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Help Censored Users – Run a Tor Bridge

191 points by News-Dog 5y ago

ttybird2 5y ago
Please remember that doing so might get you in trouble https://yanmaani.github.io/does-council-regulation-eu-2022/350-make-it-illegal-to-operate-a-tor-node-in-the-eu/ https://yanmaani.github.io/does-council-regulation-eu-2022/3...
- lucb1e 5y ago
  Since it's also illegal to help a criminal in their act, there are already a hundred laws that could be explained in the same way. This relay only accepts and sends encrypted traffic and you (as entry node) will not know what is being transmitted. It's encrypted with a key you simply do not have, you're just forwarding it for people that could otherwise not reach the entry nodes. From my point of view this is the safest thing you can do for the Tor network.
- 3np 5y ago
  As I wrote here when it came up, with that interpretation suddenly anyone facilitating communication (including ISPs not fully blocking access to anyone who does) is in trouble. You’d basically need to ensure full compliance from anyone you’re peering with or forwarding communication from. So E2EE without TPM-enforced client-side scanning or relaying clear-text messages without the same or server-side filtering would be trouble. Good luck squaring that with being GDPR-compliant for any real-world business use-case... As formulated that would hopefully not hold up in court. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30537464 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30537464
- estaseuropano 5y ago
  Now I'm not a lawyer but very familiar with EU legal texts. Firstly, the part s/he quotes at the beginning is from the preamble/recitals, essentially intention statements, explanations and background. This is not in any way legally binding, but a court would use it to interpret the articles. The articles are what matters And then we get in the messy things: article 12. > It shall be prohibited to participate, knowingly and intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent prohibitions in this Regulation including by acting as a substitute for natural or legal persons, entities or bodies referred to in Article 2e(3) or Article 2f, 5, 5a, 5b, 5e, 5f or 5h, or by acting to their benefit by using the exceptions in Article 2e(4), 5(6), 5a(2), 5a(5), 5b(2), 5b(3), 5e(2) or 5f(2).’; Eu law tends to be intepreted conservatively. Its not like US law which is largely case law - in EU law, except for judgements by the ECJ, the measuring stick is the legal text and intention, not a wide interpretation that extends the actual text as you might do in the US. So e.g. if users can upload text or video on your service and do so to spread/share RT propaganda, you would certainly not need to fear anything directly unless you notice/are told its there and then don't take action (different rules for large platforms though). Similarly, a VPN or tor node has many functions. Unless you actively and intentionally host such content or explicitly advertise or distribute it (think e.g. a Popcorntime for RT) you would not expect sanctions. Problem beyond this is that the EU is 27 legal systems. The intention of this regulation is to empower national media regulators to take action against the propaganda anf lies spread by these state media. So while the regulation applies directly, each national law might have slightly different ways of implemeting this. E.g. Poland might take a much stricter view than Portugal, in line with national media regulations.
Terry_Roll 5y ago
It would be easier for the TOR project if there did scripts and distro's for different devices. What surprises me the most, is this would seem ideal for the raspberrypi and other SBC because one could be setup and then just left to run.
- 3np 5y ago
  https://www.torbox.ch https://www.torbox.ch
  - Terry_Roll 5y ago
    Doesnt work, cant log in with the password CHANGE-IT but my computer did manage to mess up afterwards and its been bleeping in an almost inaudible tone ever since.
james-redwood 5y ago
I highly recommend anyone who has the capacity to do so: it’s not particularly difficult and goes a long way in building the very foundations of a free web.
- pooper 5y ago
  My practical concern is many people are uplink choked. Technically, on 200 Mbps down, I was supposed to get over 10 Mbps up on Comcast Xfinity but practically it was closer to 5 or 6 Mbps. This is already problematic if you have more than two video conference calls going on at the same time. I am moving soon to a Spectrum / road runner area and we are supposed to get 400 down and 20 up. Let's see if it helps. I don't think I have the capacity to run a node if I understand this clearly (please correct me if I am wrong). I imagine the way a relay works is you download something from a source node and upload it to the destination node where source and destination are somewhat randomized?
gmemstr 5y ago
Genuine question, what sort of risks are associated with running this on a typical residential connection?
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- 3np 5y ago
  Not much at all (unless you’re in the DPRK, I guess). Running an exit node is likely to give you issues, though.
- News-Dog 5y ago
  Best Answered at: <https://forum.torproject.net https://forum.torproject.net>
  - mkl 5y ago
    Where there? There seem to be hundreds of posts, and searching for "risks" and "bridge risks" didn't seem to bring anything up.
    - 3np 5y ago
      I think they meant that it's a good place to ask.
    - News-Dog 5y ago
