New documentation: Connect to FreeNode IRC anonymously with tor
Hope it is useful to those who want to protect their privacy:
Freenode with Tor.
Don't be a pussy and man up behind your IP address if you are willing to speak your mind in IRC or any other online communication.
"Hope it is useful to those who want to protect their privacy"
t3g: if you are not in that group, or don't understand that some users may need this tools, then shut up. Also, you should give your opinion without calling names.
There he is! I know you say it is a privacy thing but you are still using someone else's IP address so if you do something bad, it traces back to an innocent person who takes the fall for you. I guess that makes it "private" for the person using Tor at the expense of someone else. Classy.
Hey bro, any idea when 6.0 is coming out? There have been no announcements or even a name picked for it.
As I said, if you don't understand an issue you should at least be polite when discussing it.
Who said I didn't understand the issue? I understand completely what Tor is and have used the browser bundle in the past so there is no need for you to attempt to talk down to me. If Tor was a better method and didn't need you to piggy back on someone else's IP, then we would have a true "private" method of browsing the web.
I do understand that some of you like it when you are visting hardcore porn sites or something else sketchy and want to keep that secret. That exact site is recording the IP of that visitor and if there needs to be an investigation, they target the innoncent party. Of course that is fine to you because you are getting your "privacy" and doing something that is unethical.
In the long run, people like you don't care because you only protect yourself and that is what really matters. So for being a project lead on a project that is under financed and begging for free money every month, does it ever annoy you that the Stallmanites at the FSF don't throw some your way becuase of your cause?
Of course not, because in the bigger picture they don't care about you or your project and they want all that money to themselves and with you being a FSF approved distro, it is free advertising for them and your distro is just a bullet point to see that people support their wish-washy and uncomprimising ethics.
Ever wonder why bigger corporations would rather support the OSI and Linux Foundation? Because they won't get badmouthed for making a buck on their software.
quidam is right: you do not understand the issue. Any idea how Syrian opponents communicate to groups such as Telecomix? Of course, from the point of view of the Bachar al-Assad, this is highly unethical...
I see the benefit of getting and viewing information like reading a blocked website (like if you are in China) or viewing the BBC iPlayer outside of the UK because it is pure consumption. No one should be denied information and even if they did track the IP, they would assume the UK user was watching content within the UK. No problem.
The issue I have is when there is interaction or communication like with email SMTP servers, BitTorrent, IRC, and message board comments. Like I was saying above with IP addresses being logged and associated with that communication, it can be used for evil and will be used for it.
I do understand that some of you have good intentions and are what the ideals of the project are trying to fulfil. As with Banana's example, if someone in Syria wants to read American news or use the American version of Google, I have zero problem with that. When they use it as an anonymous way to attack people, the complications can get bigger.
Tor is still used by a small group of people that use it for a purpose. Human nature tends to have it lean in the nefarious dimension with using it to steal content and not get caught. We cannot moderate those people and those few bad eggs can ruin it for others.
I use Tor and know what it does. I am also aware that when I connect to a US node with someone in San Francisco, I try not to do bad things because that person may be held accountable for my actions. Would I ever use it for IRC or a communication where I stand by my views? Nope. That is what I meant by "manning up" to a viewpoint and not being a "pussy" comments.
Nobody in San Francisco will be "held accountable for" what happens through her TOR node. Judges are not stupid. Yet, the USA may become the new Syria within 10 years. Who knows? Actually, I believe any activist/journalist (and any other people governments love to watch) should take care right now of communicating in an anonymous way. For instance I definitely recommend you to use TOR to "stand by your views" if any powerful entity, say a government, may dislike those views.
And, again, I am not only talking about China (where many political activists are in jail) and Russia (where journalists are murdered). The CIA, for instance, can know far too much about anybody. Beyond their own means, they can ask Amazon what books people read, they can ask Facebook what are their friends, they can ask Google what they are searching for, they can ask Microsoft to remotely spy their on computing activities, etc. There will be abuses... if this is not already the case. You do not have to worry about the governments being powerless. Quite the contrary: anonymous communications must be easy to get. @SirGrant: thank you.
Watching the BBC through TOR (what you consider acceptable) saturates the nodes and worsen the bitrate of those who really need it.
Since I have just read it and it is related, here is a link to a recent article in Washinton Post entitled "Privacy rights violated at least once by U.S. intelligence-collection initiative, official says". Here is how it ends:
In what he calls the “back door searches” loophole, Wyden says the government could gather large amounts of e-mails and phone call data, then sift through them to pinpoint the communications of individual Americans, an aide explained.
“This law clearly has had a bigger privacy impact than most people realize,’’ Wyden said Friday. “In particular, I believe that the “back door searches” loophole needs to be closed.”
I am a member!
Life isn't black and white and people aren't perfect. Just because the larger of society objects doesn't justify the condemnation of the minority. Working with a minority to reduce a perceived harm will get you farther than locking up all those whom stand out. We make the mistake of condemning our "enemy" when we should be working with our enemy. A dog which is cornered will attack. There is a reason ex-convicts tend to revert to crime after release from prison. With no outlets to improve ones quality of life and the further limits on opportunity we tend to enforce there is little hope-or choice. Those who pull themselves out of a whole tend be to the least able to see that not everyone is equally able. Some people are more able than others to escape.
I don't see the images in the tutorial, just the file names. Are the URLs correct?
That is odd, the images work for me. Maybe I have them cached or something which is why I can see them. Can someone else (third party) confirm if they can see the images or not?
I am a member!
I added a little section warning users that connecting to Freenode through Tor is never anonymous. It does potentially offer some level of privacy from ISPs/governments although the reason you have to follow these directions in the first place is because you can't connect anonymously. It will also allow you to bypass censorship. What you are doing is identifying yourself to the Freenode server through Tor. If you need anonymity check out another IRC network. There are some that are Tor friendly and don't require this identification. It probably wouldn't hurt for someone to look into which networks users can connect to without identification and are Tor friendly/supporters of Tor.
IMO you should move that to the section I made called "Security Precautions/Concerns". I made that section to address the concerns you are making.
Edit: I think you do bring up a good point. We should clarify exactly what this does for the user. There are certain things you gain and certain things you don't. For example you can bypass censorship but if you register/verify your nick improperly it can be easily linked to your username/location. However you also do gain encryption on the wire preventing snooping by others like nosey roommates, IT people, ISPs. So there are certain benefits and drawbacks. I will try to make this clearer when I get some free time.
I am a member!
Put a warning at the top. Don't do it at the bottom. If it wasn't for the fact people are expecting anonymity it may not have been that big a deal where it was placed. I didn't read the whole document and I'm sure others will try it without reading the entire thing either.