I have inevitably made in my email that way I
> can not make them when explaining Tor things next time.
>
> Thank you,
> Derric Atzrott
>
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