Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

The New York Times Launches Tor Onion Service To Overcome Censorship, Ensure Privacy (betanews.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the you-gotta-do-what-you-gotta-do dept.

Mark Wilson quotes a report from BetaNews: The New York Times has announced that it is launching a Tor Onion Service version of its website. The new, more secure way to access the site will open it up to people around the world whose internet connections are blocked or monitored. It also caters to a growing breed of people who are concerned about what their web browsing habit might reveal and who have turned to Tor to protect their privacy. The new service is described as "experimental and under development," and some features of the website -- such as the ability to comment -- do not work. The NYT warns that fine-tuning of performance and features may mean there are periods of downtime, but the long-term aim is to completely replicate the main website as an Onion Service.

8 of 69 comments (clear)

  1. TheOnion by igny · · Score: 5, Funny

    I understand NY Times' desire to compete with TheOnion for delivery of satirical news, but enough is enough, TheOnion must sue NY Times for trademark violation here.

    --
    In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is. - Yogi Berra
  2. Pay wall? by bsDaemon · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Do they still paywall the stories? Do they allow you to log in? (Thus helping to deanonymize you on other onion sites)?

    If they're giving easy text versions of stories, free from paywall, without the annoyance of comments (meta comment bashing comment...) then it may be worthwhile. Otherwise, like FB over Tor they are probably just going to do more harm than good

    1. Re:Pay wall? by CaptainDork · · Score: 2, Funny

      I never meta comment I didn't like.

      --
      It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
    2. Re: Pay wall? by bsDaemon · · Score: 2

      You have to log in, it uses javascript, etc. so they would be able to a) fingerprint you and b) tie you to a (presumably) real identity. It seems to defeat the whole purpose and creates an OPSEC breach for anyone dumb enough to do it

    3. Re: Pay wall? by Obfuscant · · Score: 2

      It seems to defeat the whole purpose

      There are two purposes for Tor. One is to prevent third parties from tracing you by monitoring your traffic. That is unchanged.

      But another purpose is to prevent the SECOND party (FB, or NYT in this case) from tracing you, which having to log in completely defeats.

      I don't know, so I'm asking. Is there a javascript function that could appear on a web page served via Tor from NYT or FB that would cause the browser to reach out to another website directly (not via Tor) and disclose the user's actual source IP address? Something like the one pixel images used to track users reading an email. Does the system of the Tor user force all IP traffic through Tor no matter what destination, or can stuff slip out the side, so to speak?

  3. Re:Inception? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

    The New York Times launches Tor Onion service to overcome censorship, ensure privacy.

    The Onion launches New York Tor Pretzel service to overcome hunger, snack envy.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  4. Re:TOR is not anonymizing by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 2

    Really? I'm pretty sure you just did it to whatever word you were trying to write.

    --
    #DeleteFacebook
  5. Re:Anyone even slightly left of center by sheramil · · Score: 2

    Marijuana is ***NOT*** in the Bible,

    Bitch, please. First book of Genesis:

    001:029 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.