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GUADEC: Imagining Tor built-in to GNOME

GUADEC: Imagining Tor built-in to GNOME

Posted Aug 9, 2012 12:24 UTC (Thu) by Corkscrew (guest, #65853)
Parent article: GUADEC: Imagining Tor built-in to GNOME

Great concept - it would be awesome as something like an Ubuntu remix.

But I'm a bit concerned with making Tor available by default to ordinary users. While Linux's average user has historically been a cut above the rest, Tor is *not* something you should have running if you don't understand exactly what it does.

The scenario I'm imagining is:
1 New user installs Tor-enabled Linux distro;
2 Tor runs in background;
3 User's computer gets used as an exit node by someone downloading child porn;
4 User gets arrested by local cops;
5a User, not knowing what Tor is, is unable to mount a strong defence; or
5b User, knowing what Tor is, complains bitterly at Linux distro for screwing them over.

A safer alternative might be to use one of the darknet protocols (I2P, Phantom), or to limit Tor usage to *.onion by default.


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GUADEC: Imagining Tor built-in to GNOME

Posted Aug 9, 2012 13:01 UTC (Thu) by n8willis (subscriber, #43041) [Link]

Running the Tor client, being a Tor node, and being a Tor exit node are three different things. You have to intentionally decide to run as a node (and more intentionally as an exit node).

Nate


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