[OPLIN 4cast] OPLIN 4cast #403: Tor privacy

Wed Sep 17 10:30:16 EDT 2014

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OPLIN 4Cast

OPLIN 4cast #403: Tor privacy
September 17th, 2014

Tor onion logoOver the weekend, Boing Boing published a piece about 
libraries in Massachusetts that are using the Tor browser on their 
public PCs to protect patron privacy. If you're not familiar with Tor, 
it is free software that allows users to browse the Internet 
anonymously. It's sometimes called "the onion router" because it sends 
browser requests through a roundabout network, hiding the original 
computer within layers of other computers, somewhat like the layers on 
an onion. Tor has also been in other news recently because of a claim 
that some employees of government spy agencies - like the National 
Security Agency (NSA) - have been helping Tor by passing them 
information about security breaches spies have used. If true, that would 
be an interesting development. But is it true?

  * Radical Librarianship: how ninja librarians are ensuring patrons'
    electronic privacy
    <http://boingboing.net/2014/09/13/radical-librarianship-how-nin.html> (Boing
    Boing | Alison Macrina and April Glaser) "Others have installed
    Firefox with privacy-protecting browser plugins like Disconnect.me
    <https://disconnect.me/>, Ad-Block Plus
    <https://adblockplus.org/en/firefox>, and The Electronic Frontier
    Foundation's HTTPS Everywhere <https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere>
    and Privacy Badger <https://www.eff.org/privacybadger> tools. Still
    more are setting up Tor middle relays on their libraries' networks.
    One librarian said that the workshop made her feel 'thoroughly
    empowered...[to] help stop illegal surveillance against my patrons.'
    Amazing."
  * NSA and GCHQ agents 'leak Tor bugs', alleges developer
    <http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-28886462> (BBC News | Leo
    Kelion) "The allegations were made in an interview given to the BBC
    by Andrew Lewman, who is responsible for all the Tor Project's
    operations. He said leaks had come from both the UK Government
    Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) and the US National Security
    Agency (NSA). By fixing these flaws, the project can protect users'
    anonymity, he said. 'There are plenty of people in both
    organisations who can anonymously leak data to us to say - maybe you
    should look here, maybe you should look at this to fix this,' he
    said. 'And they have.'"
  * How Tor's dark web is getting darker thanks to spies
    <http://wallstcheatsheet.com/technology/how-tors-dark-web-is-getting-darker-thanks-to-spies.html/>
    (Tech Cheat Sheet | Natalie Shoemaker) "Covert operations, like
    GCHQ, 'heavily relies on Tor working to be able to do a lot of their
    operations,' according to Lewman. But there's also a seedy
    underbelly of child porn and illegal drug sales. You have to take
    the good with the bad if you want to protect your privacy these
    days. There are over 150 million people who have downloaded the
    browser in the past year, of which 2.5 million use it each day. It's
    important to consider the people who are in dire situations, people
    who may be fighting against oppression that rely on networks like
    these-the 'dark web'-in order to stay hidden and protected."
  * Are government spies tipping off Tor?
    <http://www.toptechnews.com/article/index.php?story_id=021000Q2VYYR>
    (Top Tech News | Jennifer LeClaire) "He [Tyler Reguly, director of
    security research for Tripwire] told us this isn't the first time
    that this topic has been discussed and no one should be naive enough
    to think that it will be the last. 'Just a few weeks ago questions
    were raised about the safety of Tor. Stating that these
    organizations are assisting in increasing Tor's safety is the
    perfect marketing ploy,' Reguly said. 'The statements can't be
    verified and they help reduce concerns regarding privacy breaches
    while using Tor.'"

*/Articles from Ohio Web Library <http://ohioweblibrary.org>:/*

  * Fully non-interactive onion routing with forward secrecy.
    <http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=763f0a86-dd90-4cd7-8d97-cf6a5aabd03d%40sessionmgr112&vid=0&hid=123&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=84936171>
    (/International Journal of Information Security/, Feb. 2013, p33-47
    | Dario Catalano, Mario Di Raimondo, Dario Fiore, Rosario Gennaro,
    and Orazio Puglisi)
  * Saving privacy.
    <http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/lrc/detail/detail?sid=31502177-e2d3-4540-8ded-5da64bb7df74%40sessionmgr111&vid=0&hid=123&bdata=JnNpdGU9bHJjLWxpdmU%3d#db=lfh&AN=95922915>
    (/Boston Review/, May/June 2014, p14-31 | Reed Hundt, Marvin Ammori,
    Adam Kern, Richard M. Stallman, Rebecca MacKinnon, Archon Fung,
    Frank Pasquale, Jennifer Granick, Bruce Schneier, Jeremy K. Kessler,
    and Evgeny Morozov)
  * Optimising node selection probabilities in multi-hop M/D/1 queuing
    networks to reduce latency of Tor.
    <http://web.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.oplin.org/ehost/detail/detail?sid=a7f38a78-e4e4-4f73-b41a-8c691c1281e4%40sessionmgr113&vid=0&hid=123&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=buh&AN=97496815>
    (/Electronics Letters/, 8/14/2014, p1205-1206 | S. J. Herbert, S. J.
    Murdoch, and E. Punskaya)

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