Which torsocks version? Yours is probably newer than mine. It seems to be a problem with torsocks 2.3.0 and only with dig. And indeed there is nothing wrong at the network level because I was able to do an MX lookup over tor using a different method than torsocks. I'm also able to use other apps with torsocks, just not dig all of the sudden.
soloActivist
Self hosting would mean I could control account creation and make many burner accounts. But there are issues with that:
- If there are several burner accounts then the admin would have to make it easy for others to create burner accounts or else it would be evident that all the burner accounts are just the admin’s, which does not solve the aggregation problem. It introduces complexities because the DNS provider and ISP would have the identity of the self-hoster. One could onion host but that greatly narrows the audience.
- It does not solve the problem for others. Everyone who has the same need would then be needlessly forced to independently solve all these same problems.
- I do not have high-speed unlimited internet, so I would have to spend more on subscription costs.
I think it complicates the problem and then each author has to deal with the same. If it’s solved at the fedi API level, then the existing infrastructure is ready to work.
(edit) I recall hearing about a fedi client application that operates in a serverless way. I don’t recall the name of it and know little about how it works, but it is claimed to not depend on account creation on a server and it somehow has some immunity to federation politics. Maybe that thing could work but I would have to find it again. It’s never talked about and I wonder why that is.. maybe it does not work as advertised.
Those do not obviate the use cases I have in mind. Secure drops are useful tools for specific whistle blowing scenarios. But they are not a one-size-fits-all tool.
I routinely use framadrop and then transmit the links to regulators or whoever I am targeting to act on a report. But what if the target audience is not a specific journalist or regulator but rather the entire general public? The general public does not have access to reports submitted to the Guardian’s dropbox or NYTimes’ dropbox. Those are exclusive channels of communication just for their own journalists. The report then only gets acted on or exposed if the story can compete with the sensationalisation level of other stories they are handling. If I’m exposing privacy abuses, the general public does not give a shit about privacy for the most part. So only highly scandelous privacy offenses can meet the profitable publication standards of Guardian and nytimes. The reports also cannot be so intense as to be on par with Wikileaks. There is a limited intensity range.
The fedi offers some unique reach to special interest groups like this one without the intensity range limitation.
NYtimes is also a paywall. So even if the story gets published it still ends up a place of reduced access.
They are great tools for some specific jobs but cannot wholly replace direct anonymous publication. Though I must admit I often overlook going to journalists. I should use those drop boxes more often.
(edit) from the guardian page:
Once you launch the Tor browser, copy and paste the URL xp44cagis447k3lpb4wwhcqukix6cgqokbuys24vmxmbzmaq2gjvc2yd.onion or theguardian.securedrop.tor.onion into the Tor address bar.
That theguardian.securedrop.tor.onion
URL caught my attention. I did not know about onion names until now. Shame it’s only for secure drops.
That story is focused on #CloudSTRIKE but the bigger more remarkable demon here is #CloudFLARE.
This story demonstrates Cloudflare acting as a proxy bully of their own customer, on behalf of CloudStrike by pushing a frivilous #DMCA take-down demand. CF took the spineless route as it sees CloudStrike as having more muscle than their customer. After CF joins the Goliath side of the David vs. Goliath battle, CF ignores Senk’s responses and keeps proxying threats.
Senk bounced from Cloudflare and went to a provider who has his back. #ArsTechnica publishes Cloudflare’s conduct. As embarrassment hits Cloudflare and David (Senk) starts winning against Goliath (CloudStrike), CF changes their tune. Suddenly they are on Senk’s side, saying “come back, we’ll protect you -- we promise we didn’t get your messages”. LOL. Senk should do a parody site for Cloudflare too.
Senk’s mistake: leaving CF. He should have waited until CF actually booted him. Then that would have more thoroughly exposed CF’s shitty actions. Senk gave CF an easy out.
Interesting to note how a human on the side of civil rights who advocates decentralisation was treated with hostility by Cloudflare. Yet CF is fine with sheltering actual criminals.
Customers should take several proactive steps to protect their personal information and reduce potential risks: Be Wary of Phishing Attempts
Customers should rethink their stupid ass decision to use AT&T in the first place since it has been known for over a decade that AT&T is the most privacy abusive of all US telecoms, most notably their role in project Fairview (archive for clearnet users and wikipedia).
AT&T customers don’t give a shit about privacy. But I do have some sympathy for all the non-AT&T people who communicated with AT&T pawns.
BTW, the OP’s link avoids reclaimthenet’s shitty popup if proxied through 12ft.io:
https://12ft.io/https://reclaimthenet.org/nearly-all-at
Not sure it matters since the text is in the OP anyway.. guess if someone wants to share it around.
Folks, FedEx has always been on the extreme right. Some basic facts:
- FedEx is an ALEC member (extreme right lobby and bill mill), largely as an anti-union measure
- FedEx founded by an ex military serviceman
- FedEx gives discounts for NRA membership (though I heard this was recently discontinued). NRA is obviously an extreme right org who also finances ALEC.
- During the NFL take-a-knee protest, FedEx is one of very few die-hard corps that refused to give in to the boycott. FedEx continued supporting the NFL against all the Black Lives Matter athletes taking knees and getting punished.
- FedEx ships shark fins, slave dolphins and hunting trophies. Does not give a shit about harm to animals (even when endangered) or environment.
I have been boycotting FedEx for over a decade. Certainly being pro-surveillance is fitting with their history and should not be a surprise to anyone who is aware of this background.
The only moral inconsistency is that FedEx has a reputation for not snooping on your packages and seems to be favored by people shipping contraband. But to find the consistency it’s just about the bottom line. They make no money by ratting out their customers who break the law. But installing a surveillance system on their trucks is probably yielding revenue for FedEx.
Exit nodes are temporary unless you deliberately pin them for a particular connection, which I have not done for the DNS servers. The problem manifests without exception for weeks now, so it could not be attributed to a bad exit node. The tor microdescriptor db tracks the perms of every node, so I don’t think it would create a circuit for disallowed traffic. There could be an inconsistency between the microdesc and reality, but it would have to be a replicated inconsistency for every connection attempted with torsocks and yet not replicated on any connection made using the torsocks alternative (which works).