      Please ask on the Forum, You are more likely to be able to talk directly with a Dev. However they will be most likely preoccupied with the new release at the moment. FYI: Tor Browser User Manual <https://tb-manual.torproject.org https://tb-manual.torproject.org> Tor Support <https://support.torproject.org https://support.torproject.org>
- flatiron 5y ago
  I ran a bridge once. First thing that happened is I could no longer use my banks website or app. Got a message that I was using tor. I was not an exit node I guess they blocked all exit nodes and bridges. Second thing that happened is I worked at the power company and the union went on strike. While on strike some dummy put in a lot of power outage reports and used tor. So IT wanted to see if anyone else was using tor and my IP when I worked from home came up as Tor so I had to go through a whole thing at work that I just run a bridge and I had nothing to do with the tickets. They requested I stop running the bridge and I did. No more tor bridges for me!
westernboy 5y ago
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- moffkalast 5y ago
  With this one simple trick, you too can turn your local network into a cesspit of cybercrime!
  - westernboy 5y ago
    Cool! --- I won't do it till I read all the docs.
BrBone 5y ago
In Russia even obfs4 not work properly. Today is working tomorrow you request a new bridges and it is not working too. After 30 attempt it work or loads very slow. You must be really persistent and a little tech-savvy to make something work. I was almost desperate but I got lucky. Its not just install a proxy extension.
- jerheinze 5y ago
  Have you tried snowflake instead?
mhitza 5y ago
I don't run a node but I have the Snowflake plugin installed in Firefox. It seems to be an uptick in Tor activity, as yesterday alone it served over 30 different clients. While last year it would hardly get any. Upgraded to better ISP since, in case that makes a difference how proxies are chosen.
- lucb1e 5y ago
  For those like me who are not familiar: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake/-/wikis/Technical%20Overview https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-... > Snowflake involves a large network of highly ephemeral volunteer proxies, with the goal of outpacing the censor’s ability to block proxy IP addresses [...]. Snowflake addresses NAT traversal by [WebRTC’s ICE negotiation], among a number of new advantages. > CDNs serve not only their own web services, but also services that users may host on their platforms, such as App Engine. Snowflake currently hosts the [ICE negotiation] on App Engine, but will also do so on other services. This page has a nice diagram: https://snowflake.torproject.org https://snowflake.torproject.org Install in Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/torproject-snowflake/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/torproject-sn... Install in the big bro(ws|th)er: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/snowflake/mafpmfcccpbjnhfhjnllmmalhifmlcie https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/snowflake/mafpmfcc... Without installing anything, you can also just leave this tab open: https://snowflake.torproject.org/embed.html https://snowflake.torproject.org/embed.html
fastpoint 5y ago
And get myself on a watch list? No thanks. More importantly, Tor has a significant amount of use by child abusers: https://www.wired.com/2014/12/80-percent-dark-web-visits-relate-pedophilia-study-finds https://www.wired.com/2014/12/80-percent-dark-web-visits-rel... So there's not really a moral case for this either. You'd just be enabling paedophiles to cover their tracks.
- the_duke 5y ago
  The fact that a brand new account account is feverishly trying to frame Tor as enabling abusers gives me confidence in the fact that Tor is actually really useful for circumventing censorship right now.
- merlinscholz 5y ago
  Child pornography users in most cases use the internet too. A lot of them have cars and drive on the road. We should boycott public infrastructure altogether since it can be used for bad actions.
  - fastpoint 5y ago
    The linked study revealed that around 80% of hidden service visits were to paedophile websites. Is 80% of internet traffic child pornography imagery? Are 80% of cars driven by paedophiles? If not, your comparison makes no sense really. Also, Tor isn't public infrastructure. It's a largely anonymous group of people who have collaborated to form an anonymising network. Everyone involved who is aware of the above is knowingly enabling the sexual abuse of children, by allowing the perpetrators to hide behind their network.
    - mhitza 5y ago
      And from the same article > Tor executive director Roger Dingledine followed up in a statement to WIRED pointing out that Tor hidden services represent only 2 percent of total traffic over Tor's anonymizing network. So that's a 80% of 2% of the entire Tor traffic based on 2014 stats. Hardly comparable with stating a question like "Is 80% of internet traffic child pornography imagery?"
jerheinze 5y ago
Running a Tor snowflake[1] 'bridge' is now as easy as installing an addon and forgetting about it: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/torproject-snowflake/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/torproject-sn... https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/snowflake/mafpmfcccpbjnhfhjnllmmalhifmlcie https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/snowflake/mafpmfcc... [1] : https://snowflake.torproject.org/ https://snowflake.torproject.org/
ignoramous 5y ago
