Re: [tor-talk] Tor check not working or recognize TBB?
Thanks Tortilla. I don't see how your reply answers the question - maybe it wasn't intended to. It appears if the general.useragent.override string isn't the same as what ever / where ever check.torproject.org stores as a valid useragent.override value, it reports that you're not using TBB at all, which is not true. Torproject of course wants everyone to report the same general.useragent.override sting - that's fine. To report that it doesn't look like TorBrowser (at all) is misleading to users and not helpful. Since they must be able to see the useragent string, they probably should report something about the useragent being wrong or not set to default settings. Downloading & extracting the same version to the same path isn't going to fix the problem of the useragent string being accidentally changed. AFAIK, it won't over write your prefs, unless you extract it to a different path. There's nothing helpful in the message, "It does not appear to be Tor Browser." If it's smart enough to throw an error for a non-default useragent string, it should be able to tell you why it thinks you're not using ANY TBB version and give a clue about what to do, instead of the current message that doesn't help at all. On 07/02/2018 06:27 PM, Tortilla wrote: You only replied to me, so I'm re-involving the list. re: point (B) check.torproject.org doesn't look at your browser's configuration settings - it can't inspect that kind of thing. It's just looking at the user agent string your browser sends *as a result of* how that setting is set. How it got that way is another question. On Mon, July 2, 2018 11:13 pm, Joe wrote: I just did check.torproject.org and as far as I can tell, the site is working properly. I'm using the same version as you are but Tor Browser for windows. I tried in Linux after an auto-update: 8.0a9 (based on Mozilla Firefox 60.1.0esr) (64-bit) I got the same warning on check.torproject.org that I'm not using Tor Browser. I would guess it might be an altered signature (user agent or accept languages or other?) Then there must be a specific setting(s) or pref or user agent or something that check.torproject.org looks for, that isn't in my install. *Does anyone know* exactly what check.torproject.org looks for to determine if you're using TorBrowser? Knowing that would shorten the search for why it's failing (never until 7.5.6 update). Every different assigned circuit - exit relay, check.torproject verifies I'm using Tor network, but it doesn't appear to "be Tor Browser." All of the same exit IPa's entered into https://exonerator.torproject.org show I am using a Tor address, but that site doesn't comment whether or not you're using TBB. In Help/About, it shows TorBrowser 7.5.6, (based on Mozilla Firefox 52.9.0) (64 bit). But the general.useragent.override shows: "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.8.1" Does that match with everyone's useragent string for TBB 7.5.6? I didn't / don't touch that pref, but it shows "user set." As I said, the check site only started failing after last update. I don't think I ever changed that in TBB, so there's no reason it should show "user set." Seems like it should've changed to 52.9 after last update, but maybe won't if it's marked as user set. However, the ua.override doesn't mention Tor Browser, so I don't know why that would be used as a check. Everywhere else inAbout:config that mentions browser name or version, it shows TorBrowser and 7.5.6. APPARENT FIX: Resetting the general.useragent.override pref to default, which changed the value to: "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.0" seems to have fixed the false message on check.torproject.org: "However, it does not appear to be Tor Browser". I'm fairly sure I never altered the useragent string, as that would *extinguish* me from the bulk of TBB users. There must be a better way than current to detect if the latest TBB is in use. Now, it gives false positives, as several people testified under risk of perjury, they were using TBB but saw the mentioned false message. So what did we learn from this, boys and girls? (pick the best answer, even if it seems undefiably wrong): A) Since Tor is an acronym for The Onion Router, and most acronyms are capitalized, it really should be written "TOR Browser." B) check.torproject.org looks at the general.useragent.override pref value and likely compares it to another value, somewhere, to decide if you're using TBB - at all, not just if the latest version is being used. C) D. Trump is consulting with E. Snowden, Lt. Gen P. Nakasone and Kim Jong-un to make TOR Browser the default browser in all public schools and libraries in the U.S. and respective countries. (unconfirmed: someone may or may not be a terrierist; we just don't know if they like medium sized dogs). -- tor-talk mailing list - tor-talk@lists.torproject.org To unsubscribe or change other settings go to
Re: [tor-talk] Tor check not working or recognize TBB?
