[tor-bugs] #32503 [Applications/Tor Browser]: With Startpage.com, Anonymous Mode does not work if Startpage.com is configured to use EU servers

Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki blackhole at torproject.org
Fri Nov 15 07:39:26 UTC 2019


#32503: With Startpage.com, Anonymous Mode does not work if Startpage.com is
configured to use EU servers
-------------------------+------------------------------------------
 Reporter:  cypherpunks  |          Owner:  tbb-team
     Type:  defect       |         Status:  new
 Priority:  Medium       |      Component:  Applications/Tor Browser
  Version:               |       Severity:  Normal
 Keywords:               |  Actual Points:
Parent ID:               |         Points:
 Reviewer:               |        Sponsor:
-------------------------+------------------------------------------
 The Startpage.com search engine has a setting where the user can choose to
 have Startpage.com only use servers in the EU (European Union.)
 Alternatively, the user can configure Startpage.com to only use servers in
 the US, or to use whichever servers are the closest/fastest.

 In addition, Startpage.com has an [https://www.startpage.com/en/search
 /proxy-help.html '''Anonymous Mode'''] where Startpage.com will fetch the
 page for the user with Startpage.com functioning as a proxy of sorts.

 From what it appears, when Startpage.com is accessed in Tor Browser and
 has been configured to only use servers in the EU, then accessing a Web
 site in Anonymous Mode will not work.

 Steps:
 1. Visit https://www.startpage.com/
 2. Click the hamburger button (three stacked horizontal lines) in the
 upper-right corner of the page.
 3. Click "Settings" in the menu that appears.
 4. On the Settings page, scroll down to the "Results Appearance" section
 and deselect the "Open search result in a new window" option.
 5. Scroll down to the "Privacy and Safety" section. Under the "Only
 connect to servers that are" option, select "EU servers".
 6. Click the Save button to save the preferences.
 7. At the Startpage.com home page, enter the search term "free software"
 (without quotes) and press return to do a search.
 8. On the page that comes up, there will be a list of search results, each
 with an "Anonymous View" link. Click the "Anonymous View" link for one of
 the search results.
 9. A page will come up showing a figure with a covered head in the center,
 and with the text "'''Anonymous View''' by Startpage.com" in the lower
 left. However, the requested page will fail to load.

 When accessing a page in Tor Browser, it is possible to open the Network
 pane which shows HTTP and HTTPS requests, among other things. This pane
 can be opened by clicking the hamburger button in the upper-right part of
 the Tor Browser window (to the right of the "New Identity" button),
 clicking "Web Developer" in the menu that appears, and then clicking on
 "Network" in the menu under the Web Developer heading.

 From the looks of things, when Startpage.com is accessed in Tor Browser
 and has been configured to use EU servers, one of the requests made by
 Startpage.com in Anonymous Mode is to a URL at the domain `session.eu-
 proxy.startpage.com`, and it appears that this request fails. (This may be
 due to a DNS issue; when testing with a different (non-Tor Browser)
 connection, it was possible to make Anonymous Mode functional by having
 the connection use or include the Cloudflare DNS servers (1.1.1.1 and
 1.0.0.1 for IPv4, 2606:4700:4700::1111 and 2606:4700:4700::1001 for IPv6)
 for DNS instead of just using the normal DNS servers.)

--
Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/32503>
Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/>
The Tor Project: anonymity online


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