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Mozilla Dusts Off Old Servers, Lights Up Tor Relays
TechCurmudgeon writes According to The Register, "Mozilla has given the Tor network a capacity kick with the launch of 14 relays that will help distribute user traffic. Engineers working under the Foundation's Polaris Project inked in November pulled Mozilla's spare and decommissioned hardware out of the cupboard for dedicated use in the Tor network. It included a pair of Juniper EX4200 switches and three HP SL170zG6 (48GB ram, 2*Xeon L5640, 2*1Gbps NIC) servers, along with a dedicated existing IP transit provider (2 X 10Gbps). French Mozilla engineer Arzhel Younsi (@xionoxfr) said its network was designed to fall no lower than half of its network capacity in the event of maintenance or failure. The Polaris initiative was a effort of Mozilla, the Tor Project and the Centre for Democracy and Technology to help build more privacy controls into technology."
LOL ... geez, I wish I had something like that just laying around in a cupboard.
Sheeee-it.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
"Whom surely", sorry couldn't resist.
But seriously, did they do this out of the goodness in their hearts, or did someone pay for it? Yahoo payed them enough to switch the default search engine, what three letter agency would pay for them to do this and get free monitoring, of a huge tor network chunk?
Mozilla has just given the world governments very own honeypot a great boost in capacity. Why would that make them an enemy?
I see the propaganda has worked well on you, and you actually believe that Tor is only used by criminals.
the system designed by government to protect against other governments
FTFY
Short answer: Because they're there.
Long answer: What you don't seem to understand is that none of us owe any of the world's governments a goddamn thing. They govern with our sufferance. Their continued existence depends entirely on our reluctance to face the consequences of overthrowing them. They need us more than we need them. Therefore, the world's governments should remember their place while they still have one.
well, if you use Chrome and have more than 5 tabs open, I will believe you
Honestly, lately I find Firefox to be more of a memory pig than Chrome ... as of the last update to Firefox grows to using 2GB of RAM after a few hours, instead of staying under 1GB after several days.
Because every developer apparently feels that all of my memory is there for just them.
Yeah, Mozilla, I'm looking at you guys -- that's just sloppy.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.
It should be noted that those are relays, which transit data inside the tor network, not exit nodes (which provide exit points to the general network and can be a large risk for their operator should any illegal content be accessed). Relays still help with the general obfuscation of the network as well as for hidden services, though.
Apparently, Mozilla is considering eventually deploying exit nodes as well though.
Finally, for those that will scream "child porn", it should be noted that a very, very small minority of tor traffic is actually linked to that type of content, despite what the DoJ says; the best estimates from the tor project is around 1.5%. This move by Mozilla is a good thing - amongst other things helping countless defenders of freedom in oppressed regimes speak up in safety.
Because when the state makes its enemies based on whether or not their legitimate use of technology annoys them, then the state deserves enemies.
You are evaluating the situation in a vacuume. If everyone took that approach then the government just gets whatever it wants out of fear. Giving in to that and making decisions based on it, encourages such rule by fear attitudes.
"I opened my eyes, and everything went dark again"
Do you see how your statement defeatz itself in context?
He did not say only criminals use it, he said criminals love to use it. Also, as long as that is the theme being pushed by the governments (propaganda), his point is still valid as governments and law enforcement are demonizing it and it will make them the enemy.
TOR has never been more than an interesting proof of concept. it took a little while for the spooks to catch on, but these days theyre so good at poisoning exit nodes and injecting malicious content that TOR is less of an anonymous network and more of a cautionary tale.
You should be using I2P https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...
and while we're on the subject, Mozilla has gotten too chummy with advertisers for me to be comfortable with anymore. They started out on a mission to protect the internet, and now they have video chat, targeted advertising tabs, and a fat paycheck from google every month. Firefox is fast turning into the realplayer of the 21st century. What we should be doing instead of looking for corporations to help us is working to Opt out of global data surveillance programs like PRISM, XKeyscore and Tempora.
Good people go to bed earlier.
[satire]Hooray! Now "someone" can access childporn faster![/satire]
It's not that only criminals use Tor, it is more like criminals use only Tor.
Linux is for people who don't mind RTFM.
So what? Tor is perfectly legal. The use of Tor doesn't say anything about you other than you are using Tor. Anyone who thinks it implies something nefarious or criminal is going on is fucked in the head.
I bet you'd be the first to complain if Firefox capped it's cache at 256MB making it unusably slow.
Funny how all the Tor apologists claiming the government as enemy number one always gloss over the fact that the project was initiated by and receives funding from the US government. It's in the american's best interest to play it publicly like Tor is some dangerously effective tool...Anonymous members, the Silk Road, all kinds of arrests being made and information being collected. All from a tool that purports to provide anonymity to a user that follows a careful list of instructions on how to browse "safely." As if they're somehow immune from bugs and security flaws.
Tor is a weapon of the real enemy, the US and the rest of the "Five Eyes." Trust it at your own peril.
Even TFS says that law enforcement bots are constantly scanning TOR for new content. New content means new leads, more leads mean more arrests. They have no interest in stopping people from committing crimes, because if they put an end to crime, they lose their budget; if they're catching more people committing crimes, the get a bigger budget, so it's in their best interest to leave TOR as it is and keep using it to catch people in the act.
APK quotes people (including myself) without context and should not be trusted. Just thought you should know.
Yes, why resist tyranny? You might lose your watered down beer and tv football privileges.
I have a balaclava (ski mask) that I have used when outside in the winter. Keeps my face warm. I like it.
Also criminals use them because it hides your face well. From eyes as well as the cold.
So if I'm out walking around wearing a ski mask don't assume I'm a criminal.
Oh wait, this is slashdot - I should have made a car analogy!
Flappinbooger isn't my real name
And I bet you have throwing stars and walk around pretending you are a ninja too.
No one said if you use TOR you would be a criminal. They said criminals use TOR so governments dislike it. Now, do you think the corner drug store clerk doesn't like you walking in wearing your ninja mask? I would bet he has no problem with you personally, just when you dress up like a crook trying to rob the store.
And I bet you have throwing stars and walk around pretending you are a ninja too.
No one said if you use TOR you would be a criminal. They said criminals use TOR so governments dislike it. Now, do you think the corner drug store clerk doesn't like you walking in wearing your ninja mask? I would bet he has no problem with you personally, just when you dress up like a crook trying to rob the store.
ok, lets continue the analogy.
If I walk into a store wearing a ski mask, and don't take it off, I think it would make most people nervous. It's strange behavior.
If I visit a website using TOR, what happens? For one, they won't know who I am unless I have cookies or log in.
Will they freak out? Will they be nervous?
Flappinbooger isn't my real name
Still doesn't prevent anyone from not liking TOR. But you are correct, no one would know who you were which was the point- you are not a criminal because you use it, but it still allows people to dislike it.
Oh and it might make some people a little more than nervous if you walked into a store wearing a ski mask.
It doesn't really matter as it is outside any point made. 20 people, one person, or no one at all, it does not make someone a criminal but it doesn't mean the clerk or store owner can hate ski masks.
the AC's extension of the analogy is actually really good - It's probably a pretty good way of looking at encryption, VPN, and TOR.
Say it's really really cold out, like an "arctic vortex" kind of condition, which is the state of the internet right now with surveillance and monitoring.
So everyone needs to wear their ski masks to go out, if they're smart. So it would be wrong to prevent people from walking around in ski masks.
But someone ... likely there IS someone ... is up to no good who is ALSO wearing a ski mask.
What do you do?
Flappinbooger isn't my real name