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Tails is a portable OS that protects against surveillance and censorship

tails.net

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Re: Tails is a portable OS that protects against surveillance and censorship

#41

Post by WhyNotHugo »

ShroudedNight wrote: post #7

It seems like a growing number of things once referred to as Linux distributions are now referring to themselves as operating systems. If the kernel is Linux, and the user-space is GNU, what makes this a distinct operating system from, say, SUSE, or Arch?

A distribution focuses on the distribution part (eg: a package manager, repositories, etc).

Some distributions are operating systems (eg: OpenBSD, ArchLinux, Debian). Some operating systems are not distributions (they don’t include a mechanism to pull packages. Eg: windows, macOS). Some distributions are not operating systems (eg: homebrew, Flatpak).

Tails focuses on the operating system side of things. It’s focus isn’t on package distribution and letting you install things, but on downloading a usable OS image. It’s still a distribution, but that’s more of a technicality.

Re: Tails is a portable OS that protects against surveillance and censorship

#42

Post by daqhris »

jacknews wrote: post #10

I might be wrong but I think this was a project originated by one of the branches of the US armed forces or security services? In which case, it should be pretty secure. Although, there's the obvious 'honeypot' concern. But maybe I'm thinking of another distro, that ran from RAM and didn't write anything to disk.

I can't validate if you are wrong or not. Just bring to your attention that one of their marketing slogan is "Amnesia" and "Persistent Storage on a USB stick". https://tails.net/about/index.en.html

The 'honeypot' concern is somehow valid because full-on privacy on the internet is as hard to achieve as privacy in a public park. Only its user can determine if their online activities goes against the (legal/moral/financial) interests of the most technically-advanced nation on our planet.

Re: Tails is a portable OS that protects against surveillance and censorship

#43

Post by WhyNotHugo »

stephen_g wrote: post #16
ShroudedNight wrote: post #7

It seems like a growing number of things once referred to as Linux distributions are now referring to themselves as operating systems. If the kernel is Linux, and the user-space is GNU, what makes this a distinct operating system from, say, SUSE, or Arch?

The userspace is so diluted now that it’s basically flat out wrong to say it’s just ‘GNU’, I mean Systemd is probably an even bigger a part than GNU is now, and we’ve long had things like OpenSSH from BSD as pretty core parts of the system, and we’re not going to start calling a distribution ‘Kubuntu Linux/Systemd/GNU/BSD/KDE’ or whatever… Basically about all something needs to be to be called an OS is a kernel and a…

I like to thing of GNU/Linux as Linux with glibc. There’s software that only runs with glibc (eg: steam), and software that runs with various libc (eg: Firefox).

I’m not sure that it’s a widely accepted definition, but it’s often useful to describe what a software depends on. Does it require _just_ Linux, or does it also require glibc?

Re: Tails is a portable OS that protects against surveillance and censorship

#44

Post by wrs »

chickenpotpie wrote: post #24
ranger_danger wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Internet also originated from the US military, among many other things. So tired of this FUD.

That's a false equivalency. The military invented a network that inspired the Internet. We're not all using ARPANET to send emails.

Not sure what you’re saying there…the Internet grew out of ARPANet, it’s not a separate thing. Is the oak tree “inspired” by the acorn?

Re: Tails is a portable OS that protects against surveillance and censorship

#45

Post by yieldcrv »

letmevoteplease wrote: post #20
jordanpg wrote: post #2

Would be curious to hear criticisms of Tails, if anyone has opinions about it. To be clear, I'm a fan of the product -- just wondering what the other side of the story is.

All known law enforcement attacks against Tor have involved some kind of exploit (e.g., in Tor Browser) that creates a non-Tor connection to collect the user's IP. Tails does not protect against this. Whonix provides much stronger protection against practical, real-world attacks, since the entire operating system is forced through a Tor connection.

Tails has the entire OS as Tor connections only, an escape from the Tor browser would still be stuck in a Tor only OS.

What information do you have to the contrary?

Re: Tails is a portable OS that protects against surveillance and censorship

#46

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

justin_oaks wrote: post #40
shmde wrote: post #27

Tails OS is my daily driver for absolutely normal day usage and do legal stuff. (No tomfoolery involved)

I'm interested in why you chose this. What are the main benefits you get from using Tails OS? What downsides do you tolerate because of the benefits?

It would have to be pretty good at avoiding the usual privacy problems on the modern internet, right?

Re: Tails is a portable OS that protects against surveillance and censorship

#47

Post by Jigsy »

I've heard bad things about Tails over the last few years.

What with the UK planning to pass that online safety bill, I decided to try out Whonix (which involved learning curves when it came to Linux), which I think is a better way of keeping safe online.

Re: Tails is a portable OS that protects against surveillance and censorship

#48

Post by yieldcrv »

where is darknet opsec and the current state of things discussed?

I used to use Dread and various DNM forums to find people to talk with and read their threads. It was usually far more complex and nuanced than what I would find on clearnet

but its been like 2-3 years since any Tor services even worked reliably with this ongoing DDOS attack.

dark.fail has been down too

I hear people moved to i2p but WHERE?

Re: Tails is a portable OS that protects against surveillance and censorship

#49

Post by NetOpWibby »

Jigsy wrote: post #47

I've heard bad things about Tails over the last few years. What with the UK planning to pass that online safety bill, I decided to try out Whonix (which involved learning curves when it came to Linux), which I think is a better way of keeping safe online.

> I've heard bad things about Tails over the last few years.

Like what?

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