Re: Recommend webproxy service

From: nemo outis (outis_at_erewhon.com)
Date: 10/30/04

  • Next message: nemo outis: "Re: Recommend webproxy service" 
    Date: Sat, 30 Oct 2004 17:17:28 GMT

    In article <41836B61.E5EDA8DB@wherebefore44.ok>, MiLi wrote:
    >
    >Hi nemo, many thanks. Yep it's now working :-) I've not tried Privoxy
    >yet, though. That's next on the list. It's quite something to see
    >websites saying my ip address is what it is not :-)

    One of the things to notice is that your apparent IP address
    (i.e., your exit point from the Tor network) will change
    frequently. Tor dynamically builds and tears down "circuits"
    (paths through the Tor network) during a session.

    But you DO need privoxy. Without it your actual surfing will be
    airtight but your DNS lookups won't be! DNS is a complementary
    service that goes out to the net to "translate" strings like
    www.someurl.com into numbers like 77.88.225.33. DNS lookups
    (at least from Mozilla) *bypass* Tor when being resolved unless
    you use Privoxy (or an equivalent). The problem (and it's an
    application problem, not a Tor problem) is discussed here:

    http://freehaven.net/tor/cvs/doc/CLIENTS

    That's where privoxy comes in. Privoxy does 2 things, the first
    essential, the second convenient.

    The first - and most important - thing privoxy does (if you
    configure it to stand betweeen your browser and Tor as a socks4a
    intermediary) is *force* your browser to do its DNS lookups
    through Tor, therby protecting you from any information "leakage"
    in your DNS lookups.

    The second thing privoxy does is very convenient but not
    essential (and can be turned on or off at will). Privoxy acts as
    an ad and popup blocker (oversimplifying a bit, but close).

    >I have the TOR site bokmarked. Is there any other site or newsgroup I
    >can subscribe to, to keep up to date with Tor developments?

    I don't know of any. There was a flurry of discussion about Tor
    on alt.privacy but it has died down somewhat lately.

    >Again, many thanks. I really appreciate the time and trouble you have
    >gone to to explain the ins-and-outs to a windows user. (Anyone else
    >reading this thread, why not give it a go!)

    Glad to be of help. Besides, Osama and I are always trying to
    promote increased cover traffic on the networks we use :-)

    Regards

    PS Tor can be used for other protocols besides surfing
    (e.g., ftp). You will have to sort out the intricacies,
    particularly the DNS info leakage one, for each. FWIW I use
    flashfxp direct to Tor (no Privoxy) since flashfxp directly
    supports socks4a proxy use.

  • Next message: nemo outis: "Re: Recommend webproxy service"

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