transquility:

flamboyantjunkrat:

i’ve seen a lot of different posts going around about how to stay safe online after the election and almost every one of them mentions tor. i can’t stress enough how much tor won’t help you.

for starters, tor was originally developed in part by the us navy and continues to be funded by the us government.

on top of that, tor is not anywhere close to being the surveillance safe haven people make it out tobe. the fbi can and has been able to track tor users. and barring action from congress on a change tofederal rules of criminal procedure, the fbi will be able to obtain mass search warrents without limitson location to get into citizens’ computers, and using tor at all could be enough to legally get one ofthese warrants as well as access to your computer.

tor won’t protect you. if you wouldn’t post it on a standard browser, don’t post it through tor. stay safe.

tor can help
there’s precautions you need to take though. for starters, use something like tails rather than your normal os (it can be run off a usb, so you can still use it on your normal computer).

secondly, use tor regularly – not just when you think you need it. it feels counter-intuitive, but it makes it safer not just for you, but the whole tor network. on the flipside though, don’t use it for too long at any one time (and preferably not at any one location).

thirdly, basic anonymisation. don’t save passwords, don’t post identifying information, block all scripts and cookies.

there’s a lot more to get into, but I’m definitely no expert. research it yourself before you start using it, take care, and remember that nothing is entirely anonymous. the above post is right, it can still be tracked and hacked. the nsa run nodes specifically for that reason.

be careful out there

xx