Re: [tor-talk] Tor implementation in JavaScript / FirefoxOS

[David Rajchenbach-Teller <dteller@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 3/17/14 1:45 PM, Nathan Freitas wrote:
> 
> 
> On 03/17/2014 03:06 AM, Andreas Kuckartz wrote:
>> Are there any news regarding Tor for FirefoxOS or an implementation in
>> JavaScript?
> 
> Since FirefoxOS = Android with Gecko/HTML5 skin
> (https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/Firefox_OS/Building)
> 
> we know that the Tor binary port that is part of the Orbot build process
> should all but work on FirefoxOS.

Well, I'm not familiar with that binary port, so if it is a device
driver, there might be ways to install it on FirefoxOS, but the equation
FirefoxOS = Android is generally false. FirefoxOS is the Android *kernel
+ device drivers*, plus a completely different OS stack on top of it.

On the other hand, it might be possible to compile the native Tor to a
JavaScript library through Emscripten.

> Now, each Gecko/HTML5 app may be able to specify these options using the
> same types of config settings available within Firefox add-on
> (https://github.com/guardianproject/ProxyMob/blob/master/chrome/content/options.xul).
> This would be a good thing to research and confirm.

At the moment, I don't think there is anything such. It would probably
be relatively easy to add, since Gecko itself supports it. I can open a
bug, if there is interest.

> Based on his work in Tor Browser, Mike Perry has conceived of a whole
> heap of problems related to privacy and anonymity based on whether apps
> are treated like tabs in a single browser, or whether each app is its
> own browser instance (or at least that is my poor man's interpretation).
> I hope we has time to write these up publicly to get feedback from Mozilla.

Fwiw, each app is a browser process.

> I think the Tor in Javascript idea is fascinating, once we all start
> trusting Javascript from crypto. I feel like we all don't trust some
> language (C, C++, Java, etc) so perhaps that hurdle is not as big as it
> might seme, especially if we can get Tor support on a $25 FirefoxOS phone.

Cheers,
 David


-- 
David Rajchenbach-Teller, PhD
 Performance Team, Mozilla
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