3 ms·

Normally, you need the apt module for Tor transport... But what if you wanted to be able to run .onion addresses from any program? I wrote this: https://trac.t

by kefka 10y ago

Normally, you need the apt module for Tor transport... But what if you wanted to be able to run .onion addresses from any program? I wrote this: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/LinuxDNSresolverForOnions https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/doc/LinuxDNSre... I wanted to be able to send data to Tor onion endpoints within my code, mixed with regular IP or DNS addresses. This modification allows the Linux system resolver handle Onions as it would any other address.

zrm 10y ago
Be careful with this if you're expecting anonymity though. The Tor browser does a lot of work trying to prevent identifying information from being sent to the other side. If you run an arbitrary protocol over Tor without any of that, it's much easier for the server to fingerprint the client.
- kefka 10y ago
  Absolutely. I highlighted this as one of the warnings in the Howto I made. Any protocol you use must be vetted for security and privacy, if you intend to use Tor for those purposes. My purpose is very different. I wanted to communicate with any machine I owned. Every machine has an Onion hidden service, and every machine can talk to Onions seamlessly. What this allows is I can code against a [hash].onion, and know that the data goes where I want it. I can run Mosquitto (MQTT database) on one node, and other nodes can publish data to it. It matters not where they are, what networks they reside on, or if I get the "DynDNS, firewall holes, dynamic-static internal IP", and the rest of that junk set up right. I also use Node-Red, and can use .onion addresses as valid services elsewhere. It allows me the ultimate network flexibility. I think of .onion addresses as being on a "Really Long Ethernet Hub" that only listens to the machine talked to. EDIT: > If you run an arbitrary protocol over Tor without any of that, it's much easier for the server to fingerprint the client. Agreed. I control both endpoints.
  - SXX 10y ago
    Still not sure why would you want to use it like that. OnionCat with virtual domain names would be better IMHO.
rnhmjoj 10y ago
I have been using privoxy as a system wide proxy with this rule `forward-socks4a .onion localhost:9050 .` to do this. I didn't know this was possible, great.

by kefka 10y ago

zrm 10y ago

Be careful with this if you're expecting anonymity though. The Tor browser does a lot of work trying to prevent identifying information from being sent to the other side. If you run an arbitrary protocol over Tor without any of that, it's much easier for the server to fingerprint the client.

kefka 10y ago
Absolutely. I highlighted this as one of the warnings in the Howto I made. Any protocol you use must be vetted for security and privacy, if you intend to use Tor for those purposes. My purpose is very different. I wanted to communicate with any machine I owned. Every machine has an Onion hidden service, and every machine can talk to Onions seamlessly. What this allows is I can code against a [hash].onion, and know that the data goes where I want it. I can run Mosquitto (MQTT database) on one node, and other nodes can publish data to it. It matters not where they are, what networks they reside on, or if I get the "DynDNS, firewall holes, dynamic-static internal IP", and the rest of that junk set up right. I also use Node-Red, and can use .onion addresses as valid services elsewhere. It allows me the ultimate network flexibility. I think of .onion addresses as being on a "Really Long Ethernet Hub" that only listens to the machine talked to. EDIT: > If you run an arbitrary protocol over Tor without any of that, it's much easier for the server to fingerprint the client. Agreed. I control both endpoints.
- SXX 10y ago
  Still not sure why would you want to use it like that. OnionCat with virtual domain names would be better IMHO.

rnhmjoj 10y ago

I have been using privoxy as a system wide proxy with this rule `forward-socks4a .onion localhost:9050 .` to do this. I didn't know this was possible, great.