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BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

bbc.co.uk

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Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#171

Post by reaperducer »

bb123 wrote: post #116
uryga wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

offtopic, but how'd you get an emoji in a HN comment?? (maybe it doesn't get stripped bc the flag is encoded as [U][K], two "letterlike symbols" but still it's the first time i've seen one!)

I guess it is probably because most people are using desktops/laptops to browse HN. I feel like Emoji use on QWERTY keyboards is harder/less common. It is possible though: 🇺🇳

On a Mac, if you have the input menu enabled in the menu bar, selecting "Show Emoji & Symbols" will pop open a palette allowing you to put all kinds of things into pretty much any text input.

System Preferences → Keyboard → Show input menu in menu bar

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#172

Post by vinniejames »

blaser-waffle wrote: post #79
class4behavior wrote: post #51

Since no one posted that, yet: Tor relies on the size the of its network to counteract blocks, prevent take overs, and naturally ensure stability as well as performance. You can either donate to various groups running Tor servers, the developers, or take part on your own. https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Tor https://www.torservers.net/ https://www.dfri.se/donera/ https://nos-oignons.net/ https://donate.torproject.org…

Is it worth it to donate, or to just pool a little cash and start your own? Like, how do I know any of those links aren't the NSA? I ask because I have 5-6 Raspberry Pis, a couple retired Supermicro boxes, and old Cisco gear that isn't doing much...

The number of machines you have doesn't matter nearly as much as unique IP addresses, as far as network security is concerned

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#173

Post by blotter_paper »

eeZah7Ux wrote: post #131
eyeinthepyramid wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dark web isn't inherently negative though, is it? It's not like they called it pedo-web.

It's very negative.

I agree that it's bad optics, but personally I think it sounds shway. If we're gonna live in a dystopian future where we have to evade omnipresent government surveillance using illegal* code, it might as well sound like something out of an '80s sci-fi novel or a '90s anime. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

*Currently illegal in some jurisdictions, more coming soon!

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#174

Post by VBprogrammer »

gmac wrote: post #94
VBprogrammer wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think one of the issues the BBC suffers from is that in the attempt to be impartial they can sometimes give undue weight to crack-pot ideas. That said, I often see both sides of a debate complaining about the bias of the BBC. So long as that is the case then we can reasonably assume they are doing a fair job of walking the fine line between both sides.

I often see both sides of a debate complaining about the bias of the BBC. So long as that is the case then we can reasonably assume they are doing a fair job of walking the fine line between both sides This is absolutely not true, because unscrupulous parties are careful to complain vociferously (and shamelessly) even about coverage that is heavily skewed in their own favour. Since the Andrew Gilligan debacle (where…

I think the Andrew Gilligan debacle, and the more recent Naga Munchetty issue, are both symptoms of the BBC falling over themselves to appear impartial at the expense of common sense.

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#175

Post by myrandomcomment »

blaser-waffle wrote: post #79
class4behavior wrote: post #51

Since no one posted that, yet: Tor relies on the size the of its network to counteract blocks, prevent take overs, and naturally ensure stability as well as performance. You can either donate to various groups running Tor servers, the developers, or take part on your own. https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Tor https://www.torservers.net/ https://www.dfri.se/donera/ https://nos-oignons.net/ https://donate.torproject.org…

Is it worth it to donate, or to just pool a little cash and start your own? Like, how do I know any of those links aren't the NSA? I ask because I have 5-6 Raspberry Pis, a couple retired Supermicro boxes, and old Cisco gear that isn't doing much...

What is wrong with this picture.. that the NSA is used as the villain vs. getting around the great firewall in China?

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#176

Post by jandrese »

ur-whale wrote: post #93
class4behavior wrote: post #51

Since no one posted that, yet: Tor relies on the size the of its network to counteract blocks, prevent take overs, and naturally ensure stability as well as performance. You can either donate to various groups running Tor servers, the developers, or take part on your own. https://www.noisebridge.net/wiki/Tor https://www.torservers.net/ https://www.dfri.se/donera/ https://nos-oignons.net/ https://donate.torproject.org…

The real question is the kind of liability you take on when running a tor node on a machine that "belongs" to you (for some definition of belong). Another is to find a place that will agree to power your machine and allow it to hook in to the ethernet if it runs a tor node. At any rate, running a tor node isn't as simple as running apt-get.

