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Traditional Catholic Faith => Computers, Technology, Websites => Topic started by: josefamenendez on October 04, 2021, 04:22:24 PM

Title: Tell me about TOR
Post by: josefamenendez on October 04, 2021, 04:22:24 PM
I have no interest in the dark web aside from general access if the internet is down and mirror sites.
Can downloading TOR get me there? I know nothing about this
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: Marion on October 04, 2021, 04:34:33 PM
TOR doesn't give you access to any site. TOR just makes sure that the sites you visit can't see your IP address. 

See: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tor_(network)
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: SeanJohnson on October 04, 2021, 04:35:25 PM
The Pros and Cons of Using Tor for Online Privacy
Leave a Comment (https://greycoder.com/how-to-use-tor-safely/#respond) / December 29, 2015 / By Tracy Knauer (https://greycoder.com/author/tknauer/)
(https://273hny3uh9sk23twrq16r4aw-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/blurry-crowd-people-iStock_000002228169Large.jpg)
Tor (http://torproject.org/) lets you browse the Internet anonymously. But to use it effectively, you should understand what it does and what it doesn’t do. Here’s a concise summary of things to know about Tor.
As an online privacy solution, Tor offers lots of advantages. These include:
But if you choose to use Tor you should also understand what it doesn’t do. Here are Tor’s limitations:



Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: josefamenendez on October 04, 2021, 05:18:01 PM
How do you access the dark web, then? I think it will be working when the regular internet goes down. ( no, I am not into bad stuff)
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: Mark 79 on October 04, 2021, 08:19:19 PM
I prefer I2P to TOR and always within a non-logging VPN in a "safe" jurisdiction (not the "Five Eyes,"US, UH, NZ, Canada, Australia!).

TOR is "The Onion Router."  I2P is more analogous to "garlic" than "onions."  I2P is distributed among users. Users are themselves nodes sharing bits of traffic that os fragemnted then reassembled for the user. Because the nodes are constantly changing (users go offline, so they are no longer a node; other users log on and they become new nodes), every user is a moving target.

With TOR the nodes are identified and monitored, then traffic analysis of "metadata" can be accuмmulated to identify the user. As best I know that is not possible with I2P.

Experiment with I2P: https://geti2p.net/en/


The Invisible Internet Project (I2P)
What is I2P?
The Invisible Internet Project (I2P) is a fully encrypted private network layer that has been developed with privacy and security by design in order to provide protection for your activity, location and your identity. The software ships with a router that connects you to the network and applications for sharing, communicating and building.

I2P Cares About Privacy
I2P hides the server from the user and the user from the server. All I2P traffic is internal to the I2P network. Traffic inside I2P does not interact with the Internet directly. It is a layer on top of the Internet. It uses encrypted unidirectional tunnels between you and your peers. No one can see where traffic is coming from, where it is going, or what the contents are. Additionally I2P offers resistance to pattern recognition and blocking by censors. Because the network relies on peers to route traffic, location blocking is also reduced.

How to Connect to the I2P Network
The Invisible Internet Project provides software to download that connects you to the network. In addition to the network privacy benefits, I2P provides an application layer that allows people to use and create familiar apps for daily use. I2P provides its own unique DNS so that you can self host or mirror content on the network. You can create and own your own platform that you can add to the I2P directory or only invite your friends. The I2P network functions the same way the Internet does. When you download the I2P software, it includes everything you need to connect, share, and create privately.

An Overview of the Network
I2P uses cryptography to achieve a variety of properties for the tunnels it builds and the communications it transports. I2P tunnels use transports, NTCP2 and SSU, to hide the nature of the traffic being transported over it. Connections are encrypted from router-to-router, and from client-to-client(end-to-end). Forward-secrecy is provided for all connections. Because I2P is cryptographically addressed, I2P addresses are self-authenticating and only belong to the user who generated them.