The easiest bit is right at the bottom: If you're not technical enough to run a bridge, but want to help censored users, there are other ways you can help: Run a Snowflake proxy. You do not need a dedicated server and can run a proxy by simply installing an extension in your browser. The extension is available for Firefox and Chrome. There is no need to worry about which websites people are accessing through your proxy. Their visible browsing IP address will match their Tor exit node, not yours. Link to the extensions from: https://snowflake.torproject.org/ https://snowflake.torproject.org/ One can also host snowflake on servers: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake/-/tree/main/proxy https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-... Or, integrate in a website: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake-webext#reuse-as-a-library https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-... Or, embed in iframes: <iframe src="https://snowflake.torproject.org/embed.html" width="320" height="240" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>
- btdmaster 5y ago
  Going directly to the iframe link works too: https://snowflake.torproject.org/embed.html https://snowflake.torproject.org/embed.html
- Eduard 5y ago
  This criticism makes it seem that Snowflake is a great arrest honeypot: https://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/944-Tor-0day-Snowflake.html https://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/944-To...
  - ignoramous 5y ago
    Not an expert, but snowflake is a bridge to the Tor network. One may detect its use, but I doubt it breaks Tor's anonymity guarantees, as it is really a bridge. Of course, if using Tor is deemed a crime, then using snowflake bridges might not be the wisest thing to do. Cloaked protocols like Shadowsocks might come in handy.
- kzrdude 5y ago
almog 5y ago
What would be an easy and economic way to run a Tor Bridge/s on AWS? I have few hundred bucks left in credit that will expire in a few months and no plans to use it
- corint 5y ago
  I would suggest looking at Lightsail, if your credits stretch that far. The included 1TB+ of bandwidth is the reason for that. Bridges would typically see much more bursty traffic compared to relays or (especially) exit nodes; this does mean that the burst CPU credits on Lightsail (or the t-series EC2 instances) would pair up nicely. I'd also suggest running in as many AWS regions as you're able, so that there isn't a lovely block of bridges all in one region.
  - almog 5y ago
    Thank you! I haven't used Lightsail yet, so in addition to doing something meaningful with the credit, it could also be a good learning experience.
the_duke 5y ago
Hetzner has very cheap cloud servers with generous traffic allowance. See https://www.hetzner.com/cloud https://www.hetzner.com/cloud Last time I asked they were officially OK with users running bridge and exit nodes. Consider doing that if you'd rather not expose your home IP to scrutiny.
- AnonC 5y ago
  The Tor Project currently recommends not using Hetzner, among others, since there are many nodes there already. [1] I haven’t read the complete reasoning, but remember this one being around for sometime. [1]: https://community.torproject.org/relay/community-resources/good-bad-isps/ https://community.torproject.org/relay/community-resources/g...
  - waffleiron 5y ago
    When someone controls a signification amount of nodes they can start to de-anonymise users by using correlation of entry and exit node. I ran a relay for 6 months now (as one of less than 5 people on my AS) and haven't run into any of the problems others have seen, those problems seem mostly related to running an exit node.
pluc 5y ago
I did this during their last recruitment drive. My bridge sat there unused for 3 weeks. Then I stopped cause I didn't see the point.
donohoe 5y ago
Is there any actual data on the types of people that use Tor? I know by the very nature of it, that’s not a practical ask. I can’t help but think that despite Tor’s good intentions it’s just not being used for legitimate use. Every story I’ve read really relies on anecdotal stories. If feel better having a clearer sense of the real userbase.
- 3np 5y ago
  My impression is that a large portion of the traffic on Tor is malicious in some way, but originating from a very small portion of the users. It's a noisy minority. Just like the vast majority of sent e-mail is from criminal activity[0] and the comment section on news sites doesn't represent the readership fairly. An easy thing we can all do to help improve that is to use Tor for legitimate every-day use, even when you have nothing to hide. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_spam#Statistics_and_estimates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_spam#Statistics_and_esti...
  - defeatcensors 5y ago
    Directory of legitimate organizations running onion services: https://www.yellowonion.org https://www.yellowonion.org
cebert 5y ago
If I were to run a bridge is there absolutely no way I’d get into trouble if someone using Tor was looking at child porn or hacking someone?
- bawolff 5y ago
  Only if the entire tor network was criminalized. Generally bridges don't see what traffic goes over them (its encrypted) and the exit node is not able to link which bridge the request came from. So specific activity should not be linkable to your bridge. That said IANAL this is not legal advice, yadda yadda.
- nacs 5y ago
  If you ran an exit node, it's possible but bridges are just the entry points and are ok.
chockchocschoir 5y ago