Running an entry or exit node is kinda risky since your IP will be associated with a lot of illegal content. Running an intermediary node is much safer. All kinds of nodes are important for the network.

The amount of configuration you need to run a node isn't terribly difficult. There is plenty of documentation online and really it's just changing a few lines in the config file. The Tor daemon is pretty good about pointing out potentially undesirable configuration options if you watch the log file on startup.

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#177

Post by jandrese »

apecat wrote: post #115
andrewaylett wrote: post #37

I know there are good reasons why it's not fully secure, but I'd really like to be able to access `.onion` addresses in my regular browser over TOR and everything else directly as usual. In _this_ I'm not over-worried about the risk of deanonymisation as my aim is on one hand access to resources I don't have access to now and on the other hand legitimisation of TOR as something that anyone could reasonably use, even…

You absolutely should use Tor for regular non-logged in browsing if you can bear the slowness. Exit bandwidth is limited, but I'd say being a needle in the haystack of people who actually need the privacy is a net benefit. I'd just really advise against touching Tor with a regular browser. For starters, you shouldn't browse Tor without blocking JavaScript by default. Hogging the bandwidth needed for video is also whe…

Seems like you are being the haystack instead of the needle in this case.

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#178

Post by cryptoz »

_jal wrote: post #170
cryptoz wrote: post #166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not. None of us know how many points your comment has, or if you have an email address on file, or how many times you visited HN today, or what IP you're using, etc. But all of those things are in the HN database(s) I'm sure!

I'm normally the tinfoil-hat guy in any given discussion. I'll go out on a limb and predict that my HN internet points score is not a signal of interest to NSA selection criteria.

Wait, why not? Knowing who votes for what content, when, and in coordination with whom else seems like it would be extremely useful indeed! Aren't techniques like this already used by FBI etc on Twitter when investigating illegal content and coordination of its' dissemination? Bot networks are taken down on Twitter and other sites all the time using voting data.

Social voting data is a rather sizable and useful dataset for surveillance agencies. HN has a high concentration of current-high-impact and future-high-impact individuals and is therefore a reasonably interesting trove of information.

I realize all this is indeed tinfoil-hat-ish stuff. But I'd be shocked in NSA/CIA/FBI etc was disinterested in online social voting habits of users.

Also, you latched on to a single example I gave. HN may have your email address privately (if you gave it to them) and they also have your IP/access logs. This is all stuff that they save but is not publicly available information.

I'm sure there's more as well. It's not just "internet points" and reducing the discussion down to simply dismissing a single one of my thoughts isn't going to get us anywhere.

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#179

Post by jandrese »

theelous3 wrote: post #88
Santosh83 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But this will need you to start the Tor deamon separately and configure the two I guess? Not as simple as just using Tor browser, or a Tor tab in Brave...

It's pretty straightforward. 1. Run the service. 2. Disable blocking onion in about:config. 3. In firefox set manual proxy and enable proxy dns for socks5. Done :D Takes all of two mins.

Even better you can start Firefox with the profile manager and have one profile configured for TOR and the other for normal browsing.

That said, it's generally better to run the official TOR Browser instead. It has security nerds working over every aspect of it to make it as anonymous as reasonably possible. Deanonymization is shockingly powerful in the age of big data.

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#180

Post by jandrese »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #70
Phlogi wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, because the Tor Browser sends all traffic through the tor network and exit nodes.

Why is that bad, per se ? In practice some sites drop Tor connections, and localisations come through wrong, but that doesn't seem to be why you said "no".

Hope you like solving CAPCHAs, because you're going to be doing a lot of that. And you can forget about searching with Google. Also you'll learn to hate Cloudflare as they straight up block you from so many websites.

And don't even think about trying to sign up for some free service like an email account or game account. Your account will be flagged before you finish thinking up your username.

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