Although it isn't a perfect science, IP addresses can be turned into physical addresses with increasing accuracy. - There are public databases that show which ISP owns which IP address with a - good sense of which region they use it in. There are private databases with more accurate information. And, of course, - the ISP knows the exact service address of each IP address.
- -VPN services can mask a device's IP address from a web server. When a VPN service is engaged, all traffic is encrypted and routed - through the VPN server. The web server only sees the IP address of the VPN server. This is sufficient for maintaining anonymity - from web server operators and advertisers, but it isn't sufficient for maintaining anonymity from oppressive regimes which might - be able to lean on VPN operators to turn over their logs showing the original IP addresses. Those looking for safety from such - regimes or desiring to blow the whistle on government agencies need something more.
- -The Tor (The Onion Router) network was designed for just such purposes. It bounces encrypted web traffic through at least three independent servers - that volunteer bandwidth to the project. None of the servers have enough information to identify both the IP address of the original computer - and the final destination. Therefore, any government agency wanting to access the information would have to compromise all the machines in the - link, which are dispersed over the globe. This doesn't provide perfect privacy, but it gets pretty close.
- -The Tor project has an app for Android called Orbot, which is available on F-Droid - and everywhere else Privacy Browser is distributed. Orbot can operate in three modes.
- -Currently, Privacy Browser works with Orbot in transparent proxy and VPN modes. Support for the standard proxy mode will be added in a - future release.
- -Because traffic is being routed through several Tor nodes, using Tor is often much slower than going straight to the internet.
- + + + + + + + + +There are two general categories of bad actors that want to infringe on the privacy of the web: malicious governments with access to ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and mega corporations that run social and advertising networks. + TOR (The Onion Router) is useful in protecting privacy from malicious governments (which spy on traffic in transit) but not from mega corporations (which embed malicious code on web servers).
+ + +Malicious governments often spy on their citizens to punish dissent or human rights activity. They commonly either + operate the local ISPs or they can force them to disclose information showing every IP address that is visited + by each user. Tor is designed to defeat this infringement of privacy by encrypting the traffic + from a userâs device and routing it through three separate servers on the internet before sending it on to the final destination. + This means that no individual ISP, server, or website, can know both the IP address the userâs device + and the IP address of the final web server. Malicious governments and the ISPs they control cannot tell which + web servers a user is accessing, although they can tell that the user is using Tor. In some parts of + the world, using Tor could be construed as an evidence of illegal behavior (âif you didnât have anything + to hide you wouldnât be encrypting your trafficâ) and users could be punished because governments + assume they are doing something that is prohibited. Thus, Tor can be helpful, but isnât a panacea.
+ + +When a user connects to a web server, the web server can see the userâs IP address. Although it isnât a perfect science, + IP addresses can be turned into physical addresses with a fair amount of accuracy. + Small web servers typically rely on IP addresses to identify the location of the users visiting their site. + Tor is a good solution to mask the userâs location from these servers. But large mega corporations + that own social media and advertising networks use a whole profile of information that is designed to track users + across devices and IP addresses. These profiles employ a variety of techniques to identify users, including JavaScript, + cookies, tracking IDs, and browser fingerprinting. Because the vast majority + of the websites on the internet either load an ad from one of the major networks or embed social media icons with their + associated JavaScript, these corporations have built profiles for almost every user online and can track their internet + activity across unrelated sites.
+ +They track every site that is visited, everything that is purchased, every credit card that is used to + make a purchase, every address that items are shipped to, and the GPS metadata of every picture that is + uploaded to the internet. They build a profile of a userâs age, gender, marital status, address, political affiliations, + religious affiliations, family circumstances, number of pets, and everything else they can get their hands on. + They even buy up databases of credit card transactions at local stores, so they can track the off-line purchasing patterns of the users + in their profiles. Because they already have much more accurate address information about a user than an IP address discloses, + Tor provides no real privacy protection against mega corporations.
+ +The single best privacy protection against mega corporations is to browse the web with JavaScript disabled, followed + by blocking ad networks, disabling cookies and DOM storage, and using a browser that is difficult to fingerprint.
+ + +Despite its limitations, Tor can be useful in some circumstances. The Tor project has an app for Android called Orbot, + which is available on F-Droid + and everywhere else that Privacy Browser is distributed. Privacy Browser has a setting to use Orbot as + a proxy. When this is turned on, Privacy Browserâs app bar will have a light blue background instead of + the default light grey. When Privacy Browserâs Orbot proxy setting is enabled, internet access + will not work unless Orbot is running and connected to Tor. Because traffic is being routed through several Tor nodes, + using Tor is often much slower than connecting directly to the internet.
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