[tor-talk] Appearing American

[mirimir]

On 08/24/2013 12:46 PM, mick wrote:

> On Fri, 23 Aug 2013 22:49:08 +0000
> mirimir <mirimir at riseup.net> allegedly wrote:
> 
>>
>> We're talking here about tunnelling VPNs through Tor, so the VPN
>> provider knows nothing about you, except from the money trail.
> 
> You may be. I wasn't. The initial question was about how to use tor to
> specifically ensure a US based IP source address (hence the subject
> line). Gordon Morehouse recommended a commercial VPN as an /alternative/
> to tor. My question (and that of others) was how that would give you
> any anonymity.

It's true that using a single VPN doesn't provide anonymity, because the
provider can log everything. I could have been clearer that I wasn't
talking about that approach.

Getting back to the original question, what is the most anonymous way to
reliably get a US IP address? Is it more anonymous to (1) force Tor to
use some set of US exit relays, or (2) tunnel a free VPN through Tor?

The VPN connection does prevent Tor from switching circuits. Does that
reduce Tor anpnymity more than just constraining exit relay selection?
If so, one could configure the VPN to reconnect periodically.