topic title: Did the FBI Pay a University to Attack Tor Users?
3 posts
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jdmeaux1952Posts: 667
- Joined: 01 Nov 2013
#2
Anything is possible.
I use Tor mostly for privacy. I had always thought that the purpose of the Internet was to be able to freely pass information between persons, not to investigate what that person may or may not have done.
It is easy enough on some networks to learn quite a bit about a particular user or computer. Most businesses will have a program that the network administrator uses to watch each computer screen, to make sure they are not going to sites they are not supposed to go to or sharing proprietary information. But none of us like the idea that the government or military can simply see what sites we are looking at . What is to prevent them from using OUR machines to look at inappropriate sites? Or to use OUR computers to share inappropriate information, like military secrets to the enemy?
I have had to correct and clean many infected and zombie machines over the years. How do you explain to Grandma that her computer is running slow because someone else installed a program that is using her computer to send information from one site to another without her knowledge? Or that the reason her hard drive is full is because someone is using it to transfer kiddie porn from one computer to another? The best thing to do is simply tell her the machine is infected, and you will correct it to prevent this from happening again.
How about the high school students who were issued laptops by the school for their school work and the computer lab teacher had installed a program to automatically turn on their cameras whenever the laptop was on? How many hours of students walking around their own rooms NUDE did the school have in its possession? The teacher was fired and the school apologized, but what every happened to all the pictures? The police never did find out.
I use Tor mostly for privacy. I had always thought that the purpose of the Internet was to be able to freely pass information between persons, not to investigate what that person may or may not have done.
It is easy enough on some networks to learn quite a bit about a particular user or computer. Most businesses will have a program that the network administrator uses to watch each computer screen, to make sure they are not going to sites they are not supposed to go to or sharing proprietary information. But none of us like the idea that the government or military can simply see what sites we are looking at . What is to prevent them from using OUR machines to look at inappropriate sites? Or to use OUR computers to share inappropriate information, like military secrets to the enemy?
I have had to correct and clean many infected and zombie machines over the years. How do you explain to Grandma that her computer is running slow because someone else installed a program that is using her computer to send information from one site to another without her knowledge? Or that the reason her hard drive is full is because someone is using it to transfer kiddie porn from one computer to another? The best thing to do is simply tell her the machine is infected, and you will correct it to prevent this from happening again.
How about the high school students who were issued laptops by the school for their school work and the computer lab teacher had installed a program to automatically turn on their cameras whenever the laptop was on? How many hours of students walking around their own rooms NUDE did the school have in its possession? The teacher was fired and the school apologized, but what every happened to all the pictures? The police never did find out.
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eric52Posts: 60
- Joined: 03 Nov 2015
#3
This is disconcerting news, but thanks for drawing attention to it. If there's a silver lining, it is apparently the case that authority still seeks to work around the law rather than just ignore it. I don't engage in anything illegal, but I do use Tor on the infrequent occasion that I want privacy. This is only due to my awareness that the Internet is virtually an electronic billboard. In effect, Tor is an alternative to flagrant behavior, not a disguise for criminal activity.