Question and Confirmation.

[andrew at torproject.org]

On Fri, Jan 28, 2011 at 11:29:25PM +0000, pumpkin at cotse.net wrote 2.3K bytes in 53 lines about:
: My understanding is that Tor encrypts both the content of a data
: packet and also the header.  It encrypts the packet and header three
: times on the client (my computer) and then at each node one layer is
: decrypted until the data packet and header are decrypted to
: plaintext at the final exit node (except when TLS is used).  Right?

Actually, tor wraps the original traffic in encryption and tunnels it
through the 3 hops of a circuit.  We do not touch the original data.

: The Tor FAQ says "Tor is not illegal anywhere in the world".  Can
: that really be the case?  What about North Korea for example?  Tor
: as a specific tool might not be specifically illegal but surely it
: would fall under the rubric of some kind of stupid prohibition?

North Korea doesn't have Internet, much less personal computers
connected to anything.  

As for the larger question, Tor itself is not illegal that we know of.
Circumventing the state-run proxy/firewall may be illegal.  However,
I'm sure if a Ministry of Culture wants to trump up charges, "crimes
against the common good or morals" is a fine charge to levy on someone
in custody.  A fine bit of legal research would be to discover in which
countries circumventing a national firewall or blocklist is illegal.

-- 
Andrew
pgp key: 0x74ED336B
***********************************************************************
To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to majordomo at torproject.org with
unsubscribe or-talk    in the body. http://archives.seul.org/or/talk/