You only replied to me, so I'm re-involving the list. re: point (B) check.torproject.org doesn't look at your browser's configuration settings - it can't inspect that kind of thing. It's just looking at the user agent string your browser sends *as a result of* how that setting is set. How it got that way is another question. On Mon, July 2, 2018 11:13 pm, Joe wrote: > I just did check.torproject.org and as far as I can tell, the site is working properly. I'm using the same version as you are but Tor Browser for windows. >>> I tried in Linux after an auto-update: >>> 8.0a9 (based on Mozilla Firefox 60.1.0esr) (64-bit) >>> >>> I got the same warning on check.torproject.org that I'm not using Tor >>> Browser. I would guess it might be an altered signature (user agent or >>> accept languages or other?) >>> >>> >> Then there must be a specific setting(s) or pref or user agent or >> something that check.torproject.org looks for, that isn't in my install. >> *Does anyone know* exactly what check.torproject.org looks for to >> determine if you're using TorBrowser? >> >> Knowing that would shorten the search for why it's failing (never >> until 7.5.6 update). >> Every different assigned circuit - exit relay, check.torproject >> verifies I'm using Tor network, but it doesn't appear to "be Tor >> Browser." All of the same exit IPa's entered into >> https://exonerator.torproject.org show I am using a Tor address, but >> that site doesn't comment whether or not you're using TBB. >> >> In Help/About, it shows TorBrowser 7.5.6, (based on Mozilla Firefox >> 52.9.0) (64 bit). >> But the general.useragent.override shows: "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT >> 6.1; rv:52.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.8.1" >> Does that match with everyone's useragent string for TBB 7.5.6? I >> didn't / don't touch that pref, but it shows "user set." As I said, the >> check site only started failing after last update. >> I don't think I ever changed that in TBB, so there's no reason it should >> show "user set." Seems like it should've changed to 52.9 after last >> update, but maybe won't if it's marked as user set. >> >> However, the ua.override doesn't mention Tor Browser, so I don't know >> why that would be used as a check. >> Everywhere else inAbout:config that mentions browser name or version, >> it shows TorBrowser and 7.5.6. > APPARENT FIX: Resetting the general.useragent.override pref to default, > which changed the value to: "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:52.0) > Gecko/20100101 Firefox/52.0" > seems to have fixed the false message on check.torproject.org: "However, > it does not appear to be Tor Browser". I'm fairly sure I never altered > the useragent string, as that would *extinguish* me from the bulk of TBB > users. > > There must be a better way than current to detect if the latest TBB is > in use. Now, it gives false positives, as several people testified > under risk of perjury, they were using TBB but saw the mentioned false > message. > > So what did we learn from this, boys and girls? (pick the best answer, > even if it seems undefiably wrong): > A) Since Tor is an acronym for The Onion Router, and most acronyms are > capitalized, it really should be written "TOR Browser." > > B) check.torproject.org looks at the general.useragent.override pref > value and likely compares it to another value, somewhere, to decide if > you're using TBB - at all, not just if the latest version is being used. > > C) D. Trump is consulting with E. Snowden, Lt. Gen P. Nakasone and Kim > Jong-un to make TOR Browser the default browser in all public schools > and libraries in the U.S. and respective countries. (unconfirmed: > someone may or may not be a terrierist; we just don't know if they like > medium sized dogs). > -- tor-talk mailing list - tor-talk@lists.torproject.org To unsubscribe or change other settings go to https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-talk
Re: [tor-talk] Tor check not working or recognize TBB?
On 7/2/2018 7:47 AM, john doe wrote: On 7/1/2018 11:22 PM, Joe wrote: Yesterday, updated TBB (automatically) to 7.5.6 Linux x64. Today, the default Tor check site (English language), https://check.torproject.org gave message: "Congratulations. This browser is configured to use Tor. Your IP address appears to be: *5.79.xxx.xxx* However, it does not appear to be Tor Browser. Click here to go to the download page" From the message, I assume the Tor devs want users to download, verify & reinstall TBB because one check failed? Question: what is the check process looking for (and where) to verify this is TBB? Just a list of exit relays? I got a new identity & tried again - same message. According to several sources, it's quite possible the check.torproject.org site is down or malfunctioning. I just did check.torproject.org and as far as I can tell, the site is working properly. I'm using the same version as you are but Tor Browser for windows. It is also properly working on linux. -- John Doe -- tor-talk mailing list - tor-talk@lists.torproject.org To unsubscribe or change other settings go to https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-talk
[tor-talk] New Report: The State of Internet Censorship in Egypt