I2P is a secure and traffic protecting Internet-like layer. The network is made up of peers ("routers") and unidirectional inbound and outbound virtual tunnels. Routers communicate with each other using protocols built on existing transport mechanisms (TCP, UDP, etc), passing messages. Client applications have their own cryptographic identifier ("Destination") which enables it to send and receive messages. These clients can connect to any router and authorize the temporary allocation ("lease") of some tunnels that will be used for sending and receiving messages through the network. I2P has its own internal network database (using a modification of the Kademlia DHT) for distributing routing and contact information securely.

About Decentralization and I2P
The I2P network is almost completely decentralized, with exception to what are called "Reseed Servers," which is how you first join the network. This is to deal with the DHT ( Distributed Hash Table ) bootstrap problem. Basically, there's not a good and reliable way to get out of running at least one permanent bootstrap node that non-network users can find to get started. Once you're connected to the network, you only discover peers by building "exploratory" tunnels, but to make your initial connection, you need to get a peer set from somewhere. The reseed servers, which you can see listed on http://127.0.0.1:7657/configreseed in the Java I2P router, provide you with those peers. You then connect to them with the I2P router until you find one who you can reach and build exploratory tunnels through. Reseed servers can tell that you bootstrapped from them, but nothing else about your traffic on the I2P network.

I see IP addresses of all other I2P nodes in the router console. Does that mean my IP address is visible by others?
Yes, this is how a fully distributed peer-to-peer network works. Every node participates in routing packets for others, so your IP address must be known to establish connections. While the fact that your computer runs I2P is public, nobody can see your activities in it. You can't say if a user behind this IP address is sharing files, hosting a website, doing research or just running a node to contribute bandwidth to the project.

What I2P Does Not Do
The I2P network does not officially "Exit" traffic. It has outproxies to the Internet run by volunteers, which are centralized services. I2P is primarily a hidden service network and outproxying is not an official function, nor is it advised. The privacy benefits you get from participating in the the I2P network come from remaining in the network and not accessing the internet. I2P recommends that you use Tor Browser or a trusted VPN when you want to browse the Internet privately.

Comparisons
There are a great many other applications and projects working on anonymous communication and I2P has been inspired by much of their efforts. This is not a comprehensive list of anonymity resources - both freehaven's Anonymity Bibliography and GNUnet's related projects serve that purpose well. That said, a few systems stand out for further comparison. The following have individual comparison pages:

Tor / Onion Routing
Freenet
The following are discussed on the other networks page:

RetroShare
Morphmix / Tarzan
Mixminion / Mixmaster
JAP
MUTE / AntsP2P
Haystack
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: Marion on October 04, 2021, 08:22:23 PM
I prefer I2P to TOR and always within a non-logging VPN in a "safe" jurisdiction (not the "Five Eyes,"US, UH, NZ, Canada, Australia!).

How do you know for sure that the VPN is non-logging (and not owned by "them")?
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: Mark 79 on October 05, 2021, 12:10:16 AM
I typed a 1200-word answer, then was timed out. Lost it all. Too tired to rebuild it.

Suffice it to say there is a large pool of committed and qualified cryptographers and programmers who review, vet, and surveil the darknet sites, services, VPNs. and software. The I2P directory has articles explaining their methods and findings.

Then one can vet every iota for themself OR take a leap of faith.
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: josefamenendez on October 05, 2021, 08:20:51 AM
Thank you Mark79. When you are able, could you let me know if there would be access  or potential access through I2P even though the rest of the web is shut down?Thi s is what I've been hearing-hence my inquiries here
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: apollo on November 05, 2021, 11:53:41 AM
Thank you Mark79. When you are able, could you let me know if there would be access  or potential access through I2P even though the rest of the web is shut down?Thi s is what I've been hearing-hence my inquiries here
.
TOR is just a browser which needs the internet to work.
If the internet is down, TOR, running on your device, cannot work.

