[tor-talk] Fwd: Re: Tor Weekly News — March 26th, 2014
Jeff
armj at myacn.net.au
Wed Mar 26 22:31:26 UTC 2014
Can you tell me why the Tor browser has such a
slow download ? I've reduced the upload speed
but it doesnt make any difference. Thanks, Jeff
> ========================================================================
> Tor Weekly News March 26th, 2014
> ========================================================================
>
> Welcome to the twelfth issue of Tor Weekly News in 2014, the weekly
> newsletter that covers what is happening in the Tor community.
>
> Tor 0.2.5.3-alpha is out
> ------------------------
>
> Nick Mathewson cut a new release of the Tor development branch [1] on
> March 23rd: “Tor 0.2.5.3-alpha includes all the fixes from 0.2.4.21. It
> contains two new anti-DoS features for Tor relays, resolves a bug that
> kept SOCKS5 support for IPv6 from working, fixes several annoying
> usability issues for bridge users, and removes more old code for unused
> directory formats.”
>
> This release also marks the first step toward the stabilization of Tor
> 0.2.5, as from now on “no feature patches not already written will be
> considered for inclusion”.
>
> The source is available at the usual location [2], as are updated binary
> packages.
>
> [1]: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2014-March/032448.html
> [2]: https://www.torproject.org/dist/
>
> Tails 0.23 is out…
> ------------------
>
> …but many Tails users are already running it. Now that incremental
> upgrades have been turned on by default with the previous release, users
> of Tails on USB sticks have been able to enjoy the process of a smooth
> upgrade in three clicks.
>
> As always, the new release [3] fixes several security holes [4]. That
> alone should make anyone switch, but the new version finally brings with
> it two long-awaited features and many small improvements.
>
> Tails will now do “MAC spoofing” by default. To hide the hardware
> address used on the local network, Tails will now use a randomized
> address by default. This will help prevent the tracking of one’s
> geographical location across networks. For more information about MAC
> spoofing, why it matters, and when it might be relevant to turn it off,
> be sure to read the very well-written documentation [5].
>
> Another important feature is the integrated support for proxies and Tor
> bridges. This should be of immense help to users of Tails on censored
> networks. The integration is done using the Tor Launcher extension [6],
> familiar to everyone who has used recent versions of the Tor Browser.
>
> For examples of smaller features and bugfixes: Tor, obfsproxy, I2P,
> Pidgin and the web browser have been upgraded, a 64-bit kernel is used
> on most systems to pave the way for UEFI support, documentation is now
> accessible from the greeter, and the “New identity” option in the
> browser is available again.
>
> The next Tails release is scheduled for April 29th and will be 1.0. For
> this important milestone in 5 years of intense work, the Tails team is
> still looking for a logo [7].
>
> [3]: https://tails.boum.org/news/version_0.23/
> [4]: https://tails.boum.org/security/Numerous_security_holes_in_0.22.1/
> [5]: https://tails.boum.org/doc/first_steps/startup_options/mac_spoofing/
> [6]: https://gitweb.torproject.org/tor-launcher.git
> [7]: https://tails.boum.org/news/logo_contest/
>
> New Tor Browser releases
> ------------------------
>
> The Tor Browser team put out two new releases based on Firefox
> 24.4.0esr [8]. Version 3.5.3 [9] is meant as a safe upgrade for every
> Tor Browser user. Among other changes, the new version contains an
> updated Tor, a fix for a potential freeze, a fix for the Ubuntu keyboard
> issue and a way to prevent disk leaks when watching videos.
>
> On top of the preceding changes, version 3.6-beta-1 [10] is the
> culmination of a months-long effort to seamlessly integrate pluggable
> transports [11] into the Tor Browser. In the network settings, users can
> now choose “Connect with provided bridges” and select from “obfs3” [12],
> “fte” [13] or “flashproxy” [14]. Entering custom bridges is also
> supported and will work for direct, obfs2 and obfs3 bridges.
>
> Other usability changes include wording improvements in the connection
> wizard, translatable Tor status messages, and the use of disk image
> (DMG) instead of ZIP archives for Mac OS X.
>
> Please upgrade, in any case, and consider helping iron out the remaining
> issues in the 3.6 branch.
>
> [8]: https://www.mozilla.org/security/known-vulnerabilities/firefoxESR.html#firefox24.4
> [9]: https://blog.torproject.org/blog/tor-browser-353-released
> [10]: https://blog.torproject.org/blog/tor-browser-36-beta-1-released
> [11]: https://www.torproject.org/docs/pluggable-transports.html
> [12]: https://gitweb.torproject.org/pluggable-transports/obfsproxy.git/blob/refs/heads/master:/doc/obfs3/obfs3-protocol-spec.txt
> [13]: https://fteproxy.org/
> [14]: https://crypto.stanford.edu/flashproxy/
>
> Miscellaneous news
> ------------------
>
> Since the 3.5 release, “Tor Browser Bundle is more like a standalone
> browser and less like a bundle”. This led the Tor Browser team to plan
> to “rename it to just ‘Tor Browser’ everywhere” [15].
>
> [15]: https://bugs.torproject.org/11193
>
> Thanks to Berkay [16] and to André Schulz [17] for running mirrors of
> the Tor Project website!
