Staying anonymous with TOR.
There is no need to buy expensive IP hiding programs nor filter through thousands of proxies when you have TOR. TOR (Onion rooter) works similar to p2p sharing. However instead of sharing files, you are directing data packets from one computer to another. If you were to examine these packets of data at any point you would not be able to tell where it came from and where its going. This might sound complicated but in reality TOR has been made very easy to use.
Download the most recent stable version and install it. Launch TOR and make sure privoxy is running as well. Then install a TOR Button for your FireFox browser. After restarting the browser double click the red “Tor disabled” button at the bottom of FireFox so that it turns green and you are ready to go.
Check your IP address here. It should now be different. You can always change your identity again by opening tor and requesting a new one.
The best thing about TOR is its usability. Any kind of program that uses proxies can go via TOR and stay anonymous. Whether you are using some kind of blackhat pinger or a social submitter simply put 127.0.0.1:8118 as a proxy whenever the program asks you to. Happy anonymous browsing!
July 12th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
Wow, I’ve never thought of using something like this, and I rarely use proxies….I can see how this may be useful in some cases, so it’s good to know about.
This is a good tool for the “taking over the net one packet at a time because I am an evil genius blogger” toolbox! Okay, I just made that up, but, it sounded kinda fly don’t you think?
Thanks for the tip
July 13th, 2008 at 12:11 am
Thats definitely a good tip and Tor I reckon is definitely a good introduction to proxies but this post most definitely must come with a warning.
The Tor network has being repeatedly abused by spammers and dubious individuals so expect the IPs to be banned on a lot of sites.
This will help you if you want anonymity in everyday situations but remember your are sharing the IPs with other people.
July 15th, 2008 at 3:08 am
@Taku - If you find that the IP is banned how hard is it to simply switch to another IP?
July 15th, 2008 at 7:10 am
Yet another gem that one wouldn’t find anywhere else. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and insights with us Ilia! Taku’s comment rings true though, as we all know what happens when you’re associated with spammy IP adresses.
July 15th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
@Chuck It is fairly simple, havent used Tor in a while I think your IP also changes automatically because you hop from server to server. I think you just have to click the taskbar icon.
July 15th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
There is only a small proportion of people who use TOR for blackhat methods. Only some of them will get caught and only some of those who get caught will get their IPs banned on the website you might not even use yourself. Overall risk is quite small but even if your IP gets banned its not the end of the world.