[tor-dev] DuckDuckGo, iOS and other stuff.

Nathan Freitas nathan at freitas.net
Tue Jan 3 16:01:09 UTC 2012


On 01/02/2012 02:39 PM, caine tighe wrote:
> there is serious value in ensuring Tor is an option for both Android
> and iOS.  Currently we support Tor via Orbot on Android via the HTTP/S
> proxy method since the SOCKS method is known to have DNS leaks.

I agree! As a side note, in Orweb v2, when you type a search in the
location bar, it utilizes the DDG hidden service.

The SOCKS method works fine if you support the right type of SOCKS.
There is inherently nothing wrong with Tor's SOCKS support, and it is
what we utilize for the Firefox Mobile ProxyMob add-on.

> application Covert Browser that claims to properly leverage Tor;
> however, since the source is closed, I remain unconvinced.  This

Regardless of the poor approach to transparency they have taken, it does
seem that Tor integrated into a browser or search app directly is the
only way to go on iOS at the moment. I don't quite understand what
happens when multiple apps with Tor embedded in them are running at
once, with the psuedo backgrounding/multitasking that iOS supports.

It is also true that it is best to keep Tor running and connected as
long as possible in order for it to be able to optimize circuits, update
directories, and so on. If you are constantly starting and stopping it
within one app, the performance may suffer.

> application stands to be both an interface to DuckDuckGo for quick and
> secure searching as well as a Tor enabled browser.

It would be fantastic to have you take this on, as an open-source option
is needed for iOS, and the Guardian Project isn't currently able to
expand to that platform.

best,
+n


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