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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

#281

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, you're thinking of Fox News & Daily Mail. Sure, there is some criticism of BBC news, but I don't think you could ever compare it to the junk filled propaganda machine that is RT.

I read a lot of RT. Many of their articles are just international reports like AP news and stuff. Don’t really see a lot of propaganda.

Yeah, of course they have to drop some real articles to look legit.

The propaganda is what's in between

Eg. Today's home page, first headline "Russia's 'secret weapon' for winning influence in Africa – and it's not what you might think".

Then have a look at the op-ed pieces that are basically hit-pieces disguised as journalism.

Also, there are things that they do not report (or omit) which is what you should be most concerned about.

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#282
post #115

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…

>"For starters, you shouldn't browse Tor without blocking JavaScript by default."

Could you say why this is recommended?

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#283
post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you missed his point. Neither china nor russia censor "politically correct" speech. Of course their view of "politically correct" is different from ours and others. Europe, Islamic world, Africa, etc all protect "politically correct" speech and censor "politically incorrect" speech. Sadly, in the US, extremists ( particularly the left ) are leading the charge to censor "politically incorrect" speech.

Hardly are there any "extremist" leftists in the US (never heard of any advocating for a revolution) and any calls for censorship come from a tiny minority of Tumblr–like social justice warriors.

Agreed that the number of extremist leftists are small in the US. Unfortunately, many of those "Tumblr-like social justice warriors" work in the academia, media and government and wield disproportionate power. And if you haven't heard of any talk of revolution, you must have lived in seclusion somewhere in the woods and missed out on 3 years of post-Trump hysteria. Lucky you.

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#284
post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>"For starters, you shouldn't browse Tor without blocking JavaScript by default." Could you say why this is recommended?

Because JS might be used to leverage technology that can give clues on your browser and connection, it's in general one less open hole to think about when trying to stay as anonymous as possible

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#285
post #270
post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You’re not misunderstanding Tor. Indeed, if you control more than 50% of the nodes then you can feasibly deanonymize clients. Tor circuits tend to go through many countries and rarely do they go through the same country twice. Not sure if this is part of the node selection criteria. But if you can’t have two nodes within a circuit go through the same country, and someone identifies you, then you’re dealing with a hel…

Sure, but if the CIA, NSA, FBI, UK, China, and Russia are all trying to control nodes, they keep each other from getting a useful share of the nodes. There are many parties that would want to deanonymize the traffic.

Implying they aren't cooperating, at least unilaterally.

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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".

In my experience, the limiting factor is speed. Tor is not exactly the fastest protocol in the world, and while streaming video over Tor has gotten better over time, it's still not what I'd call ideal. For regular browsing, the loss of speed is inconvenient enough to annoy the average user, myself included.

I've used tor-browser and Brave's tor mode quite a bit. I've not really had problems with speed nor playing 480p video (if sites default to higher res it's sometimes a problem).

Captchas on some sites, for sure, sometimes a different route will fix it. Usually mainstream sites either block tor or work properly.

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China and Russia would both like a word with you.

I think you missed his point. Neither china nor russia censor "politically correct" speech. Of course their view of "politically correct" is different from ours and others. Europe, Islamic world, Africa, etc all protect "politically correct" speech and censor "politically incorrect" speech. Sadly, in the US, extremists ( particularly the left ) are leading the charge to censor "politically incorrect" speech.

As long as somebody censors anything, tor has merit as you choose what you see and not some faceless nobody.

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#288

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How do I know that my computers won’t be used to traffic child porn, if I donate a server and some bandwidth?

You can't. It creates an interesting moral problem. If people who view such material are in the wrong because they support the harm it causes, then are not people who support Tor in general also guilty of the same? Yes, they have more noble reasons for doing so, but do the ends justify the means, especially when dealing with such a topic?

Since they do it for noble reasons, they aren't guilty.

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#289

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If people who view such material are in the wrong because they support the harm it causes, then are not people who support Tor in general also guilty of the same? How is this any different than FedEx or USPS? They don't read your mail to see what it is. To a near certainty at least some of what they deliver contains child pornography. And what about roads? I bet child pornographers sometimes use roads for child por…

Moral issue aside, thanks to the unwisely expanded reach of the law via FOSTA (at least in the United States), a person who merely hosts such data might be liable: https://www.esquire.com/lifestyle/sex/a19573460/craigslist-s... Because of the hypothetical impedance of some unknown (but likely very small) amount of trafficking, millions of people found it more difficult to find partners for their entirely consensual a…

Tor is e2e encrypted connection, currently censors address such systems by requesting your private key, not by shutting down the whole thing.

Re: BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror

#290
post #270

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, but if the CIA, NSA, FBI, UK, China, and Russia are all trying to control nodes, they keep each other from getting a useful share of the nodes. There are many parties that would want to deanonymize the traffic.

Implying they aren't cooperating, at least unilaterally.

That’s what I meant by “hell of a global adversary” :)
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