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Facebook is Blocking Connections from Tor Network

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Re: Facebook is Blocking Connections from Tor Network

#61

Post by redblacktree »

zackmorris wrote: post #58

I find this a bit ironic because the future of the web is a free self-organizing darknet. Someday data that users wish to share will be stored cryptographically in a true "cloud" sort of like bitcoin, and I'm not really sure what the value of facebook will be in an environment like that. Maybe the ability to store things temporarily or delete them somehow? Facebook seems to connect you to anything except the future..

On what do you base this speculation? To me, the trend seems to be just the opposite. Internet use for the average person is increasingly non-anonymous. Only techies use Tor, PGP, etc.

Re: Facebook is Blocking Connections from Tor Network

#62

Post by redblacktree »

gngeal wrote: post #57
alan_cx wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Popularity. If activists want a potential mass audience, facebook is an essential part of of that. Something private will not get to most people. Its the exact same reason it is hard to compete with facebook. Its is a virtual monopoly. "Force"? No. But by using that word you are in the same disingenuous camp the "what have you got to hide" people. I mean, why bother about privacy at all, no one is "forced" to use the…

If activists want a potential mass audience, facebook is an essential part of of that. Well, why not clear it through an individual that will put it up there so that the private dealings of everyone else won't leak?

This is a good idea. Perhaps an individual in a state that values freedom of expression more highly.

Re: Facebook is Blocking Connections from Tor Network

#63

Post by adventured »

yuvadam wrote: post #41

The privatized 'public' space makes an inevitable move. Facebook can no longer stake any preposterous claim to "help people connect better". It is a business entity - always has been - and does not give half a damn about "making the world a better place", or whatever corporate marketing catchphrase they use right now. Related to recent events or not, the privatized internet is continuing to backlash with severe conse…

It's a lot more than just a business entity, unfortunately.

The government tends to look out for and protect its biggest corporate partners, particularly those that play a strategic role (think: Boeing). The major Internet services companies are now protected government sponsored entities, just like Verizon and AT&T.

The Feds can never risk the potential that the massive orgy of data that Facebook makes possible - both domestically and globally - might unravel or be challenged by competitors that might threaten the 'total information awareness' system they've built. I would argue Facebook's well being is now considered a national security interest for the US Government, as there are few other sources that provide easy access to the lives of a billion people around the world.

I wish Facebook were merely a business.

Re: Facebook is Blocking Connections from Tor Network

#64

Post by hobs »

redblacktree wrote: post #61
zackmorris wrote: post #58

I find this a bit ironic because the future of the web is a free self-organizing darknet. Someday data that users wish to share will be stored cryptographically in a true "cloud" sort of like bitcoin, and I'm not really sure what the value of facebook will be in an environment like that. Maybe the ability to store things temporarily or delete them somehow? Facebook seems to connect you to anything except the future..

On what do you base this speculation? To me, the trend seems to be just the opposite. Internet use for the average person is increasingly non-anonymous. Only techies use Tor, PGP, etc.

Yep, your parent presupposes people get better at computers. Moore's law does not apply to people.

Re: Facebook is Blocking Connections from Tor Network

#65

Post by untog »

hawleyal wrote: post #22
mooism2 wrote: post #3

Has anybody tried asking Facebook why they've done this? Possible reasons: 1. One or more governments (which ones?) have told Facebook to block Tor or else. (Or else what?) 2. A manual security review revealed more hacking attempts via Tor than legitimate use, so Facebook decided to block Tor. 3. After a sustained hacking attack via Tor, an automated Facebook security system automatically blocked Facebook access from…

It doesn't matter why.

Of course it does. It might be a short-term block to prevent a spam attack, for example.

Re: Facebook is Blocking Connections from Tor Network

#66

Post by yuvadam »

patrickaljord wrote: post #60
yuvadam wrote: post #41

The privatized 'public' space makes an inevitable move. Facebook can no longer stake any preposterous claim to "help people connect better". It is a business entity - always has been - and does not give half a damn about "making the world a better place", or whatever corporate marketing catchphrase they use right now. Related to recent events or not, the privatized internet is continuing to backlash with severe conse…

> Facebook can no longer stake any preposterous claim to "help people connect better". Why not? Facebook does help billions of people connect better. Yes, it is a business entity and what's wrong with that? Does this make it inherently evil? Do non business entity do a better job at "making the world a better place"? Look at the latest NSA scandal to get an idea. At least we're not forced to pay Facebook with our tax…

Throwing millions of legitimate users, who require Tor for their safety, under the bus is evil, yes.

Facebook has plenty of ways to fight spam besides blacklisting Tor exit node IPs, exactly as it has done up until now.

Re: Facebook is Blocking Connections from Tor Network

#67

Post by untog »

runn1ng wrote: post #12

news.ycombinator does this too. edit: at least for me, it's impossible to log in to HN and when I occasionally succesfully log im, everything I post while being on Tor is instantly dead.

This point might be more important than anyone gives it credit for. Six days ago PG said that someone was running an "abusive distributed crawler" through Tor. Quite possible that Facebook would ban for the exact same reasons.

Re: Facebook is Blocking Connections from Tor Network

#68

Post by untog »

wyck wrote: post #51
forcer wrote: post #50

Isn't HTTPS connection enough to protect from snooping regimes? If the foreign government won't block FB access completely, user can go to https://www.facebook.com and will know that their data can only be seen by Facebook? Of course if government is blocking FB access, then I understand the need of TOR.

You're missing the point TOR isn't about encryption, it's about anonymity. If you're in a situation which can threaten your life, the latter is clearly more important.

But in that context, using Tor to sign into Facebook kind of removes that 'anonymity' angle.

Re: Facebook is Blocking Connections from Tor Network

#69

Post by loucal »

jtome wrote: post #48
eli wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Makes sense -- most bots don't run JS.

Definitely, I guess this means all I need is phantom.js to steal all of google's search results now.

If your guess is that phantom.js is all you need to sidestep a captcha then I believe you might be misinformed.
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