>
> [16]: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-mirrors/2014-March/000491.html
> [17]: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-mirrors/2014-March/000492.html
>
> Alex reported [18] an “important case about Tor relay operators” which
> came to court in Athens, Greece on March 18th. The defendant, a Tor
> relay operator, was acquitted after proving that the IP address used for
> criminal activity was in fact a Tor relay.
>
> [18]: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2014-March/032441.html
>
> Connections to Twitter from inside Turkey were blocked by the Turkish
> government on 20th March [19], leading to an increase in the number of
> Tor users there [20, 21].
>
> [19]: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2014/03/after-dns-change-fails-turkish-government-steps-up-twitter-censorship/
> [20]: https://metrics.torproject.org/users.html?graph=userstats-relay-country&start=2014-01-01&end=2014-03-26&country=tr&events=off#userstats-relay-country
> [21]: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-26714214
>
> Jacob Appelbaum presented a keynote titled “Free software for freedom,
> surveillance and you” at LibrePlanet 2014 [22]. The presentation was
> done remotely from Berlin using Tor and GStreamer [23].
>
> [22]: http://libreplanet.org/2014/program/sessions.html
> [23]: https://github.com/ioerror/freenote
>
> James Valleroy wrote to tor-relays [24] asking the best way to configure
> the FreedomBox [25] as a Tor bridge. Lance Hathaway explained [26] about
> pluggable transports and Roger Dingledine mentioned [27] the potential
> issues of relaying a bridge and a hidden service at the same time.
>
> [24]: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-relays/2014-March/004108.html
> [25]: https://wiki.debian.org/FreedomBox
> [26]: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-relays/2014-March/004111.html
> [27]: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-relays/2014-March/004134.html
>
> Aymeric Vitte wrote to tor-talk [28] to mention an implementation of the
> Tor protocol in JavaScript. Sadly, the project is not free software yet.
>
> [28]: https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tor-talk/2014-March/032432.html
>
> A Tor exit operator recently held [29] an Ask Me Anything on Reddit,
> which was quite successful, generating over 800 upvotes, 478 comments,
> and being read by thousands. The most popular questions were focused on
> how to improve the use of Tor, the legality of exit nodes, discussions
> on hidden services, the workings of Tor, and many other topics related
> to privacy and security.
>
> [29]: https://pay.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/20243q/iaman_operator_of_eight_tor_relays_including_two
>
> Tor help desk roundup
> ---------------------
>
> Users sometimes want to know how to transfer their bookmarks from an old
> Tor Browser to an updated one. Mozilla provide instructions on how to do
> this on their website [30].
>
> [30]: http://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/export-firefox-bookmarks-to-backup-or-transfer
>
> The new Tor Browser releases were again prevented from working properly
> by WebRoot Internet Security. The error message is “Couldn’t load
> XPCOM”. Users need to disable WebRoot, whitelist the appropriate Tor
> Browser files, and more importantly contact WebRoot support to warn them
> that their product is breaking the Tor Browser and, to the best of Tor
> support’s knowledge, Firefox stable releases. Ideally, WebRoot should
> test new releases before harming Tor users. See #11268 [31] if you want
> to help.
>
> [31]: https://bugs.torproject.org/11268
>
> News from Tor StackExchange
> ---------------------------
>
> uighur1984 wanted to set up a hidden service for their public-facing
> website [32] and decided that the HiddenServiceDir should be the same
> like the DocumentRoot of the website. This led to some problems with
> access rights. Sam Whited clarified that both directories should be
> separated: the data in the HiddenServiceDir doesn't contain any actual
> data from the website, but only the keys and other information from the
> hidden service.
>
> [32]: https://tor.stackexchange.com/q/1783/88
>
> Gondalse shot a video showing policemen torturing a citizen. The release
> of the video led to a trial, and Gondalse fears that someone might try
> to track the owner of the video down [33]. Jens Kubieziel pointed out
> some OPSEC rules, and showed which problems can lead to deanonymization.
>
> [33]: https://tor.stackexchange.com/q/1790/88
>
> Upcoming events
> ---------------
>
> Mar 26 19:00 UTC | little-t tor development meeting
> | #tor-dev, irc.oftc.net
> |
> Mar 28 17:00 UTC | Pluggable transports online meeting
> | #tor-dev, irc.oftc.net
> |
> Mar 28 18:00 UTC | Tor Browser online meeting
> | #tor-dev, irc.oftc.net
> | https://lists.torproject.org/pipermail/tbb-dev/2014-March/000026.html
> |
> April 1-4 | Civil Rights Defenders’ Days
> | Stockholm, Sweden
> | http://defendersdays.civilrightsdefenders.org/
>
>
> This issue of Tor Weekly News has been assembled by Lunar, Matt Pagan,
> harmony, qbi, Jesse Victors, and Karsten Loesing.
>
> Want to continue reading TWN? Please help us create this newsletter.
> We still need more volunteers to watch the Tor community and report
> important news. Please see the project page [34], write down your
> name and subscribe to the team mailing list [35] if you want to
> get involved!
>
> [34]: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/wiki/TorWeeklyNews
> [35]: https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/news-team
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