Re: [tor-talk] Comcast looking for Tor traffic, contacting customers to threaten termination of service.

[Mirimir <mirimir@xxxxxxxxxx>]

On 09/13/2014 06:34 PM, Rick wrote:
> On 09/13/2014 06:42 PM, Roger Dingledine wrote:
>> On Sat, Sep 13, 2014 at 03:35:56PM -0700, The Doctor wrote:
>>> "Reports have surfaced that Comcast agents have contacted
>>> customers using Tor and instructed them to stop using the browser
>>> or risk termination of service. A Comcast agent named Jeremy
>>> allegedly called Tor an ???illegal service.??? The Comcast agent
>>> told its customer that such activity is against usage policies."
>>> 
>>> http://www.deepdotweb.com/2014/09/13/comcast-declares-war-tor/
>>> 
>>> Think I'm going to ping my lawyer about this.
>> This article confuses me.
>> 
>> For example, it has this statement: "Because Tor Browser provides
>> online anonymity to its users, only the ISP used along with it can
>> ascertain what activity takes place on Tor." which sure makes it
>> sound like the author thinks that the local ISP can learn what
>> destinations you are visiting, which isn't (supposed to be) true.
>> 
>> And then this statement: "Comcast has previously been blacklisted
>> by the Tor project." sounds like maybe it's referring to 
>> https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/GoodBadISPs which
>> a) has to do with recommended relay locations, and b) isn't really
>> "the Tor Project", but I can understand how they'd be confused.
>> 
>> That said, I guess part of the confusion here stems from a lack of 
>> transparency on Comcast's side, about what guidance they're giving
>> their first-level helpdesk people. Is this two rogue underpaid
>> undereducated employees who read an article about Tor and decided
>> it should stop existing? Or is there some document that Comcast
>> wrote? If the latter, can somebody get us a copy of it?
>> 
>> Thanks, --Roger
>> 
> If you factor the PinkMeth post here (earlier this week) into this
> it might make more sense. It's a firestorm and the locals want a head
> on a pike. The company is outside of Pittsburgh and owned by the
> girl's mother. Comcast is based in PA and effectively "family owned".
> Perhaps the mysterious "Jeremy" is on a mission from a higher power
> that's looking for any reason at all to bust your chops. 
> Circumstantial evidence at this point but I think this just might be 
> vendetta-fueled.
> 
> Happy trails. Rick

From the comments in JM's page on PinkMeth, it appears that virtually
everyone associated with her and her family has been deluged with abuse.
Also, some of the abusers have reportedly emphasized PinkMeth's supposed
invulnerability as a Tor hidden service, and also their own supposed
invulnerability as Tor users.

Given that, it is plausible that a vendetta against Tor is developing at
Comcast. But there is as yet no evidence whether its just a few rogue
employees in support, or whether it could become company policy.

However, even in the worst case, Comcast would be less of a threat to
its Tor users than the Great Firewall is to Chinese Tor users. There are
no laws in the US against using Tor. Users can just connect to the Tor
network through obfuscated bridges.

Users could also use a VPN service to hide all Internet use from
Comcast, and connect to the Tor network (perhaps via obfuscated bridges)
through the VPN tunnel. In this case, a non-US VPN service would
arguably represent less of a threat than Comcast does.
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