Linux HOWTO #3, Part 1: Anonymous Web Browsing with Tor

Link to Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpE8XzPza-k

LINUX HOWTO 3rd installment, Part 1

Special thanks to Linux Journal (www.linuxjournal.com) for featuring one of my videos on their web site this week.

This is the third installment in a new series called Linux HOWTOS. Every week I will post a video explaining how to accomplish something using a GNU/Linux operating system. Please write requests for installments in the comments!

The internet is great for many things, but not privacy. Luckily, anonymity networks like Tor and proxy servers like Privoxy can give a certain level of privacy while online. They are not perfect, but they work very well. This video needed to be split into two parts because of the breadth of the material. The first part is simply about what Tor is and how it works. The second part contains step-by-step instructions for installing Tor and Privoxy on your GNU/Linux box.

If you have any questions, please ask in the comment field, and I or someone else will do our best to answer. Please avoid 'RTFM'-style answers. They are not welcome. Also please post corrections if I mistakenly give some wrong information.

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This video was created using only free and open source software tools: TightVNC, Open Office Impress, pyvnc2swf, ardour2, audacity, jackd, LAME, mjpegtools, and ffmpeg.

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Closed Caption:

hello and welcome to the third
additional clinics how to use
this week we will be discussing how you
can itemize her Internet traffic using
tar and press box E know two things at
the Asian it was never designed for work
anonymity and security
so the developers have tore had to
really jump through some hoops to get
this to work and it's really quite need
now when you access a web page over the
regular internet such as Google
information sent directly to Google
through the internet on
unsecured public connection and what
this means that anyone
who can listen to any point along the
network
has unfettered access to what day you
are sending and receiving
no actually query Google Google knows
all sorts of things about you think
instantly know your IP address and your
search terms
now if you happen to have cookies
enabled in a your browser
cool can associate that information with
every search you have ever requested
since that cookie was activated
now if your log on to your Gmail account
while you're searching
then cool can then associate all that
information with your email address and
every email your ever sent or received
at this point Google certainly knows
your full name
and if you had a myspace or facebook
page in Google knows all sorts of things
about you they know your favorite band
your favorite cheese
and we're basically this means is
especially if you have these other
services enabled
are sending a request to Google can
pretty much tell him
everything that there is to know about
you now why is this a problem well it
isn't necessarily however there are
certain circumstances where
art this is not desirable and you need
and I miss
internet access so who needs to use tor
and why
many people wrongly assume that this is
something that only criminals with
something to hide will ever need
after all if you have nothing to hide
why be anonymous
well here are some examples: suppose
that you are searching for Google
to I get out of credit card debt now
this is probably not
information that you want stored on
Google's servers or suppose that you are
the victim
free por abuse and you're the member
online support group
clearly if you're in the situation you
wouldn't necessarily want
your identity made public or suppose
that you are in form into a group up
organized crime
in this case keeping yourself anonymous
is all that is keeping you safe from
retribution from the criminals
a torque can also be used to be paid
censorship
for instance if you are behind the Great
Firewall of China
you can use toward to view the millions
of web page is the Google has willingly
block and request the chinese government
and Nana me is also very important for
political dissidents in oppressive
regimes
nine cases were speaking out against
government can mean jail time
or worse now in case you are thinking
that the sort of thing never happens
I consider this case study from back in
2003
I Yahoo incorporated has provided
chinese authorities with information
used to jail one of its users for eight
years
Yahoo's Hong Kong unit provided
information about like AG
a man from southwestern China who was
sentenced to prison in 2003 for
Subversion after posting comments on
mine
criticizing official corruption well now
that we have seen some uses for TOR
let's take a look at how it works
I suppose you want to query Google over
an anonymous connection
when using toward the information
leaving your computer is wrapped in
several layers of encryption
often three layers like the diagram on
the lower left of the screen shows
the encrypt data is sent to a random
torno would
this store node knows who you are but it
does not know what internet service you
are requesting
or what data you're sending to it this
node
only knows how to strip of the first
layer of encryption which it does
& Sons remaining data to a second or
node
now this store know knows nothing other
than that the encrypt data originated
from an old one
so at this point you have achieved
anonymity
this note only knows how to strip off
the second layer encryption
which does and sends the remainder the
third torn down
this node knows nothing about the source
the data other than
originated from known to he knows how to
decrease
the last layer encryption so can see the
day you send and where you want to send
it
then sends the unencrypted data directly
to Google
Google thinks the data came from node 3
so Google doesn't know anything about
you
other than what you specifically chose
to send to it
now this is one extremely important
thing to realize about or
if you send Google or any other website
any personally
identifiable information at all
including email addresses are passwords
your name
your address your bank or your bank
passwords
or anything else about you the news in
Tori's even less private and less secure
than the regular internet
because not only does the destination
website but also the third torn own
has direct access to the day you sent
so the bottom line is do not send any
plane taxed
personal data overt or whatsoever