Another thing that would help us who are digging around in Russian infrastructure right now: Host Tor exit nodes from residential IPs in Russia. This comes with the risk of exposing yourself though, but you do help a lot of individuals and groups to be able to access resources we wouldn't be able to otherwise. Again, this is risky so don't do this unless you know what you're in for.
ravenstine 5y ago
I'm pretty pessimistic about Tor and if I were to run a bridge or relay I definitely wouldn't run it locally. If you're going to run one, you might as well host it remotely so that there are extra steps in a state figuring out that you are trafficking other people's data. By design, governments can figure out that you're using Tor and what your "role" is, which is bad for both the users and those hosting bridges. What we should be doing is encouraging people to use I2P and making it as accessible to the public as Tor (and even more so). Why I2P over Tor? - All nodes have the same role, so there's no distinction between nodes in terms of whether they are an entrance relay or any other user. - It's not designed to be a clearnet proxy, thus there are no "exit" nodes although hidden sites (aka eepsites) can of course be made to forward requests to the clearnet. - I2P has a sort of DNS system built-in that Tor lacks. - A totally separate or private P2P network is much easier to form with I2P than Tor. - Hidden sites are faster on I2P than on Tor. - I2P didn't come out of DARPA. - Torrents that are totally internal to the network and don't rely on clearnet trackers or DHT. Above all, if you have this concept of an "exit" node then it's feasible to observe exit nodes and correlate traffic to a clearnet destination with individual users. Depending on the regime a person is subject to, their use of Tor can potentially backfire on them because the flawed network design. The concept behind Snowflake seems really cool, and maybe it works out for a lot of people in the short term. It is, however, potentially adding vulnerability to the network by virtue of adding another layer of complexity. Any time you add complexity to a system, you are creating potential for something to go wrong. With Snowflake you are, again, asking for people to identify themselves as Tor bridges (effectively) and neither the Snowflake bridge or the client are benefiting from a darknet connection when talking to each other because they're using WebRTC. WebRTC can of course be used to leak IP addresses. However, I cannot seem to find the source for the Snowflake browser extension anywhere. This is concerning in and of itself. Does anyone know where it's located? The page for it on addons.mozilla.org does not link to a repo, and the Gitlab repo for Snowflake doesn't appear to include any code for packaging a browser extension. I would not install a browser extension that doesn't have an available source no matter who it's coming from. If we want censorship-free communication that's as anonymous as can be, then give up on a formalized way of accessing the clearnet and prefer internal networking rather than running glorified VPN proxies. Tor sucks all the oxygen out of the room while having not adequately addressed the serious flaws in its design. Although I know there are reasons why people would be interested in running at Tor bridge and using Tor right in this moment, in the long term, we'd be of better help to the world if we worked on bettering and promoting a network project that is overall better for the censored user in the long term. People should be as aware of I2P as Tor and it should be extremely easy to use it. We should also make sure there's plenty of good content available on the I2P network (yes, I am gradually working on this). I2P implementations: - https://github.com/i2p/i2p.i2p https://github.com/i2p/i2p.i2p (the official Java based implementation) - https://github.com/PurpleI2P/i2pd https://github.com/PurpleI2P/i2pd (a C++ implementation that is also used to make I2P available on Android)
hereforphone 5y ago
I forget, am I supposed to be pro giving Russian citizens access to unfiltered Internet now, or against?
- jdrc 5y ago
  pro, it's always good to know enemy propaganda, for both sides. besides, i assume in today's world it's very hard to hide facts very widely. Sure some people only watch state TV but bad news eventually will reach almost everyone
ravenstine 5y ago
Does anyone know where the source code is for the Snowflake browser extension? I'm failing to find it anywhere, including in the Snowflake Gitlab repo. This is concerning to me, but I'm sure there's a good chance I'm just missing it.
- raybb 5y ago
  I'm guessing it's here https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo?filter=snowflake https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo?filter=snowflake under "Snowflake WebExtension" but they should link to it more prominently.
  - ravenstine 5y ago
    Ah, thanks!
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
bannedbybros 5y ago
nfriedly 5y ago
I've been meaning to do this for a while, so thanks for the reminder! Now that I set it up, how do I know if it's doing anything? The logs show it bootstraped up to 100% then figured out my IP, and the last line says > Self-testing indicates your ORPort [my IP]:9393 is reachable from the outside. Excellent. Publishing server descriptor. Glancing at my router doesn't show any appreciable uptick in traffic. I see a brief spike that hit ~10% of my bandwidth, then it went back down to near zero usage. (I have a static IP and a decently fast symmetric internet connection, fwiw.)
- whyleyc 5y ago
  You can install "nyx" to check what's going on: https://nyx.torproject.org/ https://nyx.torproject.org/
  - nfriedly 5y ago
    Thanks!

