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For what reason would a person want to use Tor instead of his regular connection? And before you tell me Tor is nothing more than a privacy tool, remember that

by andoon 9y ago

For what reason would a person want to use Tor instead of his regular connection? And before you tell me Tor is nothing more than a privacy tool, remember that most sites ban Tor exits because the majority of users are troublemakers.

M_Grey 9y ago
>And before you tell me Tor is nothing more than a privacy tool, remember that most sites ban Tor exits because the majority of users are troublemakers. So... don't tell you the truth, because you've already decided that a bunch of anonymous people are "bad". Have you ever considered a career in law enforcement or politics?
- andoon 9y ago
  What's the truth? Most websites require you to fill a captcha, confirm your mobile number, or simply block you if you happen to use the service from a Tor exit. That's something you can check yourself, go to the big sites (Alexa top for example), and see it. Even Hacker News shows you a captcha if you register from Tor. Do you believe those sites are in some kind of major plot to bother Tor users, or they simply are fed up with the abuse coming from Tor? Ockham's razor.
  - abiox 9y ago
    > Ockham's razor state actors are annoyed by whistleblowers. tor is useful to whistleblowers. tor is bad.
  - int_19h 9y ago
    Are you talking about most websites worldwide, or most websites in US specifically, or the West in general? Because if it's the latter, then your sample suffers from rather extreme selection bias.
billmalarky 9y ago
Seriously? I imagine >95% of consumers would adopt tor quickly if browsing performance was comparable to standard browsing (hell it would be packaged with firefox). The general public hates being tracked and having their privacy invaded. Just look at the political mess created when congress gave ISP's the right to sell user browsing data at the end of last month.
- andoon 9y ago
  >The general public hates being tracked and having their privacy invaded. Just look at the political mess created when congress gave ISP's the right to sell user browsing data at the end of last month. You gotta be kidding me. If that were the case nobody would ever use Facebook, or browse the web without an ad blocker and blocking 3rd party cookies. I also like privacy but we have to understand that nobody really cares about that. Maybe it's because they are not educated and don't know what the risks are, but whatever the reason, privacy is ignored by most people.
  - aeze 9y ago
    You can opt out of Facebook though, or set up a fake account.
  - yellowapple 9y ago
    In the case of Facebook, users might very well not know the extent by which Facebook tracks them. In the case of ad-blockers, users (at least those I've met) tend to not know they exist, and are excited to try them out.
  - billmalarky 9y ago
    I'm not sure the general public sees ad blocking as an ethically green area. More of a grey area so many aren't comfortable doing it even if they love the experience.
- knodi123 9y ago
  > hell it would be packaged with firefox It already is, unofficially. If you download the right version.
ocschwar 9y ago
> For what reason would a person want to use Tor instead of his regular connection? If I'm doing some background research for my work, I don't want to have to wonder if my ISP will sell me out, allowing a competitor to know what I've been up to. If I'm hanging around gear head websites and letting people know just what a drooling fanboy I am for the products of a particular car company, I really don't want my ISP to sell me out and let the local car dealer know.
sunderw 9y ago
> because the majority of users are troublemakers This statement is actually wrong. The majority of users are probably normal people. The majority of the traffic coming from exit nodes, though, may come from scripts/bots ; but that is a really small percentage of users.

by andoon 9y ago

M_Grey 9y ago

>And before you tell me Tor is nothing more than a privacy tool, remember that most sites ban Tor exits because the majority of users are troublemakers. So... don't tell you the truth, because you've already decided that a bunch of anonymous people are "bad". Have you ever considered a career in law enforcement or politics?

andoon 9y ago
What's the truth? Most websites require you to fill a captcha, confirm your mobile number, or simply block you if you happen to use the service from a Tor exit. That's something you can check yourself, go to the big sites (Alexa top for example), and see it. Even Hacker News shows you a captcha if you register from Tor. Do you believe those sites are in some kind of major plot to bother Tor users, or they simply are fed up with the abuse coming from Tor? Ockham's razor.
- abiox 9y ago
  > Ockham's razor state actors are annoyed by whistleblowers. tor is useful to whistleblowers. tor is bad.
- int_19h 9y ago
  Are you talking about most websites worldwide, or most websites in US specifically, or the West in general? Because if it's the latter, then your sample suffers from rather extreme selection bias.

billmalarky 9y ago

Seriously? I imagine >95% of consumers would adopt tor quickly if browsing performance was comparable to standard browsing (hell it would be packaged with firefox). The general public hates being tracked and having their privacy invaded. Just look at the political mess created when congress gave ISP's the right to sell user browsing data at the end of last month.

andoon 9y ago
>The general public hates being tracked and having their privacy invaded. Just look at the political mess created when congress gave ISP's the right to sell user browsing data at the end of last month. You gotta be kidding me. If that were the case nobody would ever use Facebook, or browse the web without an ad blocker and blocking 3rd party cookies. I also like privacy but we have to understand that nobody really cares about that. Maybe it's because they are not educated and don't know what the risks are, but whatever the reason, privacy is ignored by most people.
- aeze 9y ago
  You can opt out of Facebook though, or set up a fake account.
- yellowapple 9y ago
  In the case of Facebook, users might very well not know the extent by which Facebook tracks them. In the case of ad-blockers, users (at least those I've met) tend to not know they exist, and are excited to try them out.
- billmalarky 9y ago
  I'm not sure the general public sees ad blocking as an ethically green area. More of a grey area so many aren't comfortable doing it even if they love the experience.
knodi123 9y ago
> hell it would be packaged with firefox It already is, unofficially. If you download the right version.

ocschwar 9y ago

> For what reason would a person want to use Tor instead of his regular connection? If I'm doing some background research for my work, I don't want to have to wonder if my ISP will sell me out, allowing a competitor to know what I've been up to. If I'm hanging around gear head websites and letting people know just what a drooling fanboy I am for the products of a particular car company, I really don't want my ISP to sell me out and let the local car dealer know.

sunderw 9y ago

> because the majority of users are troublemakers This statement is actually wrong. The majority of users are probably normal people. The majority of the traffic coming from exit nodes, though, may come from scripts/bots ; but that is a really small percentage of users.