tor.eff.org Who recommends it? Is it safe?

I use it, in conjunction with another piece of software called privoxy.

It's pretty safe, although I understand tor stems from software originally developed by th US Navy, which has always been my number one concern. I don't have the neccessary programming skills to go over the source code to make sure that there's nothing dodgy still in it, I just have to take it on trust.

It actually says when you run it that you shouldn't depend upon it for strong anonymity, but personally, I think it's super-duper.

I think I actually found out how to set them up on here somewhere. If I find the thread, I'll post ya a link to it. It was well easy.

Does it let you access the boards all the time, like someone stated?

RAZ

I was going to ask the same. I'm not really getting it for anonymity aspect, the varied routing very well may get around the current EU routing probs. But then if they're true to their word and sort the problem within a week is it worth messing with the tcp/ip settings.

Err, I'm not entirely sure that it would help, but I'm only basing that on not being able to see how it could.

I understand that there's some problem with the boards ISP, but I'm not entirely sure how it comes to effect only IP's in a certain geographic region.

Ya see, my thinking is that, irrespective of whether or not I use tor, it still has to be routed via the forums ISP, and if they have some problems on their network, then siging in from a different IP wouldn't effect that at all.

But then again, I'm not a tech head.

Are you having problems accessing this site at any time whilst using Tor ShadyD?

Err, the short answer is yeah, HvyFuel

It might be down to the way I set it up, I didn't really know what I was doing at the time, and I can't really work it out retrospectively.

It doesn't always make it look as if I'm connecting from outside the EU either. I sometimes get an IP which is in Britain, sometimes within the EU, so I'm not sure that it would help ya.

If the problem is that you only need to make it look as if you're signing in from outside the EU, then you might be able to get a proxy to use here (hope that link is OK)

If the problem is with the IP, which J has already stated, I really can't see how TOR or anything else is going to help Just my 2p worth

Cheers Shady & S, that's what I was after. I'll not bother with it.

It lets you access the boards when there is a problem fromt he UK, as it swaps what is seen as your real ip. Can be a bit of a pain having to log in and out again, but you can have another browser pointing to privoxy for when you need it.

edited to add:

tor is the network of computers across the internet that you hide behind, privoxy is your means of accessing this network through standard proxys ie socks. becuase the tor network keeps switching the ip you hide behind, and because there is no logging in the tor server, you are as anonymous as it gets.

Actually that's wrong, as Joolz stated the problem was with the isp's UK uplinks, not the ip, so tor WILL and DOES help. Unless I completely imagined being able to access the board when it was offline through usual means the other day

still don't understand we have members from ALL over the world and they were having the same probles with the site not responding

well maybe it was just as luck would have it then, but when I was getting timeout errors using tor helped for me. they way I read J's explanation was that it was the isp's uk link that was the problem. as the ip doesn't seem to be hosted in the uk, using tor was the first thing that I tried as you're taking a completely different route to the website.

edited to add:

if you think of the internet as a spiders web within a siders web within a spiders web, with predefined routes that get you to your destination, and that tor effectively changes your start position on this web, you can sort of see what tor does and how it may help. sort of like going to Washington to get to Paris as the channel tunnel is out of order.

I'm currently coming in from 70.230.73.20 ,German I think, judging from the google that I am directed to

[attachmentid=59236]



Ya see, if it did work, you wouldn't notice it working.

It would only be when you weren't using it, that you would notice it.

If the problem only effects the UK, then using one of the proxies from the link earlier could work just as well, no need to install anything.

edit : this is the error message I get when I can't connect

[attachmentid=59239]

I don't understand any of it, and I don't want to start messing about with it.

Do you get that all the time, or just sometimes?


The problem with public proxys is that they often go down or get full etc. Tor is more reliable and generally works all the time

Both are valid ways of getting around some problems though, Tor just takes it to the next level and adds some security to it.

Nah, just sometimes.

I'm not actually one of these people who bothers too much when the board goes down anyway, it always come back online sooner or later, and I do usually have a sink full of dishes anyway............

it can happen from time to time.

It's just another tool that's handy to know about if you're interested in that sort of thing

fab