191 points by News-Dog 5y ago

Please remember that doing so might get you in trouble https://yanmaani.github.io/does-council-regulation-eu-2022/350-make-it-illegal-to-operate-a-tor-node-in-the-eu/ https://yanmaani.github.io/does-council-regulation-eu-2022/3...

lucb1e 5y ago
Since it's also illegal to help a criminal in their act, there are already a hundred laws that could be explained in the same way. This relay only accepts and sends encrypted traffic and you (as entry node) will not know what is being transmitted. It's encrypted with a key you simply do not have, you're just forwarding it for people that could otherwise not reach the entry nodes. From my point of view this is the safest thing you can do for the Tor network.
3np 5y ago
As I wrote here when it came up, with that interpretation suddenly anyone facilitating communication (including ISPs not fully blocking access to anyone who does) is in trouble. You’d basically need to ensure full compliance from anyone you’re peering with or forwarding communication from. So E2EE without TPM-enforced client-side scanning or relaying clear-text messages without the same or server-side filtering would be trouble. Good luck squaring that with being GDPR-compliant for any real-world business use-case... As formulated that would hopefully not hold up in court. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30537464 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30537464
estaseuropano 5y ago
Now I'm not a lawyer but very familiar with EU legal texts. Firstly, the part s/he quotes at the beginning is from the preamble/recitals, essentially intention statements, explanations and background. This is not in any way legally binding, but a court would use it to interpret the articles. The articles are what matters And then we get in the messy things: article 12. > It shall be prohibited to participate, knowingly and intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent prohibitions in this Regulation including by acting as a substitute for natural or legal persons, entities or bodies referred to in Article 2e(3) or Article 2f, 5, 5a, 5b, 5e, 5f or 5h, or by acting to their benefit by using the exceptions in Article 2e(4), 5(6), 5a(2), 5a(5), 5b(2), 5b(3), 5e(2) or 5f(2).’; Eu law tends to be intepreted conservatively. Its not like US law which is largely case law - in EU law, except for judgements by the ECJ, the measuring stick is the legal text and intention, not a wide interpretation that extends the actual text as you might do in the US. So e.g. if users can upload text or video on your service and do so to spread/share RT propaganda, you would certainly not need to fear anything directly unless you notice/are told its there and then don't take action (different rules for large platforms though). Similarly, a VPN or tor node has many functions. Unless you actively and intentionally host such content or explicitly advertise or distribute it (think e.g. a Popcorntime for RT) you would not expect sanctions. Problem beyond this is that the EU is 27 legal systems. The intention of this regulation is to empower national media regulators to take action against the propaganda anf lies spread by these state media. So while the regulation applies directly, each national law might have slightly different ways of implemeting this. E.g. Poland might take a much stricter view than Portugal, in line with national media regulations.

Terry_Roll 5y ago

It would be easier for the TOR project if there did scripts and distro's for different devices. What surprises me the most, is this would seem ideal for the raspberrypi and other SBC because one could be setup and then just left to run.

3np 5y ago
https://www.torbox.ch https://www.torbox.ch
- Terry_Roll 5y ago
  Doesnt work, cant log in with the password CHANGE-IT but my computer did manage to mess up afterwards and its been bleeping in an almost inaudible tone ever since.

james-redwood 5y ago

I highly recommend anyone who has the capacity to do so: it’s not particularly difficult and goes a long way in building the very foundations of a free web.

pooper 5y ago
My practical concern is many people are uplink choked. Technically, on 200 Mbps down, I was supposed to get over 10 Mbps up on Comcast Xfinity but practically it was closer to 5 or 6 Mbps. This is already problematic if you have more than two video conference calls going on at the same time. I am moving soon to a Spectrum / road runner area and we are supposed to get 400 down and 20 up. Let's see if it helps. I don't think I have the capacity to run a node if I understand this clearly (please correct me if I am wrong). I imagine the way a relay works is you download something from a source node and upload it to the destination node where source and destination are somewhat randomized?

gmemstr 5y ago

Genuine question, what sort of risks are associated with running this on a typical residential connection?