I2P is a browser, I assume, so ... same as TOR.
It cannot connect to something that is down.

Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: Matthew on November 05, 2021, 12:30:16 PM
I have no interest in the dark web aside from general access if the internet is down and mirror sites.
Can downloading TOR get me there? I know nothing about this

You're looking for an alternate Internet? Better get a ham radio license AND get into a very niche area of ham radio. That's your only hope though.

Once you understand what the Internet is, you quickly understand that when it goes down, it goes down. Installing a piece of software is NOT going to give you some access to a "magical internet" that exists in the ether or something.

There is nothing magical about the Internet. I fully understand how computers are networked together, how traffic is routed, the DNS system, domain name resolution, etc.

The Internet is a conglomeration of 10's of thousands of routers, switches, hubs, and server hardware. And hundreds of thousands of miles of fiber optic and other cable -- mostly unguarded in the middle of nowhere.

Once you learn how fragile the Internet is, you become a Ham Radio operator :)
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: bodeens on November 05, 2021, 12:47:13 PM
You're looking for an alternate Internet? Better get a ham radio license AND get into a very niche area of ham radio. That's your only hope though.

Once you understand what the Internet is, you quickly understand that when it goes down, it goes down. Installing a piece of software is NOT going to give you some access to a "magical internet" that exists in the ether or something.

There is nothing magical about the Internet. I fully understand how computers are networked together, how traffic is routed, the DNS system, domain name resolution, etc.

The Internet is a conglomeration of 10's of thousands of routers, switches, hubs, and server hardware. And hundreds of thousands of miles of fiber optic and other cable -- mostly unguarded in the middle of nowhere.

Once you learn how fragile the Internet is, you become a Ham Radio operator :)
We have to be honest here though... Encrypted, unlicensed ham is where the interesting chatter happens, and you will need to understand encryption soon as well :) That is the true "dark web" and more of the underbelly of society than most people think runs on encrypted radio rather than the traditional web.
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: Mark 79 on November 05, 2021, 08:14:19 PM
When studying for one of the ham exams a few years ago, I learned that a radio can be detected and located even when not transmitting, just receiving.

In order to select a particular frequency (receiving or transmitting) a portion of the circuit, a Local Oscillator (LO) is necessary. It is a trivial trigonometry problem to locate a radio signal by Direction Finding (DF). "Foxhunting" is a type of ham radio contest using signal strength DF to find a particular radio.

Newer radios, like my ICOM IC-7300, use software processing for functions previously served by hardware, hence "Software Defined Radio" (SDR), but even SDRs have an LO circuit. In my radio the LO is part of a Field-Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) chip. Other radios use different solutions, but as far as I know, all radios have a locatable LO.

The block diagrams are specific to my 7300, but illustrate the point: Even when not transmitting your radio can be located.

(http://judaism.is/images/df%20receive.jpg?crc=4096271140)
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: SimpleMan on November 05, 2021, 08:41:18 PM
We have to be honest here though... Encrypted, unlicensed ham is where the interesting chatter happens, and you will need to understand encryption soon as well :) That is the true "dark web" and more of the underbelly of society than most people think runs on encrypted radio rather than the traditional web.
"Encyrpted, unlicensed ham" is a good way to end up in big trouble with the federales.  They can find your transmitter via triangulation, assuming they want to devote the resources.  You can't just go on the ham bands and start operating.  Licensing exists for a reason.

There is a pirate FM radio station near me operating on 87.7 mHz (that funky lower end of the FM band on which you used to be able to pick up audio on TV channel 6 before TV went all-digital), but I dare not speak of it on secular forums where my location is known, because you never know what boards the FCC monitors to find where the pirates are.   I don't want to rat them out.  And besides, there are no licensed FM radio stations on 87.7 mHz in the United States, it's not as though they're interfering with anything (though there could always be the claim that it interferes with air traffic control or public safety, a spurious charge at best).  The FCC is probably already aware, but chooses not to enforce at this time.  But it's always their prerogative.  I don't want to be the reason the station gets shut down.  It's an interesting alternative-media source.
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: Mark 79 on November 05, 2021, 08:53:22 PM
I gave some thought to setting up a low-power FM station, but to remain legal I'd have only a 2 block radius of effective coverage, That wasn't worth the cost and I wasn't about to risk a bust for operating illegally. Not worth the risk…now.

