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Using Tor good enough?

LimaDelta

New member
Nov 12, 2018
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Do you guys use Tor on this forum, when you use your EMIs?

I am wondering how paranoid I should be on this forum if I don't want the 3 letter guys to put me on their lists or see the questions I am asking. My current set up is a burner laptop I got with cash, camera, microphone, battery, harddrive and disc drive removed and it runs on USB Tails. I only use it at public wifis.

What do you guys do?

Also, I can't edit (this is why I am posting again), I can't use the +Quote feature, and some things on this forum don't work. I assume its becuase of Tor....anyone else experiencing this?

I finally learned how to actually log in using Tor. I had to check the "Stay logged in box" I was contacting the mods alot about not being able to stay logged in, sorry mods!
 
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No I do not use Tor when using my EMIs.I don't have to as my business and tax setup is legit. But my background is information security and I can advice you that there are still plenty of ways to de-anonymize you.

You are never secure, lots can (and will) go wrong. What is important is that your setup and carefulness reflects your thread model. You did not post anything about your thread model, so nobody will be able to honestly tell you if "You are using Tor good enough" without you describing it.

Are you worried about tax authorities, nation states or your spouse?
 
I would use a VPN such as Private internet access that has no logs (tested) and then use tor as I hear some stories about the feds monitoring the exit nodes so they spot you using Tor and want to know more.

The way I like to do things is to use PIA VPN paid for with mixed BTC then use portable firefoxes with a setting to stop DNS leaks and a socks5 proxy or AnonymoX firefox plugin. The main thing is you hide behind the VPN just make sure its TRUE no logs so they only keep records of how you paid.

Going back to TOR I don't think it will be that good for setting up EMI's or merchant accounts they like to see the same IP and at least the same cookies etc which a portable browser will allow you to do.

But I echo the same as mbj said it all depends on what you are trying to achieve.
 
lol i cant believe this paranoid level , but i'm not sure about your case and what you try to hide .
using tor for any substantial service with tor is like trolling , the solution you get from newmorty is more likely to help .
 
I'm with @NewMorty - VPN / VPS is the way to go, forget TOR it won't work well for what you are looking for. If you want even more security then connect to the VPS thru a secured and encrypted tunnel. That will hide your identity and location 100%.
 
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I am wondering how paranoid I should be on this forum if I don't want the 3 letter guys to put me on their lists or see the questions I am asking.

TOR is funded by them and it gives criminals on the silk roads a false sense of security and allows them to be monitored. They love to give out misinformation. If they could not monitor it you know damn well they would have shut use of it down on their soil - however it serves their agenda ;).

US government increases funding for Tor, giving $1.8m in 2013

P.s Most VPN's are the same....just makes you think you are safe.
 
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This entire discussion will not conclude into good advice for OP, unless he states his thread model. What is he protecting from whom. Unless we know that, all advice that could be given is based on too much speculation. TOR / VPN / VPS / and all the alternatives have valid use cases. But its hard to do general statements unless the thread model is known.
 
There is one born everyday :rolleyes:.
 
There is one born everyday :rolleyes:.

You meant thread model? Yeah, definitively. Still the question for the thread model is essential, as there are so many ways to screw up, especially when explicitly targeted. Just google TOR / VPN / VPS de-anonymizing. But some of these ways may be good enough for a specific use case. And some of the actions, such as using a public WIFI as the first hop can even be worse than using your own internet. It all depends on: The thread model.
 
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Well, not paying tax on the income I genarate overseas through my Belize company and EMI that I set up using darks. Pulling my money out of my EMI using cards at ATM's around the world. I am not a hacker, nor am I involved with drugs at all like the dark net markets.

Again, maybe I am paranoid. I am new to this all, so I don't know. I am running a burner latop, tails, public wifi just to use this forum.....
 
TOR browser is a great and easy way to avoid anyone to trace your internet activity. I would research more on that topic to ensure your privacy.