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
3np 5y ago
Not much at all (unless you’re in the DPRK, I guess). Running an exit node is likely to give you issues, though.
News-Dog 5y ago
Best Answered at: <https://forum.torproject.net https://forum.torproject.net>
- mkl 5y ago
  Where there? There seem to be hundreds of posts, and searching for "risks" and "bridge risks" didn't seem to bring anything up.
  - 3np 5y ago
    I think they meant that it's a good place to ask.
  - News-Dog 5y ago
    Please ask on the Forum, You are more likely to be able to talk directly with a Dev. However they will be most likely preoccupied with the new release at the moment. FYI: Tor Browser User Manual <https://tb-manual.torproject.org https://tb-manual.torproject.org> Tor Support <https://support.torproject.org https://support.torproject.org>
flatiron 5y ago
I ran a bridge once. First thing that happened is I could no longer use my banks website or app. Got a message that I was using tor. I was not an exit node I guess they blocked all exit nodes and bridges. Second thing that happened is I worked at the power company and the union went on strike. While on strike some dummy put in a lot of power outage reports and used tor. So IT wanted to see if anyone else was using tor and my IP when I worked from home came up as Tor so I had to go through a whole thing at work that I just run a bridge and I had nothing to do with the tickets. They requested I stop running the bridge and I did. No more tor bridges for me!

westernboy 5y ago

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
moffkalast 5y ago
With this one simple trick, you too can turn your local network into a cesspit of cybercrime!
- westernboy 5y ago
  Cool! --- I won't do it till I read all the docs.

BrBone 5y ago

In Russia even obfs4 not work properly. Today is working tomorrow you request a new bridges and it is not working too. After 30 attempt it work or loads very slow. You must be really persistent and a little tech-savvy to make something work. I was almost desperate but I got lucky. Its not just install a proxy extension.

jerheinze 5y ago
Have you tried snowflake instead?

mhitza 5y ago

I don't run a node but I have the Snowflake plugin installed in Firefox. It seems to be an uptick in Tor activity, as yesterday alone it served over 30 different clients. While last year it would hardly get any. Upgraded to better ISP since, in case that makes a difference how proxies are chosen.

lucb1e 5y ago
For those like me who are not familiar: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake/-/wikis/Technical%20Overview https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-... > Snowflake involves a large network of highly ephemeral volunteer proxies, with the goal of outpacing the censor’s ability to block proxy IP addresses [...]. Snowflake addresses NAT traversal by [WebRTC’s ICE negotiation], among a number of new advantages. > CDNs serve not only their own web services, but also services that users may host on their platforms, such as App Engine. Snowflake currently hosts the [ICE negotiation] on App Engine, but will also do so on other services. This page has a nice diagram: https://snowflake.torproject.org https://snowflake.torproject.org Install in Firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/torproject-snowflake/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/torproject-sn... Install in the big bro(ws|th)er: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/snowflake/mafpmfcccpbjnhfhjnllmmalhifmlcie https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/snowflake/mafpmfcc... Without installing anything, you can also just leave this tab open: https://snowflake.torproject.org/embed.html https://snowflake.torproject.org/embed.html

fastpoint 5y ago

And get myself on a watch list? No thanks. More importantly, Tor has a significant amount of use by child abusers: https://www.wired.com/2014/12/80-percent-dark-web-visits-relate-pedophilia-study-finds https://www.wired.com/2014/12/80-percent-dark-web-visits-rel... So there's not really a moral case for this either. You'd just be enabling paedophiles to cover their tracks.

the_duke 5y ago
The fact that a brand new account account is feverishly trying to frame Tor as enabling abusers gives me confidence in the fact that Tor is actually really useful for circumventing censorship right now.
merlinscholz 5y ago
Child pornography users in most cases use the internet too. A lot of them have cars and drive on the road. We should boycott public infrastructure altogether since it can be used for bad actions.
- fastpoint 5y ago
  The linked study revealed that around 80% of hidden service visits were to paedophile websites. Is 80% of internet traffic child pornography imagery? Are 80% of cars driven by paedophiles? If not, your comparison makes no sense really. Also, Tor isn't public infrastructure. It's a largely anonymous group of people who have collaborated to form an anonymising network. Everyone involved who is aware of the above is knowingly enabling the sexual abuse of children, by allowing the perpetrators to hide behind their network.
  - mhitza 5y ago
    And from the same article > Tor executive director Roger Dingledine followed up in a statement to WIRED pointing out that Tor hidden services represent only 2 percent of total traffic over Tor's anonymizing network. So that's a 80% of 2% of the entire Tor traffic based on 2014 stats. Hardly comparable with stating a question like "Is 80% of internet traffic child pornography imagery?"