At typical transmit power the FCC can find you almost instantly.

Historically, guns and radios are the first things seized. If you plan to even listen, you need to be on the move and without a predictable trajectory. Kind of like a ham radio version of the sniper's "shoot and scoot."
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: SeanJohnson on November 05, 2021, 11:13:05 PM
I gave some thought to setting up a low-power FM station, but to remain legal I'd have only a 2 block radius of effective coverage, That wasn't worth the cost and I wasn't about to risk a bust for operating illegally. Not worth the risk…now.

At typical transmit power the FCC can find you almost instantly.

Historically, guns and radios are the first things seized. If you plan to even listen, you need to be on the move and without a predictable trajectory. Kind of like a ham radio version of the sniper's "shoot and scoot."

All I can say is that you are an interesting dude.

If you are ever unfortunate enough to come to Minnesota, I hope you will let me know in advance.

I could show you some things you might also find interesting.
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: bodeens on November 06, 2021, 12:08:51 AM
I gave some thought to setting up a low-power FM station, but to remain legal I'd have only a 2 block radius of effective coverage, That wasn't worth the cost and I wasn't about to risk a bust for operating illegally. Not worth the risk…now.

At typical transmit power the FCC can find you almost instantly.

Historically, guns and radios are the first things seized. If you plan to even listen, you need to be on the move and without a predictable trajectory. Kind of like a ham radio version of the sniper's "shoot and scoot."
I can only imagine how sensitive the fed's technology is. Silence is golden.

"Encyrpted, unlicensed ham" is a good way to end up in big trouble with the federales.  They can find your transmitter via triangulation, assuming they want to devote the resources.  You can't just go on the ham bands and start operating.  Licensing exists for a reason.

There is a pirate FM radio station near me operating on 87.7 mHz (that funky lower end of the FM band on which you used to be able to pick up audio on TV channel 6 before TV went all-digital), but I dare not speak of it on secular forums where my location is known, because you never know what boards the FCC monitors to find where the pirates are.  I don't want to rat them out.  And besides, there are no licensed FM radio stations on 87.7 mHz in the United States, it's not as though they're interfering with anything (though there could always be the claim that it interferes with air traffic control or public safety, a spurious charge at best).  The FCC is probably already aware, but chooses not to enforce at this time.  But it's always their prerogative.  I don't want to be the reason the station gets shut down.  It's an interesting alternative-media source.
At this point in the game the FCC simply isn't listening in rural America, let alone spending computing power to brute force idiots talking to each other. In cities though, yes, they will knock on your door and confiscate your equipment. I don't doubt they are logging everything though, even in rural areas. The distinction between them actively listening and them being able to listen to stuff in the past most people ignore I think. My area's VHF activity is far more than 50% pirate. People do simply "just operate" (and yes, they do stick out like a sore thumb too for the most part).
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: Mark 79 on November 06, 2021, 10:31:02 AM
All I can say is that you are an interesting dude.

If you are ever unfortunate enough to come to Minnesota, I hope you will let me know in advance.

I could show you some things you might also find interesting.
Likewise.

If you leave that land that freezes methane… drop in. :cowboy:
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: Matthew on November 06, 2021, 11:07:01 AM
I gave some thought to setting up a low-power FM station, but to remain legal I'd have only a 2 block radius of effective coverage, That wasn't worth the cost and I wasn't about to risk a bust for operating illegally. Not worth the risk…now.

At typical transmit power the FCC can find you almost instantly.

