EagleEyeHamThrust
Active Member
Tor - Protect Your Anonymity Online
I read a lot of questions in this forum like, "Does anyone get arrested from viewing this website?" Most often the answer is no. Most growers get busted from their buyers that snitch on them after getting arrested themselves. After that you can chalk it up to undercover cops, pissed off exes and nosy neighbors. Still, even though the chances are small that you could get busted from talking about your grow here, why take that chance? Let me put it this way: The chances of getting in a serious car wreck are incredibly small, but I'll bet most of us buckle up anyways. Regardless of whether you're just wanting to learn more about growing weed, a legal grower, or the Pablo Escobar of weed, you certainly don't want some mindless drone at the DEA / FBI data mining the websites you visit for IP information.
A lot of you already know the following stuff, however I'll go over it so that no one is left behind. An IP address, or internet protocol address, is a number registered to your computer by your Internet Service Provider. IPs are logged on website servers to keep track of who's accessed what page at what time. Google for instance has logs of everything that's ever been searched, at what time, and from what IP. This forum probably has similar statistics on its server as well that could be seized with a warrant, or monitored by any of the agencies out there with too much free time on their hands.
How Tor Can Help You
Enter Tor. Tor works in a similar manner to peer to peer downloading, where several people are connected by a client program. Then, when you browse the web, the information goes through several other computers on the network (at random) so that your IP information is hidden. By going through multiple computers, it makes it very difficult to track where the information came from. For example, when I use Tor, often times my internet is rerouted through Germany, Japan, Korea, etc. It quickly becomes a nightmare to trace my internet activity back to me. So if you wanted to post pictures (that have been cleaned of their meta information) of your grow, you could feel more secure using Tor to do it.
Is Tor perfect? No. Law enforcement can identify you using two basic methods.
1. They could hack into the computers one by one to trace back to you. This requires a lot of manpower however, and also is not always possible. Contrary to what Hollywood will tell you, encryption, firewalls and smart computing can usually keep you protected from this type of attack. If the FBI or the CIA could view your information that easily, it would have been exposed and be a PR nightmare for them.
2. They could by chance be controlling all of the nodes between you and your browsing which means they could piece the information together by simply coordinating their data. Again, lots of resources for a very limited payoff.
What has history taught us?
History has taught us that law enforcement will go to great lengths to uphold the law, no matter how wrong that law is. Operation Green Merchant was a massive operation that encompassed, among other things, data mining. They raided hydroponics stores, took all the credit card info from their files, and then investigated their customers. It's very possible for the DEA to run an operation where they seize the servers for websites like these and look through the IP logs of various users for tips.
How to Use Tor
Tor is as easy to use as any internet browser. Even better, you can use it with the portable version of firefox on a USB key. That way you can keep all your preferences, history, bookmarks on a USB key and not on your computer. You can even use that USB key on any other computer without leaving and of your info on that computer.
1. Go to http://www.torproject.org/torbrowser/ and download the Tor Browser.
2. Run the program and pick a destination for the files, preferably on a USB key.
3. Start up the Tor browser. The default home page is a Tor test website to confirm that Tor is operating safely and correctly. Once you receive confirmation, you can browse the internet as you normally would.
Downsides
1. Tor is slow. You're routing information through several computers, which takes time. I often browse the forum using my middle mouse button to open threads in new tabs and allows them to load while I'm reading other threads. It takes a little getting used to, but protecting my identity is protecting my freedom which is worth a little more time.
2. No Flash software is allowed to be run with Tor. Flash can be tricked into revealing your info, so no Youtube stuff can be viewed. Still, you can simultaneously have a standard browser window open and cut and paste video links from the forum to that other browser without trouble.
Tor's Other Uses
Other versions of Tor, for use outside of just browsing the internet, can be downloaded at their website. It can be configured to work with chat and various other programs. It takes a little more time to configure properly, but it can be well worth it.
...
If there are any other questions about Tor, post them here and I'll try to answer them. My goal is simple: to help people prevent themselves from getting harassed by law enforcement over a harmless vice.