Hello, Today OONI and Egypt's AFTE published a joint research report on the state of internet censorship in Egypt. * Full report in English: https://ooni.io/documents/Egypt-Internet-Censorship-AFTE-OONI-2018-07.pdf * Full report in Arabic: https://ooni.io/documents/Egypt-Internet-Censorship-AFTE-OONI-2018-07.AR.pdf * Summary of the report in English: https://ooni.io/post/egypt-internet-censorship/ & https://blog.torproject.org/egypt-internet-censorship * Summary of the report in Arabic: https://ooni.io/documents/summary-egypt-internet-censorship-arabic.pdf You may remember that AFTE previously reported on hundreds of websites being blocked in Egypt. OONI and AFTE have now joined forces. We conducted a comprehensive study based on the analysis of OONI Probe measurements collected from multiple local vantage points over the last year and a half. More than 1,000 URLs presented signs of network interference, 178 of which seem to most likely have been consistently blocked throughout the testing period. The majority of these URLs include media websites, human rights sites, circumvention tools and sites expressing political criticism. More than 100 URLs that belong to media organizations were blocked, even though Egyptian authorities have only officially ordered the blocking of 21 news websites. AFTE interviewed journalists working with Egyptian media organizations whose websites got blocked to examine the impact of censorship. Many Egyptian journalists reported that the censorship has had a severe impact on their work and that some media organizations have been forced to suspend their operations entirely as a result of persisting internet censorship. Egyptian ISPs primarily block sites through the use of Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) technology that resets connections. In some cases, instead of RST injection, ISPs drop packets, suggesting a variance in filtering rules. In other cases, ISPs interfere with the SSL encrypted traffic between Cloudflare's Point-of-Presence in Cairo and the backend servers of sites (pshiphon.ca, purevpn.com and ultrasawt.com) hosted outside of Egypt. Egyptian ISPs also appear to apply "defense in depth" tactics for network filtering by adding extra layers of censorship, making circumvention harder. This is suggested by the blocking of Egypt's Freedom and Justice Party's (FJP) site, which was blocked by two different middleboxes, as well as by the blocking of numerous circumvention tools. Apart from pervasive levels of internet censorship, Egyptian ISPs were found to hijack unencrypted HTTP connections and inject redirects to ads and cryptocurrency mining scripts. We first detected this back in 2016, when we reported that state-owned Telecom Egypt was hijacking unencrypted connections to porn sites and redirecting them to ads. The Citizen Lab significantly expanded upon this research in their latest Sandvine report. Now, following the analysis of thousands of measurements collected from the last year and a half, we have enough evidence to believe that (many) Egyptian ISPs are carrying out an ad campaign. The affected sites are diverse, including the sites of the Palestinian Prisoner Society, the Women's Initiative for Gender Justice, as well as a number of LGBTQI and Israeli sites. Even the sites of the UN were affected by this ad campaign! We will continue to monitor internet censorship in Egypt and around the world. We therefore welcome any feedback you may have. Thanks for reading! All the best, Maria. -- Maria Xynou Research and Partnerships Coordinator Open Observatory of Network Interference (OONI) https://ooni.torproject.org/ PGP Key Fingerprint: 2DC8 AFB6 CA11 B552 1081 FBDE 2131 B3BE 70CA 417E signature.asc Description: OpenPGP digital signature -- tor-talk mailing list - tor-talk@lists.torproject.org To unsubscribe or change other settings go to https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-talk
Re: [tor-talk] Tor check not working or recognize TBB?
On Mon, 02 Jul 2018, Tortilla wrote: > > > On Mon, July 2, 2018 5:47 am, john doe wrote: > > On 7/1/2018 11:22 PM, Joe wrote: > >> Yesterday, updated TBB (automatically) to 7.5.6 Linux x64. > >> Today, the default Tor check site (English language), > >> https://check.torproject.org gave message: > >>> "Congratulations. This browser is configured to use Tor. > >>> > >>> Your IP address appears to be: *5.79.xxx.xxx* > >>> > >>> However, it does not appear to be Tor Browser. > >>> Click here to go to the download page" > >>> > >> From the message, I assume the Tor devs want users to download, verify > >> & reinstall TBB because one check failed? > >> > >> Question: what is the check process looking for (and where) to verify > >> this is TBB? Just a list of exit relays? > >> I got a new identity & tried again - same message. > >> > >> According to several sources, it's quite possible the > >> check.torproject.org site is down or malfunctioning. > > > > I just did check.torproject.org and as far as I can tell, the site is > > working properly. > > I'm using the same version as you are but Tor Browser for windows. > > I tried in Linux after an auto-update: > 8.0a9 (based on Mozilla Firefox 60.1.0esr) (64-bit) > > I got the same warning on check.torproject.org that I'm not using Tor > Browser. I would guess it might be an altered signature (user agent or > accept languages or other?) check.torproject.org does not recognize version 8.0a9 yet: https://trac.torproject.org/projects/tor/ticket/26566 However, there should not be any issue to recognize version 7.5.6. -- tor-talk mailing list - tor-talk@lists.torproject.org To unsubscribe or change other settings go to https://lists.torproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/tor-talk