jerheinze 5y ago

Running a Tor snowflake[1] 'bridge' is now as easy as installing an addon and forgetting about it: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/torproject-snowflake/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/torproject-sn... https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/snowflake/mafpmfcccpbjnhfhjnllmmalhifmlcie https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/snowflake/mafpmfcc... [1] : https://snowflake.torproject.org/ https://snowflake.torproject.org/

ignoramous 5y ago

The easiest bit is right at the bottom: If you're not technical enough to run a bridge, but want to help censored users, there are other ways you can help: Run a Snowflake proxy. You do not need a dedicated server and can run a proxy by simply installing an extension in your browser. The extension is available for Firefox and Chrome. There is no need to worry about which websites people are accessing through your proxy. Their visible browsing IP address will match their Tor exit node, not yours. Link to the extensions from: https://snowflake.torproject.org/ https://snowflake.torproject.org/ One can also host snowflake on servers: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake/-/tree/main/proxy https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-... Or, integrate in a website: https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-transports/snowflake-webext#reuse-as-a-library https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/anti-censorship/pluggable-... Or, embed in iframes: <iframe src="https://snowflake.torproject.org/embed.html" width="320" height="240" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>

btdmaster 5y ago
Going directly to the iframe link works too: https://snowflake.torproject.org/embed.html https://snowflake.torproject.org/embed.html
Eduard 5y ago
This criticism makes it seem that Snowflake is a great arrest honeypot: https://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/944-Tor-0day-Snowflake.html https://www.hackerfactor.com/blog/index.php?/archives/944-To...
- ignoramous 5y ago
  Not an expert, but snowflake is a bridge to the Tor network. One may detect its use, but I doubt it breaks Tor's anonymity guarantees, as it is really a bridge. Of course, if using Tor is deemed a crime, then using snowflake bridges might not be the wisest thing to do. Cloaked protocols like Shadowsocks might come in handy.
kzrdude 5y ago

almog 5y ago

What would be an easy and economic way to run a Tor Bridge/s on AWS? I have few hundred bucks left in credit that will expire in a few months and no plans to use it

corint 5y ago
I would suggest looking at Lightsail, if your credits stretch that far. The included 1TB+ of bandwidth is the reason for that. Bridges would typically see much more bursty traffic compared to relays or (especially) exit nodes; this does mean that the burst CPU credits on Lightsail (or the t-series EC2 instances) would pair up nicely. I'd also suggest running in as many AWS regions as you're able, so that there isn't a lovely block of bridges all in one region.
- almog 5y ago
  Thank you! I haven't used Lightsail yet, so in addition to doing something meaningful with the credit, it could also be a good learning experience.

the_duke 5y ago

Hetzner has very cheap cloud servers with generous traffic allowance. See https://www.hetzner.com/cloud https://www.hetzner.com/cloud Last time I asked they were officially OK with users running bridge and exit nodes. Consider doing that if you'd rather not expose your home IP to scrutiny.

AnonC 5y ago
The Tor Project currently recommends not using Hetzner, among others, since there are many nodes there already. [1] I haven’t read the complete reasoning, but remember this one being around for sometime. [1]: https://community.torproject.org/relay/community-resources/good-bad-isps/ https://community.torproject.org/relay/community-resources/g...
- waffleiron 5y ago
  When someone controls a signification amount of nodes they can start to de-anonymise users by using correlation of entry and exit node. I ran a relay for 6 months now (as one of less than 5 people on my AS) and haven't run into any of the problems others have seen, those problems seem mostly related to running an exit node.

pluc 5y ago

I did this during their last recruitment drive. My bridge sat there unused for 3 weeks. Then I stopped cause I didn't see the point.

donohoe 5y ago

Is there any actual data on the types of people that use Tor? I know by the very nature of it, that’s not a practical ask. I can’t help but think that despite Tor’s good intentions it’s just not being used for legitimate use. Every story I’ve read really relies on anecdotal stories. If feel better having a clearer sense of the real userbase.

3np 5y ago
My impression is that a large portion of the traffic on Tor is malicious in some way, but originating from a very small portion of the users. It's a noisy minority. Just like the vast majority of sent e-mail is from criminal activity[0] and the comment section on news sites doesn't represent the readership fairly. An easy thing we can all do to help improve that is to use Tor for legitimate every-day use, even when you have nothing to hide. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_spam#Statistics_and_estimates https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_spam#Statistics_and_esti...
- defeatcensors 5y ago
  Directory of legitimate organizations running onion services: https://www.yellowonion.org https://www.yellowonion.org

cebert 5y ago

If I were to run a bridge is there absolutely no way I’d get into trouble if someone using Tor was looking at child porn or hacking someone?

bawolff 5y ago
Only if the entire tor network was criminalized. Generally bridges don't see what traffic goes over them (its encrypted) and the exit node is not able to link which bridge the request came from. So specific activity should not be linkable to your bridge. That said IANAL this is not legal advice, yadda yadda.
nacs 5y ago
If you ran an exit node, it's possible but bridges are just the entry points and are ok.

