I would like to propose an idea to the Tor community, in the hope that someone with the coding skills could pick up on it and run with it to make it a reality. The idea is a simple one, I call it:
Tor User Agent Carousel (TUAC) - What is Tor User Agent Carousel? (TUAC) It's an idea I'm proposing as a feature to be added to Tor Button, Tork, Vidalia, or perhaps just a plugin for Firefox. It would allow the Tor user to configure when their browser's user agent changes and how often, either by randomly timed (role of the dice sort of time period) intervals or a user defined set time (week,day,hour,seconds,etc.). TUAC would read the user agents from a text file containing a list of user agents which the user may add to with their own custom strings at any time. The rotation of the user agent would be at random every time, or perhaps there could be an additional choice for the user to select between several user agents (from within the text file containing a list of user agents) to rotate between in addition to the random feature. - Isn't there already a plugin for changing the browser's user agent? Can't Privoxy also do this? Yes and yes, but these are operations the user must *manually* perform each time they wish to change the user agent. In my searching on the internet I've found no plugin or program which allows Firefox (or other browsers) to rotate the user agent randomly and/or according to a set pattern of time. This is why the image of a carousel came to me, with the rotation of animals being symbolic of the user agent rotation I believe tor users should have. - Isn't this a silly idea? How does this help anything? First, I believe this is a feature every tor user should have as an option, regardless of what some naysayer may have to say about it, not everyone likes or uses every feature any software product offers them, but without additional features they would have less to choose from. Second, I believe the static/manual changing of the user agent isn't enough, there are many ways to fingerprint a particular browser by its configuration, and I don't believe simply mixing in with the crowd is enough, as the user is likely to have many other blatent Tor-like signs, especially with most everything turned off like javascript, java, etc. I believe by allowing the tor user to randomize their user agent as they choose either on a set time period for UA rotation or a time picked by the TUAC program at random, it will further help in distancing themselves from fingerprinting attacks. I didn't like relying on Privoxy or some browser plugin to switch my user agent manually, I didn't want to do this each and every time I wanted to appear as another browser, I want this done randomly without my interaction! I'm not alone here, there are many others on the net looking for a random UA rotation and I believe TUAC could deliver this. I'm sure there may be a number of nay sayers, as with any idea, but regardless, this is a feature I and many others have wanted, I'm sure, even if it was just a Firefox plugin, it would be a simple matter to create by a bright minded individual, and those who wanted to use it would. - Couldn't this be just a browser plugin rather than an addition to a Tor-specific program? Sure, like many of the Firefox plugins, I'm sure it would be a great addition, even for the non-Tor users. However, I believe it would be especially useful for Tor users, so I'm suggesting it here, as not all of us use Firefox for Tor, so could this feature be added to another program for Tor users regardless of browser? For Privoxy users, the UA can be changed manually within one of the configuration files, but this means Privoxy must be restarted for the change to be honored. Is there some way around this, or could this just be done without touching Privoxy? What about other programs used by Tor users, Tork? Vidalia? Polipo? Others? - If I add such a feature to my program, or make a plugin for whatever, can I name it TUAC? Sure, if you like the name! Maybe add a little picture of a carousel with different shaped, sized, and colored onions on it somewhere in place of animals, or even a regular carousel? I rather enjoy the name and image for this idea. You may wish to link to the Tor mailing lists @ torproject.org so other people know about this fine place where they may discuss Tor with others, but you need not mention me, I only care if this idea becomes reality, nothing more. If I had the means to make something like this myself rather than sit here typing about it, I would! But alas, I am no programmer. Should you decide to develop this idea into a working function, please post to this list about it. Thank you for your consideration