I read a lot of questions in this forum like, "Does anyone get arrested from viewing this website?" Most often the answer is no. Most growers get busted from their buyers that snitch on them after getting arrested themselves. After that you can chalk it up to undercover cops, pissed off exes and nosy neighbors. Still, even though the chances are small that you could get busted from talking about your grow here, why take that chance? Let me put it this way: The chances of getting in a serious car wreck are incredibly small, but I'll bet most of us buckle up anyways. Regardless of whether you're just wanting to learn more about growing weed, a legal grower, or the Pablo Escobar of weed, you certainly don't want some mindless drone at the DEA / FBI data mining the websites you visit for IP information.
A lot of you already know the following stuff, however I'll go over it so that no one is left behind. An IP address, or internet protocol address, is a number registered to your computer by your Internet Service Provider. IPs are logged on website servers to keep track of who's accessed what page at what time. Google for instance has logs of everything that's ever been searched, at what time, and from what IP. This forum probably has similar statistics on its server as well that could be seized with a warrant, or monitored by any of the agencies out there with too much free time on their hands.
How Tor Can Help You
Enter Tor. Tor works in a similar manner to peer to peer downloading, where several people are connected by a client program. Then, when you browse the web, the information goes through several other computers on the network (at random) so that your IP information is hidden. By going through multiple computers, it makes it very difficult to track where the information came from. For example, when I use Tor, often times my internet is rerouted through Germany, Japan, Korea, etc. It quickly becomes a nightmare to trace my internet activity back to me. So if you wanted to post pictures (that have been cleaned of their meta information) of your grow, you could feel more secure using Tor to do it.
Is Tor perfect? No. Law enforcement can identify you using two basic methods.
1. They could hack into the computers one by one to trace back to you. This requires a lot of manpower however, and also is not always possible. Contrary to what Hollywood will tell you, encryption, firewalls and smart computing can usually keep you protected from this type of attack. If the FBI or the CIA could view your information that easily, it would have been exposed and be a PR nightmare for them.
2. They could by chance be controlling all of the nodes between you and your browsing which means they could piece the information together by simply coordinating their data. Again, lots of resources for a very limited payoff.
What has history taught us?
History has taught us that law enforcement will go to great lengths to uphold the law, no matter how wrong that law is. Operation Green Merchant was a massive operation that encompassed, among other things, data mining. They raided hydroponics stores, took all the credit card info from their files, and then investigated their customers. It's very possible for the DEA to run an operation where they seize the servers for websites like these and look through the IP logs of various users for tips.
How to Use Tor
Tor is as easy to use as any internet browser. Even better, you can use it with the portable version of firefox on a USB key. That way you can keep all your preferences, history, bookmarks on a USB key and not on your computer. You can even use that USB key on any other computer without leaving and of your info on that computer.
1. Go to http://www.torproject.org/torbrowser/ and download the Tor Browser.
2. Run the program and pick a destination for the files, preferably on a USB key.
3. Start up the Tor browser. The default home page is a Tor test website to confirm that Tor is operating safely and correctly. Once you receive confirmation, you can browse the internet as you normally would.
Downsides
1. Tor is slow. You're routing information through several computers, which takes time. I often browse the forum using my middle mouse button to open threads in new tabs and allows them to load while I'm reading other threads. It takes a little getting used to, but protecting my identity is protecting my freedom which is worth a little more time.
2. No Flash software is allowed to be run with Tor. Flash can be tricked into revealing your info, so no Youtube stuff can be viewed. Still, you can simultaneously have a standard browser window open and cut and paste video links from the forum to that other browser without trouble.
Tor's Other Uses
Other versions of Tor, for use outside of just browsing the internet, can be downloaded at their website. It can be configured to work with chat and various other programs. It takes a little more time to configure properly, but it can be well worth it.
...
If there are any other questions about Tor, post them here and I'll try to answer them. My goal is simple: to help people prevent themselves from getting harassed by law enforcement over a harmless vice.
