[tor-talk] Tor as a network filter

[spencerone at openmailbox.org]

>> SpencerOne spencerone[at]openmailbox.org:
>> Awesome, the Transport Layer, right?  But couldn't things on the
>> Application Layer be filtered through Tor before they make it to the
>> Network Layer?  Isn't that what's happening with things like Orbot?
>> Aren't applications proxied using SOCKS or HTTP, essentially having
>> Tor filter things before being passed over a network?
>> 
> Yuri yuri[at]rawbw.com:
> No, tor doesn't filter anything. Tor is rather like router. It routes
> your traffic through the network of its own, and helps make you
> anonymous in your activities on the net.
> 

Yes, "..separate identification from routing.”, but isn't Tor filtering 
my connection to the internet by routing my connection through its 
network?  Because, if so, I am wondering if it is possible to have that 
onion routing process do more than just automatically proxy my 
connection.  I am thinking it could allow me to deny certain connection 
attempts completely while allowing others.  If applications can make 
connections to the internet through the Tor network, via Orbot or 
TorBirdy, for example, how much control can I have over this on a 
desk/laptop environment?

Where would I look to find information on this?  Is Vidalia or "system 
Tor" relevant to this?

>>> 
>>> However, there is the Whonix gateway (https://www.whonix.org/) that 
>>> you
>>> can run as a virtual machine, and you can connect any other OS 
>>> running
>>> in another VM to it.
>>> 
>> 
>> Is there any risk to this [Whonix on a VM] like with Tails, or is
>> Whonix built to function this way?
> 
> Whonix gateway is built to pipe network traffic from OS in VM into the
> tor network. So the whole OS is on tor this way.
> 

Okay, but in between one application, TorBrowser, and an entire OS, 
Whonix, there is all, or at least desired, application control.

> 
> I thought that's what you was asking.
> 

Indeed, Whoxnix guy got at me, thanks again for being so kind : )

Wordlife,
SpencerOne