Unix and Overlooked Pop Culture
The *Nixed Report covers technology and topics that have a popular following but are often overlooked or misunderstood and/or misrepresented by traditional media venus.
Episode 57: Tor, Proxies, VPN's, Oh My!
16-09-2014
A couple of things to note in this episode:
 
- ISP's are able to tell if you're using Tor, so don't get cocky.
- Though Tor and VPN's are able to help protect privacy online, they don't make you invincible when it comes to the real world. You have been warned.
The Tor Project is a valuable thing for those wishing to bypass censorship. Their browser bundle makes it easy for users to cover their tracks online, though there are other bundles out there. There's also a live Linux system, a virtual machine based solution, and more.
Those using a live system on a USB thumb drive may want to take note of the general vulnerability of USB itself.
It should be noted that Tor itself won't protect you on its own if you have ISP's, companies, or entire governments who don't care for the use of such things. What about Proxies?
While they can be used to get around censorhip, you also can be discovered. They aren't the most stealthy solutions out there.
A Virtual Private Network (VPN) may be more appropriate, and can be used to bypass throttling as well as access sites that would otherwise be restricted. Free ones exist, but they have their limits (low speeds, peer-to-peer protocols not enabled, low data transfers). Some examples of VPN's include but aren't limited to:
Grey Coder has a list of VPN's and PC World has an excellent article about the subject matter.
 
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Filetype: MP3 - Size: 37.4MB - Duration: 40:51 m (128 kbps 44100 Hz)
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