I’m not saying VPN plus normal apps is better than Tor, just they’re for different uses. Yes, Tor is best for anonymity, but doesn’t handle UDP, gives a performance hit, doesn’t handle traffic from apps other than Tor Browser. So each has its place.
If you add something like AnonSurf, yes. But onion doesn’t handle UDP, and you get a performance hit, and probably sites block onion worse than they block VPNs.
They are a limited resource and most people don’t need them. Only use a bridge if you need it. If you use one when you don’t have to, you are using bandwidth and resources that should be allocated for those that really need it.
This is a good point. If you ended up with a compromised entry that was storing all your traffic, breaking tor would give them everything linked directly to your IP.
I’m not convinced “almost all” bridges are owned by government agencies, but surely some are (entries as well).
Wrong.
My ISP has my name, address, billing info, exact location for services…
My vpn provider has at best am IP I used to create the account, an IP I logged in from, and an anonymous payment method. Assuming I’m smart and use a proxy or another vpn or some method to conceal my actual IL every step of the way, LEOs can’t get anything usable from my vpn provider.
Then you won’t have the benefits of only you having access to the hardware.
You are right that both IPS and VPN provider are trustworthy. You can only count on you self inner the GFW. Pity Chinese!
You are correct. I was thinking VPN over Tor and have always read not to use a VPN with Tor. However, I just tested Tor over VPN with Brave browser opened to test and a double hop VPN on my entire OS and opened TBB. All web scanning tests show the Tor browser for IP, OS, etc. Looks good to me and Tor seemed just a fast as usual. Still not as fast as just a VPN, which I prefer for regular use, but I like this Tor over VPN when I want extra security.
tor can handle traffic from other apps than Tor Browser.
Common sense? If an agency has the publicly free ability to see who is connecting to Tor without the need for a warrant do you honestly think they’re going to pass it up. Use your head and stop pretending you’re Neo.
Your IP can easily be traced back to your ISP from the VPN provider. If a VPN provider is compromised, either by law enforcement or threat actors, that information can easily be traced back to you. If you think you’re anonymous on a vpn, you’re deluding yourself.
With your own hardware you lose any possibility of plausible deniability because it’s YOUR hardware.
At least with a VPS you get the benefit of everyone else’s traffic too.
What’s “lazy” about wanting to run a normal distro ? I want latest features, I distro-hop to learn different distros and DEs, etc.
I choose a level of safety I’m comfortable with. Probably Qubes is more secure than Whonix. Does that mean you’re “unsafe” if you use Whonix instead of Qubes ?
And I use some apps that do UDP; Tor/onion does not handle UDP. Should I let my UDP traffic reveal my home IP address ?
If you add a gateway such as AnonSurf to your system, yes.
My isp has little reason to protect my privacy; my vpn provider risks it’s entire reputation on doing exactly that.
Seriously, you can’t honestly think that using tor without a vpn is safer than using it with one. It gets so exhausting trying to explain to people why it’s NOT an inherent security risk and can (if used properly) provide added layers of security.
You missed the part where I use a socks proxy or other means to mask my originating IP from my vpn provider. It’s okay, common mistake when people like to spread this common myth that you’re less secure using a vpn.
You’re right. It all depends on your threat model in the end. Both have their pros and cons.
Or if you just set up programs to tunnel over tor.
What I find interesting is your attitude that you think that that is going to protect you. Socks4 and socks5 are unencrypted and your DNS and other traffic are plainly visible to your isp.
I don’t know of too many apps that support proxying or SOCKS or whatever. System is full of little updaters and services and such.
And onion doesn’t handle UDP, right ?