Tor, InvisibleIRC, and the gang
Around 2 years back, a friend had pointed to InvisibleIRC project. Your connection to the IRC server is made via several hops over 'relays' (intermediate nodes), and the messages sent are themselves encrypted. It is resistant against any single relay getting compromised, and IP addresses revealed. More information here. They did have a publicly available IRC server, but was brought down due to lack of support (says the website.)
This friend was enthusiastic about the network - it allowed him to "express himself freely - talk about anything, including things that the Feds wouldn't have wanted people discussing." Eh? I thought of this as ultra-paranoia. Would the authorities come over banging his door if he bragged on IRC about connections with not-so-nice-people? I connected to this network, and found that almost everyone there was fanatical about "freedom" in this sense. Were they discussing anything that people on 'unsecured' networks won't? At least not in public channels that I wandered to.
Tor is an attempt to anonymize communications over the Internet. Same theme, but not just IRC. Many people think it's a great idea. EFF does too. Doesn't it sound like the way Internet should have been? There is another side to it. Anonymity doesn't really encourage responsible behavior on the Internet. Tor website does have a page about this.
I haven't tried Tor yet - haven't found any strong reason yet to start using it. Have you?
This friend was enthusiastic about the network - it allowed him to "express himself freely - talk about anything, including things that the Feds wouldn't have wanted people discussing." Eh? I thought of this as ultra-paranoia. Would the authorities come over banging his door if he bragged on IRC about connections with not-so-nice-people? I connected to this network, and found that almost everyone there was fanatical about "freedom" in this sense. Were they discussing anything that people on 'unsecured' networks won't? At least not in public channels that I wandered to.
Tor is an attempt to anonymize communications over the Internet. Same theme, but not just IRC. Many people think it's a great idea. EFF does too. Doesn't it sound like the way Internet should have been? There is another side to it. Anonymity doesn't really encourage responsible behavior on the Internet. Tor website does have a page about this.
I haven't tried Tor yet - haven't found any strong reason yet to start using it. Have you?