Subj : Re: Darknet Alternatives For IM
To   : The Godfather
From : warmfuzzy
Date : Tue Apr 18 2023 00:50:33

 TG> This may be off topic a bit, maybe not.  I have heard that the Restrict
 TG> Act would make VPN illegal here in the states if the bill is passed.
 TG> Even if it doesn't pass, I might give TOR a shot again. How "invisible"
 TG> am I to my ISP or those monitoring everyday internet traffic, when using
 TG> TOR without a VPN? And who wrote / writes / owns TOR?
 TG> -tG

To your ISP you are fully invisible, however to dangerous actors like the NSA or GCHQ or CSE they would be able to figure out (with a lot of effort) that your activity may be questionable.  Every IP address that is connected to TOR can be back-traced, however it is a bit more effort as to see what you are actually downloading.  For example there is an archive of illegal material that takes about 4 gigs in size to download, and there is nothing much else that is that big, so it could be inferred to be the illegal package of materials.  This is a far out example, for 99% of data transactions through the TOR network it can't be determined what you are doing, only that you are a part of TOR's network.  TOR wiht a VPN is safer, however TOR alone is still good.  If you can't afford a VPN then you can try TAILS (The Amnesiac Incognito Live System), which is a Linux distribution made entirely for secure communications.  TOR was originally the idea of a teenage kid, the US government picked the idea up and funded the creation of TOR.  Currently, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF.org) maintains the TOR Project.  It is rumored that there are still some funding by DARPA or the Naval Research Labs of the US DOD (Department of Defense).  The reason the American Government is funding TOR is because it is dual-purpose, alongside the freedom for journalism and free speech, is the capability of users to send intelligence reports to the American DOD with a TOR blanket that allows them to send intel reports anonymously back to their controllers State-side.  TOR is also open-source so you can be sure its solid code, you are free to check out what's underneath the hood.

Cheers!
-warmfuzzy

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