Re: [tor-talk] Are webmail providers biased against Tor?

[Chris Patti <cpatti@xxxxxxxxx>]

They're 'biased' against Tor and other anonymizers for a very simple
reason - people abuse them.

In my brief career as a Tor exit relay operator, I had someone use my
exit to hijack Gmail accounts.

So, honestly, I can't blame them.  When something is *repeatedly*
identified to be a source of bad actors, it's incumbent upon those
providers to do something about it.

IMO Google's response - trying to balance a desire to enable genuine
users to use Tor while barring the bad actors, is commendable.

It's a tough problem folks, we should all recognize that.

Just my $.02.

-Chris

On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 6:52 AM,  <blobby@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> I have noticed that when I try to login to my Gmail or Hotmail accounts with
> Tor, I invariably get asked to validate myself (e.g. receive an SMS). This
> is understandably due my IP being in a different country from the "usual"
> IPs that I use to sign in.
>
> However, I have experimented with StrictExitNodes. I am in New York and have
> used a number of New York exit nodes. I still get asked to verify.
>
> I am wondering if Tor developers or experienced users know (for a fact)
> whether or not this is "normal" or whether using an exit node automatically
> makes Gmail and Hotmail think that a "hacker" is attempting to access the
> accounts.
>
> This is not a case of a website e.g. Craigslist blocking Tor. It is whether
> the use of an exit node IP automatically engenders scrutiny from whatever
> security algorithms certain webmail providers use.
>
>
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