Historically, guns and radios are the first things seized. If you plan to even listen, you need to be on the move and without a predictable trajectory. Kind of like a ham radio version of the sniper's "shoot and scoot."

100W is the typical transmit power.

The LO (local oscillator) isn't putting out a signal that can be heard off your property. BIG difference. Several orders of magnitude.

I happen to own an RF meter that detects all kinds of magnetic and RF fields. Let's just say my antennas aren't giving off ANYTHING while I'm just in receive. So nobody can find me when I'm in that mode (receive only). When I key up, even 5W, then it's a totally different story. RF leaving the property like light on a hill. Very noticeable to someone wanting to find it.

QRP (transmitting with less than 6W of power) is very do-able. In fact, I'm very interested in QRP personally. You can make some good long-distance contacts with that amount of power and a good antenna.

HOWEVER, when you transmit into a dummy load, etc. you're only going to pick up those radio frequency signals IN THE SAME ROOM, and that's it.

I've built an oscillator circuit in the ham bands -- a number of milliwatts. No power amplifier at all. No antenna hooked up to it. I could hear the signal on my radio. But I bet my neighbors couldn't hear it.

Remember, all the RF interference from your neighborhood works both ways. All that noise is a hassle when you're trying to make contacts, but it's a cloak of sorts too. If you can't make multiple great DX contacts any day of the week with 1/2 a watt, then NEITHER CAN THEY.
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: Mark 79 on November 06, 2021, 11:14:32 AM
Their level of interest in you determines how much time and money they will spend to apprehend you.

A regime that can read license plates from satellites certainly has more sensitive technology than you or I have.

How badly do they want you?

We all choose our level of risk aversion. YMMV
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: Matthew on November 06, 2021, 11:17:39 AM
I just get tired of the (almost propaganda level of) THEY ARE SO POWERFUL. IT'S HOPELESS. GIVE UP.

There are multiple levels of "possible". Copying off everything that flows on the Net? Yes, that's easy. Reading through, processing, and understanding it? That relies on AI and software which is, as I've said many times, rock-stupid. Just talk about the "una c*m" debate and they'll think you're talking dirty. They'll put you in the wrong bucket, thinking they "have you" by making you into a slave of your passions, thinking/talking about s*x all the time. And here you were actually an awake and aware Trad discussing the Crisis in the Church! They got you totally wrong, because a computer doesn't know when you're talking Latin or Theology. Serves em right!

For all our advancement in computers, they are still as stupid as they were 40 years ago. They still execute instructions one at a time, make basic, simplistic comparisons, and execute branches of code based on conditionals. 

// Search for certain phrases in a sentence...
if (stripos($sentence, "c*m") !== -1) {
 // Found instance of "c*m".
 // He's talking dirty
}

That is also why I'm not interested in self-driving cars. If I could get a self-driving car for $1 more, I'd pass. I couldn't trust my life to a rock-stupid computer.

P.S. I had to censor the term here, lest you-know-who have a problem with THIS thread as well.
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: Matthew on November 06, 2021, 11:19:28 AM
The FCC has a *list* of all hams. They don't need to get out with their fox hunting antennas! My QTH (home base) is listed in their database already.

When they decide to start rounding people up, I'm sure there will be blowback in places like Texas. That's what I'm hoping for at least.
Title: Re: Tell me about TOR
Post by: Mark 79 on November 06, 2021, 11:33:13 AM
I simply explained how receiving can be detected.

Nowhere did I suggest giving up or advise hopelessness. Quite the contrary, on this very forum I have repeatedly advised people to prepare—radios, guns, and other preps.

In the years you have "known" me, what have I ever said that prompts you to rage against hopelessness? Prudence, caution, and bland facts (receiving can be detected) are not hopelessness or despair.

The mere fact that I am alive should be pretty good evidence that I don't give up easily.

You and I will pick our own levels of risk, our own times and places and circuмstances of resistance.

That is all.