[tor-bugs] #13342 [Website]: [FAQ Edit] Clear up whether or not Tor hides traffic from whoever has access to the router in the FAQ

[Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki]

#13342: [FAQ Edit] Clear up whether or not Tor hides traffic from whoever has
access to the router in the FAQ
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------
 Reporter:  cypherpunks                          |          Owner:
     Type:  task                                 |         Status:  new
 Priority:  normal                               |      Milestone:
Component:  Website                              |        Version:
 Keywords:  website, faq, information, casual    |  Actual Points:
  users, tor users                               |         Points:
Parent ID:                                       |
-------------------------------------------------+-------------------------
 Hello, I have a suggestion concerning the Website's FAQ:
 can it be cleared up once and for all whether or not using the Tor Browser
 effectively hides the traffic² from whoever has control over your router
 (like for example a sysadmin in a company or neighbours sharing a router
 with you) ?

 I asked about this on the IRC channel where they confirmed what I
 suspected - which is that the traffic is effectively hidden.
 However, typical users / casual tor users don't even know what irc is to
 go there asking about it. They use google and/or Tor's FAQ. As they can't
 find it there they'll ask about this elsewhere.
 I was at a place (Q&A site) where they kept asking about this and even
 though I thought it was hidden I wasn't completely sure as there's no
 clear(!) confirmation on any official page that clears it up.
 Contradictory posts on sites you find via Google just add up on the
 confusion: this post is saying it sufficiently hides traffic from whoever
 has control over the router: https://superuser.com/questions/646569/does-
 tor-hide-data-from-my-company-router and some posts elsewhere like those
 in here: http://www.overclock.net/t/1342866/how-do-i-hide-my-internet-
 activity-from-my-network-admin suggest everywhere. There's no clear answer
 to this to be found on the website and people asking about it.




 -> So could you please add a clear confirmation of traffic² being hidden
 from any person who has full access to the router to the FAQ (probably
 here:
 https://www.torproject.org/docs/faq.html.en#WhatProtectionsDoesTorProvide)
 and/or eventually even to: https://www.eff.org/pages/tor-and-https (by
 adding another guy next to the first purple hacker who got access to the
 router) ?



 People keep underestimating the "informal" part of projects so to say
 (while often fully focusing just on the technical side). And often also
 take users to be as informed as themselves for granted. But however great
 tor is - it's useless if people don't know what it's for. Saying: "[...]
 Tor prevents people watching your traffic locally (such as your ISP) from
 learning what information [...]" is not enough - it really needs a
 clear(!) confirmation.

 An example text would be: "Second, Tor prevents people watching your
 traffic locally (such as your ISP or a system administrator who has full
 access to the router you're using) from learning what information you're
 fetching and where you're fetching it from. This means your entire traffic
 is effectively hidden so that they can't see which sites you're visiting
 amongst other information."


 ----------------

 ²This doesn't include the plain fact that you're using tor or that it's
 you who's using tor - I really just mean the traffic itself

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/13342>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
The Tor Project: anonymity online