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Tor: Directly connecting users from Turkey

metrics.torproject.org

61–70 of 83 posts

Re: Tor: Directly connecting users from Turkey

#61
Twitter yesterday, TOR tomorrow, what next FB and G+ and then what will they block to stem people speaking things about the Turkish government.

From what I understand the whole blocking twitter is due to the Turkish government not liking what is said about them on twitter. Now by their actions they have created more people saying things they will not like on many other platforms and with that, were will it end. Will they block of the entire internet or will they deal with the issues being raised about them in a constructive way beyond effectively gagging everybody as they are unable to put there hands over there ears.

Either way, this is a dangerous path they are taking and the fallout will be greater than the problem they perceive too be abating.

Re: Tor: Directly connecting users from Turkey

#64

It's still nowhere near its peak. I wonder what happened around Sep last year? https://metrics.torproject.org/users.html?graph=userstats-re...

Im from Turkey and I don't recall any particular move let alone this big. It was probably "deep web fad" or something about Tor.

Also, this peak also happens at other countries, alth. they vary by size. https://metrics.torproject.org/users.html?graph=userstats-re... This is singapore, I have looked at others(uk etc.) and they are same too.

Re: Tor: Directly connecting users from Turkey

#65
post #39
post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Drops every Sunday¹. Employees of companies are using Tor to bypass company site blocks. ¹ https://metrics.torproject.org/users.html?graph=userstats-re...

No, I don't think so. Look at a bigger time frame: https://metrics.torproject.org/users.html?graph=userstats-re... There was a huge spike in Mid 2013, cause by a botnet that installed tor. Before there was almost not oscillation. After that there is quite a bit. I think there are many infected PCs at companies.

Nice. That sounds like a good explanation.

Re: Tor: Directly connecting users from Turkey

#66
post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My favourite was that http was blocked, but https wasn't at my school. Easy peasy :)

I use that for a different trick at school. It gets around keyword filtering on search terms :)

This type of filtering made the EFF's HTTPSEverywhere common in my last school

Re: Tor: Directly connecting users from Turkey

#67
post #29

My biggest fear is once dictatorships/governments become aware of the ability to sidestep their bans, they'll begin blocking websites such as torproject.org. Keep in mind this traffic spike is because people who don't normally use Tor, started using it (i.e. they downloaded it). At that point I think we'll begin to see an arms race between the public and government which might finally bring us to decentralization of…

Others could mirror Tor (more risky, yes, but better than nothing).

Or just send the program via email or through P2P. They can't make it less available, but unless they unplug the internet, the people will still be able to get it. Specially if there is a need. Just remember the days before the internet, the programs, songs, movies used to spread via magazines, floppy disks, tapes...

Re: Tor: Directly connecting users from Turkey

#68

Too bad Twitter can't put a server at 140.140.140.140

I know you're joking because of the twitter 140 character limit but accessing twitter directly by IP address won't help much. The govt can easily block a specific IP. So knowing the IP helps when DNS is down but, in the long run, it's not too helpful when someone is trying to block a site.

Recently, people were getting around the ban by switching to Google's DNS. http://jussiparikka.net/2014/03/21/google-dns-freedom-fight-... So it would have helped for a while anyway.

Re: Tor: Directly connecting users from Turkey

#69
post #47

the Turkish government will eventually figure out how to block Tor, and when that happens the users will need bridges. You can help out by dedicating some spare resources to run as a relay + bridge, takes a minute to install and setup. Share your bridge info to those who require it (not publically). Example install + config: https://gist.github.com/nikcub/9722068

Setting up a private bridge only helps if you have friends or family living living under an oppressive regime. Anyone who run an obfsproxy bridge will be helping the to alleviate the shortage of bridges.[1] The quickest and easiest way is to setup your free Amazon EC2 account with the Instructions at the Tor Cloud Project page[2]. It took me just a couple of minutes to install my free EC2 account. Another option is to donate money to pay for the bandwidth that Tor relay and exit nodes require.[3]

NOTE: A bridge is not the same as an exit node. Only exit nodes could possibly attract attention from authorities. If you are just running a bridge, you are only helping people circumvent government firewalls to join the Tor network. The default EC2 Tor Cloud images only run as a bridge.

[1] http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2013/04/tor-ca...

[2] https://cloud.torproject.org/

[3] https://blog.torproject.org/blog/support-tor-network-donate-...

Re: Tor: Directly connecting users from Turkey

#70
It's touching that people want and have the means to help the Turks continue to communicate thanks to Tor. But it's too bad that running a Tor exit node, due to what Tor is so commonly used for by nature of anonymity, is such a glaring liability[1] to the operator -- and, due to how easily and commonly Tor exit nodes can be used nefariously, a liability to the users[2].

Hopefully uProxy, slated to be released this summer, will address these issues effectively by incorporating a trust model[3] into facilitating circumvention through such censorship walls. Meanwhile, more and more https[4] would be helpful.

[1] http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/11/tor-operator-char... [2] http://cryptome.org/2014/01/spoiled-onions.pdf [3] https://www.asl19.org/en/know-more-about-uproxy-live-qa-with... [4] http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2014/03/staying-at-forefront-...

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