#21951: Tor Launcher improvements and automation -----------------------------+----------------------- Reporter: linda | Owner: linda Type: project | Status: new Priority: Medium | Milestone: Component: User Experience | Version: Severity: Normal | Resolution: Keywords: | Actual Points: Parent ID: | Points: Reviewer: | Sponsor: -----------------------------+-----------------------
Comment (by iry): Hi Linda! Thank you so much for opening this ticket! I will be working on the anon-connection-wizard, which is a python clone of the Tor Launcher. I do find your solid research useful and inspiring. The following is some of my thoughts related to your paper and proposal. 1) You mentioned two different implementation of the Tor Launcher: "One way would be to try a bunch of relays/bridges in a specific order, and stop when one is reachable. Another way would be to try all the relays/bridges at the same time, and return one that works to the user. " Since this behavior may be different from the behavior of users who connect to the Tor network without the help of Tor Launcher, we need to be careful about the risk that an adversary on the user's ISP side to distinguish different Tor users behaviors. 2) Currently, [BridgeDB](https://bridges.torproject.org/options) use a challenge-response test to prevent adversaries from enumerating all the existing unlisted bridges. I am not sure if the automation of Tor launcher will let adversaries take the advantages of it as well. (I assume by saying "all", you mean the built-in bridges options that are already available in Tor launcher.) 3) I find neither the current design of the Tor Launcher or the suggested revised design of the Tor Launcher take much care about the use case where Tor users use third-party censorship circumvention tools to bypass the Tor censorship. However, those third-party censorship circumvention tools are actually widely used in heavily censored area where Tor bridges and puggable-transports are not effective. For example, when user use a VPN or a Lantern to help Tot connect to the network, the current instruction may not be clear enough to guide them configure the Tor. Could you, or anyone else please share your insights or opinions on the problems I mentioned? I am more than happy to have a further discussion on these topic. -- Ticket URL: <https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/21951#comment:5> Tor Bug Tracker & Wiki <https://trac.torproject.org/> The Tor Project: anonymity online _______________________________________________ tor-bugs mailing list tor-bugs@lists.torproject.org https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-bugs