chockchocschoir 5y ago

Another thing that would help us who are digging around in Russian infrastructure right now: Host Tor exit nodes from residential IPs in Russia. This comes with the risk of exposing yourself though, but you do help a lot of individuals and groups to be able to access resources we wouldn't be able to otherwise. Again, this is risky so don't do this unless you know what you're in for.

ravenstine 5y ago

I'm pretty pessimistic about Tor and if I were to run a bridge or relay I definitely wouldn't run it locally. If you're going to run one, you might as well host it remotely so that there are extra steps in a state figuring out that you are trafficking other people's data. By design, governments can figure out that you're using Tor and what your "role" is, which is bad for both the users and those hosting bridges. What we should be doing is encouraging people to use I2P and making it as accessible to the public as Tor (and even more so). Why I2P over Tor? - All nodes have the same role, so there's no distinction between nodes in terms of whether they are an entrance relay or any other user. - It's not designed to be a clearnet proxy, thus there are no "exit" nodes although hidden sites (aka eepsites) can of course be made to forward requests to the clearnet. - I2P has a sort of DNS system built-in that Tor lacks. - A totally separate or private P2P network is much easier to form with I2P than Tor. - Hidden sites are faster on I2P than on Tor. - I2P didn't come out of DARPA. - Torrents that are totally internal to the network and don't rely on clearnet trackers or DHT. Above all, if you have this concept of an "exit" node then it's feasible to observe exit nodes and correlate traffic to a clearnet destination with individual users. Depending on the regime a person is subject to, their use of Tor can potentially backfire on them because the flawed network design. The concept behind Snowflake seems really cool, and maybe it works out for a lot of people in the short term. It is, however, potentially adding vulnerability to the network by virtue of adding another layer of complexity. Any time you add complexity to a system, you are creating potential for something to go wrong. With Snowflake you are, again, asking for people to identify themselves as Tor bridges (effectively) and neither the Snowflake bridge or the client are benefiting from a darknet connection when talking to each other because they're using WebRTC. WebRTC can of course be used to leak IP addresses. However, I cannot seem to find the source for the Snowflake browser extension anywhere. This is concerning in and of itself. Does anyone know where it's located? The page for it on addons.mozilla.org does not link to a repo, and the Gitlab repo for Snowflake doesn't appear to include any code for packaging a browser extension. I would not install a browser extension that doesn't have an available source no matter who it's coming from. If we want censorship-free communication that's as anonymous as can be, then give up on a formalized way of accessing the clearnet and prefer internal networking rather than running glorified VPN proxies. Tor sucks all the oxygen out of the room while having not adequately addressed the serious flaws in its design. Although I know there are reasons why people would be interested in running at Tor bridge and using Tor right in this moment, in the long term, we'd be of better help to the world if we worked on bettering and promoting a network project that is overall better for the censored user in the long term. People should be as aware of I2P as Tor and it should be extremely easy to use it. We should also make sure there's plenty of good content available on the I2P network (yes, I am gradually working on this). I2P implementations: - https://github.com/i2p/i2p.i2p https://github.com/i2p/i2p.i2p (the official Java based implementation) - https://github.com/PurpleI2P/i2pd https://github.com/PurpleI2P/i2pd (a C++ implementation that is also used to make I2P available on Android)

hereforphone 5y ago

I forget, am I supposed to be pro giving Russian citizens access to unfiltered Internet now, or against?

jdrc 5y ago
pro, it's always good to know enemy propaganda, for both sides. besides, i assume in today's world it's very hard to hide facts very widely. Sure some people only watch state TV but bad news eventually will reach almost everyone

ravenstine 5y ago

Does anyone know where the source code is for the Snowflake browser extension? I'm failing to find it anywhere, including in the Snowflake Gitlab repo. This is concerning to me, but I'm sure there's a good chance I'm just missing it.

raybb 5y ago
I'm guessing it's here https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo?filter=snowflake https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo?filter=snowflake under "Snowflake WebExtension" but they should link to it more prominently.
- ravenstine 5y ago
  Ah, thanks!

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

bannedbybros 5y ago

nfriedly 5y ago

I've been meaning to do this for a while, so thanks for the reminder! Now that I set it up, how do I know if it's doing anything? The logs show it bootstraped up to 100% then figured out my IP, and the last line says > Self-testing indicates your ORPort [my IP]:9393 is reachable from the outside. Excellent. Publishing server descriptor. Glancing at my router doesn't show any appreciable uptick in traffic. I see a brief spike that hit ~10% of my bandwidth, then it went back down to near zero usage. (I have a static IP and a decently fast symmetric internet connection, fwiw.)

whyleyc 5y ago
You can install "nyx" to check what's going on: https://nyx.torproject.org/ https://nyx.torproject.org/
- nfriedly 5y ago
  Thanks!