this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
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[–] [email protected] 43 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I just don't think Tor Browser is currently suited as a primary browser for most people. You lose things like staying logged into websites, you can't (or at least shouldn't) really add extensions like a good content blocker, you generally can't tweak or customize the browser to your liking, etc. Plus factor in things like the slow speeds, being blocked by websites, bombarded with captchas everywhere, etc, and it just becomes a harder and harder sell for a lot of average people.

Tor Browser's great and it absolutely has its need and purpose, I'm not trying to knock it for that at all because it works damn well for what it is and what it tries to do, but I just think its hard to be using as a primary browser and daily driver in its current form, at least for a lot of people.

[–] [email protected] 19 points 1 year ago (6 children)

So when I first learned about TOR almost 10 years ago in uni, it was said to be compromised to a significant extent by secret services holding entry and exit nodes.

Is that not true anymore?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Interesting, ty

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I also heared that bit about the secret service owning nodes a few years ago. It was trough a teacher that's also really in the stuff outside of teaching, and has a network of non-teaching proffesionals in the field.

It's something to keep in mind, at the very least. Tor already has some weaknesses anyways. You shouldn't trust it blindly just because it's Tor. If anything, I think it more has a false rep for how strong it is over struggling with a stigma.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

It was pretty much the same context for me, yeah.

Opsec always applies

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Aren't bridges meant to prevent that?

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Iirc holding both the entry and exit of a routed connection, you can in theory match traffic going through, which would let you connect a user to the server/site they are connecting to. It might still be encrypted at that point, idk the details anymore.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't think a single credible source has shown this to be a vulnerability. You're talking about an attack that would cost, what, millions of dollars to run per day?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Dunno if it's all that expensive when there are hundreds of nodes on several individual malicious networks confirmed https://nusenu.medium.com/how-malicious-tor-relays-are-exploiting-users-in-2020-part-i-1097575c0cac

[–] [email protected] -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Most of the nodes are hosted by Tor Foundation itself

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

[citation needed]

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Is there any way to check that?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yup. You can check a lot of stat about a node on tor website. https://metrics.torproject.org/

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

Problem is that many sites don't work because of anti-ddos and anti bot measures.

It is a pity

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

We'll see if Google's new efforts manage to kill the thing.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I’d feel bad using the Tor network for everyday browsing. I think it should be reserved for people who really need it to protect themselves.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 1 year ago (1 children)

No. Use it for everyday tasks. If Tor is used by only people who need them, they will be easily detected. The whole reason US Navy released Tor to public was so normal users can scramble the usage detection. One more advantage is that right now lot of website block tor users if more users will use tor then they might stop it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Won't it cause browsing to much slower than it normally is?

[–] [email protected] 10 points 1 year ago

More usage means more visibility which means more recognition and thus more funding

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 year ago

Maybe, but the added obfuscation is probably worth it to the people who need it.

It's not meant to be a high performance browser amyway

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

A slower connection is better than ending up in prison, the re-education camps or worse, beheaded.

Without average Joe's using it for nonsense Tor usage is basically a neon sign saying "I'm doing something worth hiding. Come and kill me."

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Is there an index of Tor network only sites?

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