257
Tor’s shadowy reputation will only end if we all use it | Engadget
(www.engadget.com)
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
this post was submitted on 29 Jul 2023
257 points (96.4% liked)
Technology
34437 readers
207 users here now
This is the official technology community of Lemmy.ml for all news related to creation and use of technology, and to facilitate civil, meaningful discussion around it.
Ask in DM before posting product reviews or ads. All such posts otherwise are subject to removal.
Rules:
1: All Lemmy rules apply
2: Do not post low effort posts
3: NEVER post naziped*gore stuff
4: Always post article URLs or their archived version URLs as sources, NOT screenshots. Help the blind users.
5: personal rants of Big Tech CEOs like Elon Musk are unwelcome (does not include posts about their companies affecting wide range of people)
6: no advertisement posts unless verified as legitimate and non-exploitative/non-consumerist
7: crypto related posts, unless essential, are disallowed
founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS
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.
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.
Won't it cause browsing to much slower than it normally is?
More usage means more visibility which means more recognition and thus more funding
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
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."
This is an incorrect, unrealistic way to view this. By using the Tor network normally (you argument certainly applies to doing overly traffic intensive tasks like torrenting over Tor) you are normalizing its use, protecting those who really rely on it. If the only people using Tor were criminals and people who needed the protection, listening on Wifi networks for connections to Tor could lead to immediate prosecution (look what the UK is trying to do with encrpytion, and that French case where all of the evidence against a suspect was use of open source technology like Tor.) By default, Tor does not hide the fact its being used from your network (thats what a bridge is for), so the more people use Tor, the safer everyone is.
If you really want to help those that need Tor's protection, run Snowflake on your desktop or Orbot's 'kindness' on Android. This allows users to use your device as a bridge, bypassing censorship in other countries / networks.