[tor-bugs] #9159 [Tor]: [Securtiy] Tor in times of PRISM, TEMPORA, Boundless Informant

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#9159: [Securtiy] Tor in times of PRISM, TEMPORA, Boundless Informant
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 Reporter:  Sudo Sterns                   |          Owner:                  
     Type:  defect                        |         Status:  new             
 Priority:  normal                        |      Milestone:                  
Component:  Tor                           |        Version:  Tor: unspecified
 Keywords:  prism,tempora, surveillance,  |         Parent:                  
   Points:                                |   Actualpoints:                  
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 Hello.

 Related to the latest disclosure of intelligence activities run by the
 USA, GB, probably Russia and China as well there is only one significant
 question to me: Is a user still be able to protect it's informational
 self-determination - in other words his anonymity - using tor? Or at least
 to what extend? And how do the makers of tor want to deal with these
 problems?

 I'd like to start a discussion from a sociological point of view. E.g.
 what it means when a society is needing a technic like this to be able to
 exist. But I am not sure if this is the right place for a discussion of
 this kind.

 So I'll stick to the technical point of view.
 Hence I do not know the answer, please tread the following as questions.

 1: The NSA is listening to the raw information stream that flows through
 the net. It is saving all encrypted information for later decryption.
 Hence it is not known how much capacity they have for breaking encryption
 - are there any plans to use a stronger encryption in tor?

 2: Hence providers like BT, Vodafone, AT&T etc. are actively supporting
 the intelligence services - is this a problem for the weakness of the
 entry-point/exit-point problem? Since the  providers do know who's using
 tor there seems to be a high possibility of identifying users.

 And finally: are the makers of tor evaluating these new developments in
 world wide surveillance and almost endless possibilities to track people?
 what are the considerations to include these problems into the strategy of
 how to make tor safer.

 Regards
 Sterns

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Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/9159>
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